Johnny Dark Movie Book

103 • The use of top car designers turning out special cars for the film. As stated in the “ Production Notes ”, “ These vehicles, in many respects, are years ahead of their time and are expected to be of great influence in the design of commercial cars. ” • Designers identified included Howard “ Dutch ” Darrin (his car – Kaiser Darrin - did not participate … we ’ ll discuss why in future stories that involve the prototypes of the Kaiser Darrin sports car in 1953), Frank Kurtis and his Kurtis Sports Car, Norbert Kraker – builder of several Grantham Stardust sports cars, Chuck Tatum, Bowman and Sons of Pasadena California, and B.R. “ Woody ” Woodill ’ s Wildfire – the lead car(s) in the movie. • The filming of an actual road race for the first race in the movie and the entry of the lead car for the movie in that same race – a real road race at Santa Barbara during Labor Day in 1953. During the race, the car entered – the Woodill Wildfire – was driven by stunt man and technical advisor for the film – Haile Chace – and the scenes were used in the first race shown in Johnny Dark. Haile was also a race car driver in the early ‘50 s. • The use of various scenes across 2000 miles of Western America to film the main race of the movie. • Statistics were discussed including the growing sports car phenomenon in America and how it was im- pacting the production of cars – sports cars – in Detroit, Michigan. • Explanation of what a sports car is – and is not. • The growing “ cult ” of sports car aficionados, and their allegiance to various makes • The explosion of car enthusiast magazines in the postwar era • The creation of various sports car clubs across America • The expansion of sports car road races in various locations across the country • The "mentoring by" and "use of" Louis Tomei – famous Indianapolis 500 race car driver – to train Tony Curtis on how to accurately handle a sports car. Tomei also drove one of the cars in Johnny Dark. • Although not mentioned in the production notes, Don Freeland – another Indianapolis 500 driver – drove the Victress in the movie; Phil Hill and Chuck Tatum – both famed race car drivers on the West Coast and beyond – stewarded cars; Carey Loftin, Johnny Daheim, and H. Haile Chace also drove – these were stuntman and race car drivers on the west coast. And Eric Irwin – designer and builder of his Irwin Lanc- er drove his car in the movie too. • And finally, the list of “ talent ” used at all levels of the movie was the very best. The production notes spend nearly two pages discussing the background, fame, and importance of the actors chosen and why. So there ’ s a lot to take in, but if you love history and insight in first person accounts from “ back in the day ” – these “ Production Notes ” from Universal in early 1954 will delight you to no end. Let ’ s have a look at what these notes had to say – so get some coffee and away we go : - )