Monday, March 07, 2016

Built for the Maharaja of Jodhpur's hunting trips, and wound up on an 80s one season tv show about hunting animals for zoo collections, 1934 Phantom II Rolls Royce (Chassis No. 15-RY) bodied by Barker

Bruce Boxleitner played Frank Buck, a Great White Hunter in Singapore during the 1930s fighting all kinds of bad guys in pre-war Malaysia.

Frank Buck's compound was recreated from original photographs of the real Frank Buck's Katong headquarters and featured pictures of his actual parents hanging on the wall, as well as the flag of his home state, Texas.

Shot mostly on the back lot of Columbia Picture Television's Burbank Studios, The famous Raffles Hotel was built on the studio's New York Street. The bar and lobby was constructed on Stage 22 and featured lamps on the tables that were used in Casablanca. So called Annie Street, built at that time for the just completed film Annie, It was redressed to become the bustling main street in Singapore. Scenes that required an actual jungle as background were filmed in Hawaii and the Los Angeles Arboretum.

Bruce Boxleitner's jodhpurs and pith helmet actually dated back to the 1920s, while the boots he wore in the pilot episode went back all the way to 1918.

As H.H. the Sultan of Johore (Ron O'Neal) drives several expensive cars, including a one of a kind 1934 Phantom II Rolls Royce (Chasis No. 15-RY). This vehicle was especially deigned for the Maharaja Jodhpur as a hunting car.

(I loved this show as a kid, like so many tv shows of that time, they tried to catch lighting in a bottle, and dumped everything that didn't get the incredible ratings of Dukes of Hazard or Dallas)

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