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"The lanes and gutters were boarded over with plywood," Fisk remembers. Under the plywood, the floors were painted red. The ball returns and light fixtures were missing, and the electricity didn't work. AFI film students are rumored to have used the long, narrow room as a roller-skating rink.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, January 08, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 58 words Type of Material: Correction
Greystone Mansion: A Dec. 27 article in the Home section about the use of Greystone Mansion as a shooting location for "There Will Be Blood" said filmmakers chose the site based on scouting photos and prior knowledge that the basement contained a bowling alley. In fact, filmmakers visited the site, at which point they discovered the bowling alley.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday, January 10, 2008 Home Edition Home Part F Page 5 Features Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Greystone Mansion: A Dec. 27 feature about the use of Greystone Mansion as a shooting location for "There Will Be Blood" said filmmakers chose the site based on scouting photos and prior knowledge that the basement contained a bowling alley. In reality, filmmakers visited the site, at which point they discovered the bowling alley.
"We couldn't find any photos of the original room," Fisk says of his search for historical guidance. "Reconstructing it took some detective work."
He and David Crank, the art director, had the red paint stripped off the floors and were surprised to find inlaid toe lines and holes where the ball returns must have been installed -- the first of their clues.
They found fragments of the original rails, which helped them with proportions. A single original bowling pin served as the Paramount craftsmen's model for 10 reproductions.
A small label with the manufacturer's name was still attached to the heavy manual pinsetter that sat at the end of the room and led the team to a 1913 bowling catalog from the same company. Using a photograph and description in the catalog as guide, Fisk and Crank designed wooden loop-the-loop ball returns.
Before automated pinsetters were invented, pin boys would wait at the end of the bowling alley and roll the balls back up toward the players. Never having seen a manual bowling alley before, the men worked faithfully from the catalog.
"There wasn't any actually bowling in the scene," Crank says, "so the returns didn't need to work."
But, after repairing the lanes and gutters and fitting the alley with period fixtures, Crank and Fisk couldn't help but be thrilled when the returns actually did their job.
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