After the Old Tucson movie set was dedicated in 1940, Hollywood movie star Jean Arthur lauded Tucson for its own stars — those in its dark skies. "You have millions more here than any place else in the world," she marveled. The famous film set came to be because a best-selling writer, Clarence Budington Kelland, of Long Island, New York, took a tour of Arizona in 1936.
These movies were filmed in part in Tucson and surrounding areas from 1970 to today. In addition to these more modern motion pictures, Old Tucson Studios has hosted nearly 300 productions since 1939. Video by Pascal Albright, Arizona Daily Star He was known for his book series Mark Tidd and Scattergood Baines (and his short story “Opera Hat,” the basis for the 1936 film "Mr.
Deeds Goes to Town" starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur and the 2002 movie "Mr. Deeds" starring Adam Sandler) and for his magazine serials in The American Magazine and The Saturday Evening Post. The purpose of his trip was to gather material for a serial he was planning to write for The Saturday Evening Post on trailer life, called “Fugitive Father.
” He planned an overnight stay in Phoenix but ended up staying two weeks and fell in love with the state. The following year, Kelland purchased a house and grove with 20 acres of orange trees, grapefruit trees and date palms in the Phoenix area and began wintering there in the sweet citrus aroma. By 1938, Kelland had begun researching the history of Tucson for the first of what was bil.
