Photos of John Wayne's Alamo Movie you may not have seen

[tracesoftexas]

One of my Traces of Texas readers on Facebook sent me these five photos of the filming of the movie. His mother's high school class got to go and watch the filming one day, Here is a link to the first one. You'll have to click on the arrow on the right hand side to see the rest. Incidentally, my page has 112,000 "Likes" at the time I'm posting this. Who knew there were so many crazy Texas history buffs?

John Wayne's "The Alamo"

Here is the reader's description of the shots:

"The first picture is of the filming of the battle scene.

I can't be certain but I believe on the wall in the second picture are Laurence Harvey, John Wayne (sans coonskin cap), and John Ford, who would make visits to the set to see his old friend Wayne at work. In the foreground, according to my mother, is Yvonne De Carlo, who at the time was married to Bob Morgan, a stuntman working on the movie.

The third picture is another scene of the battle.

The fourth picture shows Ruben Padilla (right), the actor who portrayed Santa Anna.

I don't know who the actor is in the fifth picture, but you can see John Wayne and crew on the wall and Yvonne De Carlo perched on a ladder.

I'm surprised they let a bunch of high school kids on the set. There was a rumor for some time that a school bus could be seen in one of the shots. Turns out it's not true, but we used to joke that it was the bus mom rode."

[loucapitano]

As I commented on the Facebook page, I wish there were a 1000 more pictures of the behind the scenes actions of this complex and spectacular movie. I'm just the 112,001st Texas History fan.
Lou from Long Island

[Phil Riordan]

Tracesoftexas,

Great images! The rumor about a bus being visible in one of the shots is true. It occurs for a split second on the right, in the dawn scenes prior to the final battle.
Thanks for sharing your rare photos.

[Rich Curilla]

Aug 18, 2014 17:16:51 GMT -5 Phil Riordan said:

Tracesoftexas,

Great images! The rumor about a bus being visible in one of the shots is true. It occurs for a split second on the right, in the dawn scenes prior to the final battle.
Thanks for sharing your rare photos.

Well, yes... and no. I have seen that one- or two-frame bumper drive-up outside the palisade, and there is no question that it is a modern vehicle, that perhaps was seen for a longer time before it was almost "trimmed" off in the editing room. But it ain't the "school bus" of legend. That was reported to have been in deep background behind the Mexican soldiers in a massive shot. And every time it was described to me by someone (usually a tourist at Alamo Village) who clearly remembered seeing it, the particular individual could never tell me exactly where in the film it was.

The most specific description was one in which a tourist said it was behind Santa Anna when he gave the signal for the final assault. Duh! He was on a hill with nothing but the hilltop behind him where a pick-up truck couldn't even go, let along a schoolbus. I've taken individuals into my office at the village and searched the video of the movie when they were sure they could show me exactly where it was (and indicated that it was still there), and no cigar. My conclusion, after nearly half a century of this (!!!), is that it is memory born of one of the many stories (and I mean "Stories") from lacation turned into repeated and embellished legend and then recalled as reality. IT JUST AIN'T THERE (and I don't think it ever was.)

[Rich Curilla]

If you must have a schoolbus in the background, here's one from The Alamo (2004) -- but of course it isn't in a scene. LOL.