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How the filmmakers behind Mank used Victorville s Kemper Campbell Ranch to their advantage
Director David Fincher s movie about how (and where) Herman Mankiewicz wrote the Citizen Kane screenplay is nominated for six Golden Globes
Palm Springs Desert Sun
If you re watching the film Mank, you may notice some familiar scenes. That s because it was filmed in part at the Kemper Campbell Ranch in California s High Desert.
A production crew of 80 people arrived in Victorville in December 2019 with trucks containing vintage items, automobiles from the 1930s and more to take the historic property back to the 1940s.
“Mank,” which premiered on Netflix last December, is the story of screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz s struggle to finish the screenplay for Orson Welles’ 1941 film “Citizen Kane.” He arrived at the property, then known as North Verde Ranch, in 1940 to finish the script.
Your Letters: Jan. 29, 2021
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Old downtown
Memories of a bustling business district in downtown Victorville came flooding back as I read in the Jan. 22 edition of yet another fire-damaged building on Seventh Street being demolished and disappearing as if it were never there.
In the early 1970s, my husband, Jim, and I opened the first bicycle store in the valley on lower Seventh. We were surrounded by full-of-life enterprises that still bring thoughts of sunshine to mind. The Downtown Café, Jantz Jewelers, Lee s Chinese-American Restaurant, Powell s Appliances, Cotton s TV (who could forget Pinky Cotton?), Layne s Women s Apparel, Western Outdoor Hardware, Victorville Chamber of Commerce. The list is long and nostalgic. Around the corner, on D Street, was Cal s Pawn Shop. Does anyone remember seeing Neil Diamond in “The Jazz Singer” walk past there and look in the windows?