In 2021, Warner Bros. Studio Tour created new interactive exhibits focused on the company's recent history, revealing areas dedicated to the DC Comics universe and the “Harry Potter” franchise.
This week, the popular Studio Tour in Burbank is doubling down on its more distant past.
Warner Bros. is now offering a Turner Classic Movies-branded version of its studio tour that will take visitors to areas of the lot that were previously off-limits, including old animation buildings, a mini rose garden and an apartment that once It housed James Dean. The 90-minute tram portion of the tour (approximately 30 minutes longer than the studio's standard tram tour) will allow guides to delve into the history of the studio's catalog to offer facts related to films such as “Casablanca,” “My Fair Lady.” ”, “Rebel without a cause”, “Tía Mame” and many more.
“We're free,” says Brad Taylor, a 15-year veteran tour guide at Warner Bros., noting that the TCM tour will include time for guides to chat with guests about their favorite movies.
The Warner Bros. Studio Tour will now offer a TCM-branded tour to focus on classic films. TCM hosts, from left, Eddie Muller, Jacqueline Stewart, Ben Mankiewicz, Alicia Malone and Dave Karger, taped segments for the outing.
(The Warner Bros. Hollywood studio tour)
“We get to talk to guests and really hang out with people who have the same passion as us,” Taylor says. “It seems to me that 'classic' guests worry less about behind the scenes and more about, 'I can't believe we're here.' “It's just the look on their faces when they realize that 'Casablanca' was filmed here, or that James Dean was right here.”
The launch of the TCM tour comes during the network's 30th anniversary and nearly 12 months after classic film fans were in for a scare. In June, Warner Bros. announced that the layoffs would affect TCM, including some of the network's top executives, raising concerns among top directors such as Steven Spielberg, Paul Thomas Anderson and Martin Scorsese. After gaining national attention, key cuts were reversed and Warner Bros. sought to assure fans that traditional Chinese medicine would continue to be handled with care.
TCM anchors Eddie Muller, Jacqueline Stewart, Ben Mankiewicz, Alicia Malone and Dave Karger recorded new video segments for the outing. The tour will take visitors to the lot's Estate House, an area not visited by the standard tour. Here, visitors can glimpse materials for a complete set, including elements for a complete Oval Office set, but await guides to highlight vintage elements, such as a throne from the Errol Flynn pirate film “Captain Blood.”
Danny Kahn, vice president and general manager of the studio's tour, says that over the years there have been numerous requests from guests to delve a little deeper into the studio's animation history. That's why the TCM tour will for the first time take visitors to an area of the lot once known as “Termite Terrace,” which from 1955 to 1964, Taylor says, housed the animation department, a building with a roof inclined designed to capture sunlight. . Animation legend Chuck Jones, Kahn says, had an office in the Termite Terrace area in the 1990s even as Warner moved animation production elsewhere.
Another unique tourist spot is the exterior of the Dean Apartment. When Dean lived there during the filming of “East of Eden,” it was actually across the street from the lot, the apartment was above a pharmacy. But the studio's gradual expansion has led to the area now being owned by Warner Bros.
“That was a real pharmacy with apartments, and the studio rented it to them,” Kahn says. “I think it was to keep an eye on him and keep him in line.”
The tour will also give tram passengers a glimpse into executive life at the studio, allowing them to briefly walk through a rose garden. The manicured spaces once housed a tennis court, as well as offices and personal screening rooms for the likes of studio magnate Jack Warner, and many of the structures date back to the 1920s. “It's a really historic area of the lot that really hasn't changed much in all these years,” says Kahn, noting that the area is still in use by the studio heads. “Jack Warner, when he ran the studio, privatized the first floor. “It was a massage parlor that he had underneath his office.”
Tour staples, such as a tour of the city streets, a visit to the “Friends” set and cafeteria, and recent additions highlighting modern films in the studio's franchise, are included in the TCM tour, al as well as a pre-tour reception with drinks. and cakes. In total, expect the tour to take approximately 3½ hours. A tour spokesperson says the first TCM-branded departure is scheduled for Wednesday, with trams expected to depart daily after that date. Adult tickets are $95, but a discount for Southern California residents is available for $75.
“It feels very good to have traditional Chinese medicine here,” Kahn says. “People understand that the TCM brand is synonymous with classic cinema.”
