Here's Paul on his way to Picard's office. Note the highway signs at the
left and the "mysterious" black bar at the top of the frame.
From episode #115, The Case of the Barefaced Witness
Mysterious Black Bar
The top part of a out-of-town street scene is obscure by a black bar.
Here's Paul on his way to Picard's office. Note the highway signs
at the
left and the "mysterious" black bar at the top of the
frame.
Paul entering Picard's office. The black bar persists.
Here's a "closeup" of the signs.
This configuration of these two highways occurs in Moorpark,
California,
somewhat northwest of Los Angeles near Simi Valley. What exactly
do
those arrows mean?
So, what are they hiding with that black bar? Here's a view
during the
transition before the black bar is completely opaque. It doesn't
look like
there's anything unusual back there. Picard's office is at the
right. The
sign above begins with the letters W and L. Do you suppose the
rest of
this sign didn't say "Picard?"
Curious!
UPDATE (1/27/07): I think Rich Erickson has
solved this mystery. He
says that the black bar is there to cover a sign above the
highway signs that
says "MOORPARK." This makes sense to me. This "top
sign" can be seen,
but not read, in the picture above. Here's Rich's explanation
from his
12/16/06 post to the Perry_Mason Yahoo Group:
Just a little follow-up info. #115 is likely the episode
in question.
First, the bar (or matte) was created optically in a film printer
as
this was back in the days before "electronic opticals".
Second,
after checking the photos from Dave's website, I have a theory on
why
it was done. I don't think that there were any problems with the
signs or ads on the buildings, but instead think that they wanted
to
cover up the top part of the road sign. It may have said
"MOORPARK" &
since the town was supposed to be Pinon City, they decided to
cover
up their flub in printing rather than re-shooting.
More Moorpark
It seems reasonably that the exteriors for the episode were
all filmed in
and around Moorpark. Here are a few more views from the show.
Here's Aunt Sarah at what appears to be the Southern Pacific
Railroad
Depot in Moorpark.
Here's a picture of the depot shortly before it was torn down.
Lifted
from the Moorpark
Historical Society site.
Aunt Sarah's house outside of town. A later view reveals that
it's street
number is 13206. Anybody recognize this place?
Iris arrives at the Plantation Motel. Anybody recognize this
place?
The intersection seen in the picture at the top of the page. Aunt
Sarah
parks this side of the crosswalk and walks across the street to
the police
station. There's a gas station on the corner across the cross
street to the
right. Is this downtown Moorpark?
Aunt Sarah on her way into the police station. The street number
is 631,
but what is the street?
Paul on his way to a restaurant to meet Perry.
The restaurant entryway. Look familiar?