Mystery of the Moon Ballet
As I mentioned Monday, I was searching Google's Life magazine photo archive for photos by Allan Grant taken in 1949 or 1950. I was hoping to find previously-unrevealed photos from the set of Destination Moon, the classic science fiction movie co-written by Robert Heinlein.
Google limits the search result to 200 images from this archive, even if a larger number satisfy the search condition. So I was trying "allan grant 1950" to turn up a somewhat different set of pictures than those revealed by "destination moon."
Jackpot. I found 86 more pictures of the DM set. They are tagged Preparation "Moon Ballet."
Recall that I previously found a couple of strange pictures of ballet dancers cavorting on the set. Turns out Grant shot many more. They are mysterious.
Here one dancer is wearing magnetic space boots (a costume item from DM) and goggles.
This is blurry, but it appears to show a rigger helping a dancer with a wire harness. Wires are faintly visible above him, against the black sky, in the high-res version of the photo.
I think I see one dark wire over his head, against rocks in the background. Two folding chairs are visible at right.
It is evident that someone staged an elaborate performance, by people wearing dance costume, on the set of Destination Moon. Part of this performance involved suspending the dancers on wires. It incorporated both the full-size version of the rocket ship Luna (one dancer is seen clinging to rungs of the ladder on its hull) and the smaller model seen in the "distance."
We may reasonably infer that this surreal performance was filmed, probably using the same cameras, lighting, and crew. The film may or may not have used the Technicolor process that DM used.
It seems very probable that this shooting would have taken place after DM wrapped, or anyway after it completed shooting on its lunar set. This suggests sometime after the second week of December 1949. According to the shooting schedule I found among Heinlein's papers, the film was scheduled to complete shooting on Friday, 9 December, the 23rd day of filming. This was also the final day using the Moon set.
The Moon Ballet has not been mentioned in anything I have read about Destination Moon. Bill Patterson has reviewed all the drafts of the screenplay, and has discovered no plans to include ballet scenes.
Who are the dancers? Who directed and choreographed this? For what film (short? feature?) was the performance intended? Was the film ever released? Is it available on video now?
How do we find out?
1. Google "lunar ballet" or "moon ballet" or similar keywords. (Hey! Apollo 17 visited a Ballet Crater!)
2. Find someone who knows a lot about dancers working near Los Angeles in 1949. See if they can identify any of the people in the photos.
3. Run down the credits of Destination Moon's production designer, set decorator, camera operators, lighting people, etc. to see if they are credited with any ballet-type films around 1950.
4. Find someone who was involved in shooting DM, and ask.
5. See if Allan Grant's estate, or Life magazine, has any information about this shoot beyond that which made it into Google.
Destination Moon's production company was Eagle Lion Films. According to Wikipedia, their lot was at 7950 Santa Monica Boulevard; according to the George Pal Productions callsheet of 18 November 1949, DM shot on stages #2 and #3.
Are there good online forums that attract people who know a lot about Hollywood dancing?
Do you know anybody who can help learn more about this mystery? Pass this along.
Google limits the search result to 200 images from this archive, even if a larger number satisfy the search condition. So I was trying "allan grant 1950" to turn up a somewhat different set of pictures than those revealed by "destination moon."
Jackpot. I found 86 more pictures of the DM set. They are tagged Preparation "Moon Ballet."
Recall that I previously found a couple of strange pictures of ballet dancers cavorting on the set. Turns out Grant shot many more. They are mysterious.
Here one dancer is wearing magnetic space boots (a costume item from DM) and goggles.
This is blurry, but it appears to show a rigger helping a dancer with a wire harness. Wires are faintly visible above him, against the black sky, in the high-res version of the photo.
I think I see one dark wire over his head, against rocks in the background. Two folding chairs are visible at right.
It is evident that someone staged an elaborate performance, by people wearing dance costume, on the set of Destination Moon. Part of this performance involved suspending the dancers on wires. It incorporated both the full-size version of the rocket ship Luna (one dancer is seen clinging to rungs of the ladder on its hull) and the smaller model seen in the "distance."
We may reasonably infer that this surreal performance was filmed, probably using the same cameras, lighting, and crew. The film may or may not have used the Technicolor process that DM used.
It seems very probable that this shooting would have taken place after DM wrapped, or anyway after it completed shooting on its lunar set. This suggests sometime after the second week of December 1949. According to the shooting schedule I found among Heinlein's papers, the film was scheduled to complete shooting on Friday, 9 December, the 23rd day of filming. This was also the final day using the Moon set.
The Moon Ballet has not been mentioned in anything I have read about Destination Moon. Bill Patterson has reviewed all the drafts of the screenplay, and has discovered no plans to include ballet scenes.
Who are the dancers? Who directed and choreographed this? For what film (short? feature?) was the performance intended? Was the film ever released? Is it available on video now?
How do we find out?
1. Google "lunar ballet" or "moon ballet" or similar keywords. (Hey! Apollo 17 visited a Ballet Crater!)
2. Find someone who knows a lot about dancers working near Los Angeles in 1949. See if they can identify any of the people in the photos.
3. Run down the credits of Destination Moon's production designer, set decorator, camera operators, lighting people, etc. to see if they are credited with any ballet-type films around 1950.
4. Find someone who was involved in shooting DM, and ask.
5. See if Allan Grant's estate, or Life magazine, has any information about this shoot beyond that which made it into Google.
Destination Moon's production company was Eagle Lion Films. According to Wikipedia, their lot was at 7950 Santa Monica Boulevard; according to the George Pal Productions callsheet of 18 November 1949, DM shot on stages #2 and #3.
Are there good online forums that attract people who know a lot about Hollywood dancing?
Do you know anybody who can help learn more about this mystery? Pass this along.