aka Wild Wild Wild West Stunt Show
See also The Riot Act
Dates: 1964 – 2002
Timeline:
1964 – 1969: Stunt Show takes place at Prop Plaza
1970 – 1972: Stunt show takes place in the newly constructed auditorium which was to become the Universal Amphitheatre a few years later.
Stunt Show arena, 1970
1973: As the Universal Amphitheatre expands, the stunt show moves to a new arena in the centre of the Upper Lot. The location is now the Universal Plaza.
1990: The Western Stunt Show moves next to the Victoria Station Restaurant (where The Blues Brothers stage used to be, now the location of Starbucks at the end of Universal Boulevard) while the arena is transformed for The Universal Studios Riot Act Stunt Show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Rv3d_nR4as
mid-June 1990: The Universal Studios Riot Act Stunt Show opens.
The role of Brett Taylor is played by stunt performer Robin Brown, who also appeared in the Adventures of Conan as Kobal Shaw. [ref]
A TV commercial for the new show is directed by John Landis
1992: The show is renamed The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show, following the LA Riots in April 1992.
From Universal website, 1999:
Movie Mayhem Springs to Life in Universal Studios Hollywood’s Daring Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show
“The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show,” the most daring “live” stunt show ever devised highlights some of film history’s most dangerous and memorable screen feats.
With Hal “Smokey and the Bandit” Needham serving as consultant and Hollywood’s finest, most skilled stuntmen, stuntwomen and horses as the players, the 15-minute action-comedy involves more than 100 stunts unfolding amidst shattering buildings, thunderous gunfights, whirlwind fistfights, crackling bullwhips, breathtaking horseplay and an explosive finale that “brings the house down.”
Set in a fictional one-horse town, “The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show” features Ma Hopper and her boys Cole and Clod who are determined to demonstrate that their stunt skills are superior to those of the Universal Western Stunt Team.
Included in “The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show” is a “plank high fall” which hasn’t been performed in over 50 years. Following a knock down, drag out rooftop fight, a Universal stuntman hurls his body at freeway speeds off a three-story building into sheets of knotty pine wood strung across saw horses to break his fall. The plank high fall was a stunt used at the studios in the early 1900s before the advent of foam pads.
Two of Hollywood’s most noted trainers, Glenn Randall Sr. and his son Corky, rigorously trained for months the Universal Studios Hollywood horses that appear in “The Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show.” The Randalls are among the last of an elite group of professional wranglers who trained equine stars in Hollywood’s golden age. Their screen credits include such noted films as “Ben Hur,” “The Black Stallion,” “Silverado” and “Paint Your Wagon. Corky also trained Roy Roger’s famed sidekick, Trigger.
6th January 2002: The stunt show closes permanently.
Early History
The original Stunt Show at Universal changed very little over the years. It was first set up by a group of three men around 1964, one of whom was actor and stuntman Stephen Smiley Burnette (pictured left). The early days of the show meant there was no arena to perform in – the stunts were performed in a roped-off area with members of the public standing and watching.
The following stills are taken (with kind permission) from Stephen Burnette’s website http://www.smileyburnette.org/Actors/Stephen/Bio.html and show preparations for the show in March 1965 in visitor’s village, the tram rest stop (which later became known as Prop Plaza). Stephen is wearing white trousers and Hank Colea is wearing grey trousers.
Another long-term actor on the show was James B Winburn, who played all of the characters between 1974 and 1986, and was the comedian of the show for seven years.
The show evolved over the years into a large scale attraction with it’s own outdoor venue.
“Seems like there’s always some kind of trouble brewin’ at the “Silver Slipper” saloon. And when these cowboys start mixing it up, you’ll want a ring-side seat. Because these cowboys are some of Hollywood’s best stunt men, showing you just how they survive quicksand, shotgun blasts, knife fights, bottles being broken over their heads and breathtaking thirty-foot falls.
It’s non-stop thrills, laughs and runaway action at Universal’s famous Stunt Show in the Entertainment Center.”
In the Universal City Vision Plan (December 2006) the Wild West Stunt Show venue location is shown as a “Central Park” measuring 150′ x 200′. The whole area was redeveloped and is now the Universal Plaza at the centre of the Upper Lot.