Sudden Fear - The Good Life

  A series of vignettes depict Myra and Lester settling down into the social whirl of 1950s San Francisco.

Then ...  First, celebrating the 30th season at the opera.

... and Now,  the drawing on the brochure cover above is San Francisco's War Memorial Opera House, a grand Beaux-Arts building opened in time for the 1932/33 season.  (From 1923 - 1931, the newly-formed opera company had performed at the Civic Auditorium).  Below, the opera house today, at 301 Van Ness Avenue (map).

Then ...  We are shown a glimpse inside the theater ...

   ... but this isn't the War Memorial Opera House - it's convenient archival footage filmed on stage 28 of the Universal Studios lot in Universal City, California.  Originally built for the 1925 movie Phantom of the Opera (see below), the theater set has been featured in many movies over the years.  Citysleuth thanks reader Paul Penna for pointing this out.

... and Now,  the War Memorial Opera House interior is very different.

Then ...  Next up, a day at the races at Tanforan, the racetrack of choice for city high-rollers from 1899 until it burned down in 1964.  It was located on El Camino Real in San Bruno, near the international airport (map).

... and Now,  there's no trace of the racetrack, but visitors to the shopping mall that now occupies the site, The Shops At Tanforan, can find a statue there of the famous thoroughbred Seabiscuit.

Then ...  This double exposure shows the newlyweds swept up by the action down the home stretch.

... in 1950 ...  But again, the movie used different footage - this was not filmed at Tanforan.  Below is the home stretch at Tanforan as filmed two years earlier in the movie Riding High.  San Bruno Mountain is in the near background whereas the mountains in the movie background above are way off in the far distance.  Note the huge hillside sign 'South San Francisco, The Industrial City' which is still there today, at far left in the Tanforan Shops photo above.

... in 1950 ...  Another scene from Riding High shows this clear view of the Tanforan grandstand.  There's a white post at the corner edge of the roof overhang at far right, unlike in the Sudden Fear 'Then' image above where the roof cantilevers out with no corner post.

Then ...  and finally they go dancing at the Cirque Room, a popular dance spot in the Fairmont Hotel (map) ...

Then ...  where they party the night away.

... from the 1950s ...  Here's a postcard photo image taken in the Fairmont's Cirque Room at about that same time. 

... and Now,  the Cirque Room is still there but available only for private parties.  This recent photo from such an event captured its art deco bar and original circus-themed murals.

  Lester hears back from his shady lady friend Irene Neves.  She has been working on her lawyer boyfriend and found out -"It took five martinis" - that Myra is about to donate the bulk of her fortune to a charity, news that doesn't sit well with the scheming pair.

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