Little Hollywood History
Kanab made its screen debut in 1924 when Tom Mix filmed "Deadwood Coach" along with his co-star, Tony The Wonder Horse. Since then over a hundred Hollywood productions have taken advantage of the diverse and spectacular landscapes that make Southern Utah one of the most stunning places on Earth.
Credit for interest in Southern Utah as a Hollywood back lot goes to the Parry Brothers who leveraged their guiding business at Zion National Park into a virtual Hollywood production machine by luring influential filmmakers to the area.
Cecile B DeMille raised the profile of this location when he made "Union Pacific" here. John Ford's "Drums Along the Mohawk" proved that Kane County could stand in not only for iconic western landscapes but also as rugged eastern forest land.
Kanab became Little Hollywood central when the Parry Brothers continued to expand their Parry Lodge to accommodate the tastes and desires of the Hollywood elite. William Wellman first called Kanab Little Hollywood and the name stuck.
While film and television production always brings money into a local economy, in a community as small as Kane County, filming became one of the major industries. With countywide population hovering around 2,500 from the 1930s through the 1960s, a major film often was the major employer in the economy. Once the most remote town in the continental United States, Kanab was a small ranching community subsisting in a barren landscape better suited to growing sagebrush than feeding cows. During the darkest days of the Great Depression, it was Hollywood film production that kept this little town alive. Theo McCallister, a longtime Kanab character, wryly notes that working on films 'kept the kids from eating the putty out of the windows'.
With its conservative Mormon values, Kanab may seem an unlikely partner for the Hollywood high life but it turned out to be a good fit. While the Mormons didn't approve of drinking alcohol, they duly opened bars and restaurants to make sure their Hollywood benefactors were well entertained, reaping the financial rewards along the way. The strong work ethic of the farmers and ranchers in the area, helped assure that when locals worked on film crews, that productions came in on time and on budget.
Hollywood reciprocated, not only by bringing more and more production to the area but also by springing for local improvements. When Frank Sinatra came to town with his Rat Pack pals, he not only paid for the swimming pool at the Parry Lodge but he bought football uniforms for the Kanab High School team.
By the 1970s the stream of Hollywood productions began to slow through a combination of changing movie tastes, the appeal for alternative locations and a grumbling rebellion among the local population best illustrated by the 1973 burning of Robert Redford in effigy.
Even as the golden era of westerns rode off into the sunset, the tradition of hospitality was carried on by local promoters like Dennis Judd who scoured the area on behalf of Hollywood location scouts in search of unique scenery while cultivating friendships with important filmmakers. Dennis worked with his Hollywood pals to create the "How The West Was Lost" skit that is now regularly performed on the Little Hollywood Movie Museum back lot behind Frontier Movie Town.
Movie producers continue to find cinematic gold in the surrounding hills including Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" which used Kane County locations to stand in for locations ranging from Mexican badlands to Texas river bottoms.
Most recently, the Disney Pixar collaboration of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, "John Carter of Mars", came to town, building a fantastical Martial city near Big Water and the relic of a western town near Mount Carmel.
The tradition continues even as filming is now a smaller part of what remains a beautiful and diverse landscape.
Credit for interest in Southern Utah as a Hollywood back lot goes to the Parry Brothers who leveraged their guiding business at Zion National Park into a virtual Hollywood production machine by luring influential filmmakers to the area.
Cecile B DeMille raised the profile of this location when he made "Union Pacific" here. John Ford's "Drums Along the Mohawk" proved that Kane County could stand in not only for iconic western landscapes but also as rugged eastern forest land.
Kanab became Little Hollywood central when the Parry Brothers continued to expand their Parry Lodge to accommodate the tastes and desires of the Hollywood elite. William Wellman first called Kanab Little Hollywood and the name stuck.
While film and television production always brings money into a local economy, in a community as small as Kane County, filming became one of the major industries. With countywide population hovering around 2,500 from the 1930s through the 1960s, a major film often was the major employer in the economy. Once the most remote town in the continental United States, Kanab was a small ranching community subsisting in a barren landscape better suited to growing sagebrush than feeding cows. During the darkest days of the Great Depression, it was Hollywood film production that kept this little town alive. Theo McCallister, a longtime Kanab character, wryly notes that working on films 'kept the kids from eating the putty out of the windows'.
With its conservative Mormon values, Kanab may seem an unlikely partner for the Hollywood high life but it turned out to be a good fit. While the Mormons didn't approve of drinking alcohol, they duly opened bars and restaurants to make sure their Hollywood benefactors were well entertained, reaping the financial rewards along the way. The strong work ethic of the farmers and ranchers in the area, helped assure that when locals worked on film crews, that productions came in on time and on budget.
Hollywood reciprocated, not only by bringing more and more production to the area but also by springing for local improvements. When Frank Sinatra came to town with his Rat Pack pals, he not only paid for the swimming pool at the Parry Lodge but he bought football uniforms for the Kanab High School team.
By the 1970s the stream of Hollywood productions began to slow through a combination of changing movie tastes, the appeal for alternative locations and a grumbling rebellion among the local population best illustrated by the 1973 burning of Robert Redford in effigy.
Even as the golden era of westerns rode off into the sunset, the tradition of hospitality was carried on by local promoters like Dennis Judd who scoured the area on behalf of Hollywood location scouts in search of unique scenery while cultivating friendships with important filmmakers. Dennis worked with his Hollywood pals to create the "How The West Was Lost" skit that is now regularly performed on the Little Hollywood Movie Museum back lot behind Frontier Movie Town.
Movie producers continue to find cinematic gold in the surrounding hills including Clint Eastwood's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" which used Kane County locations to stand in for locations ranging from Mexican badlands to Texas river bottoms.
Most recently, the Disney Pixar collaboration of the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel, "John Carter of Mars", came to town, building a fantastical Martial city near Big Water and the relic of a western town near Mount Carmel.
The tradition continues even as filming is now a smaller part of what remains a beautiful and diverse landscape.