Greetings family, friends and neighbors. A short lived 1970's Hollywood themed attraction is the topic of today's Historic Snippet. Here's the story of Movie World, Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame........Bill
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MOVIE WORLD
With the all-inclusive name of Movie World, Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame, and advertised as “just minutes from Disneyland” Paul Mantz and James Brucker’s had high expectations for the success of their 1970’s Southern California attraction. Home of popular Knott’s Berry Farm, Movieland Wax Museum, charming Japanese Village and Deer Park, and with a rich history of roadside attractions, Buena Park appeared to be an ideal location for Mantz to merge his unique aircraft museum with Brucker’s extensive automotive collection. Paul Mantz formed the Movieland of the Air Museum in 1963 at the Orange County Airport with his collection of more than fifty airworthy rare planes that were often leased to Hollywood movie studios. James Bruckner displayed a portion of his collection of nearly seven hundred classic automobiles in Oxnard, California when they were not being leased for filming by moviemakers. Forming an alliance, Mantz and Brucker purchased a parcel of land adjacent to the I-5 Golden State Freeway in a Buena Park business and industrial park for their enterprise hoping to capitalize on the crowds drawn to the nearby attractions. Movie World, Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame featured scores of prominent film scenes and props from hundreds of motion pictures beginning in 1970 as well as a number of original auto creations fabricated by Ed “Big Daddy” Roth, king of custom car makers and founder of California’s “Kustom Kulture” movement. After a hopeful beginning, attendance at the museum dwindled due to the nearby competing attractions and potential visitors apparently unwilling to venture off Beach Boulevard. Following the passing of one of the partners in a tragic plane crash during a movie filming, Movie World was shuttered in 1979 by family members, the extensive collection of planes and cars liquidated, and the company sold. Circa 1970’s Postcard “The Prospector’s Shack” featuring a 1919 Dodge from the film Inferno starring Robert Ryan and Rhonda Fleming, representative of more than sixty scenes at Movie World, Cars of the Stars and Planes of Fame.
-Bill 4/25
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