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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Near Lone Pine in Inyo County, California — The American West (Pacific Coastal)
 

"Gunga Din" Filmed Here

 
 
"Gunga Din" Filmed Here Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, March 5, 2016
1. "Gunga Din" Filmed Here Marker
Inscription. In 1938, this hill area, among many others in these Alabama Hills, served as a stand-in for the hill country of northern India when RKO made the classic adventure film, 'Gunga Din,' on location in Lone Pine. Hundreds of horsemen raced across the hills and elaborate sets were built here and nearby while the cast and crew lived for weeks in a tent city off Movie Road. Directed by George Stevens, the epic starred Cary Grant, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Victor McLaglen and Joan Fontaine with Sam Jaffe as Gunga Din, the waterboy who wanted so much to be a soldier.
 
Erected 1992 by Lone Pine Sierra Film Festival and the People of Lone Pine.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Entertainment. A significant historical year for this entry is 1938.
 
Location. 36° 35.076′ N, 118° 6.929′ W. Marker is near Lone Pine, California, in Inyo County. Marker is on Horseshoe Meadow Road, half a mile south of Whitney Portal Road, on the left when traveling south. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Lone Pine CA 93545, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 4 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies. Movie Flats (approx. 0.8 miles away); Mt. Whitney Pack Trains (approx. 2.8 miles away); Lone Pine Film Museum (approx. 3.2 miles away); The Adobe Wall
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(approx. 3.2 miles away); The Duke and the Dow (approx. 3.2 miles away); Lone Pine's 'Movie Man' (approx. 3.2 miles away); Wedding of the Waters Pageant (approx. 3.3 miles away); Fred French Family Oak (approx. 3˝ miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Lone Pine.
 
Regarding "Gunga Din" Filmed Here. California prospectors sympathetic to the South during the American Civil War named the Alabama Hills for the CSS Alabama, a Confederate warship.

When the CSS Alabama was sunk off the coast of Normandy by the USS Kearsarge in 1864, prospectors sympathetic to the North named a mining district, a mountain pass, a mountain peak and a town after the USS Kearsarge

The movie Gunga Din was inspired by a poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1892.

The poem Gunga Din is narrated by an English soldier who is wounded in battle in India. Gunga Din, an Indian water-bearer (bhishti), saves the soldier's life but is himself shot and killed.

The 1939 movie was remade in 1961 as Sergeants 3, a western starring the Rat Pack: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop. The Gunga
Alabama Hills at the Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, March 5, 2016
2. Alabama Hills at the Marker
Din character was played by Sammy Davis, Jr.

Many elements of the 1939 film were also incorporated into Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
 
Alabama Hills in the Foreground and Sierra Nevada in the Background image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, March 5, 2016
3. Alabama Hills in the Foreground and Sierra Nevada in the Background
This marker was dedicated by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. on October 11, 1992.
Horseshoe Meadow Road image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Alvis Hendley, March 5, 2016
4. Horseshoe Meadow Road
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on June 16, 2016. It was originally submitted on March 30, 2016, by Alvis Hendley of San Francisco, California. This page has been viewed 926 times since then and 28 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4. submitted on March 30, 2016, by Alvis Hendley of San Francisco, California. • Syd Whittle was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 19, 2024