MovieChat Forums > The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) Discussion > The people of Hollywood thought The Elip...

The people of Hollywood thought The Elipse had baseball diamonds

posted 9 years ago by ncsr11
10 replies | jump to latest

The people of Hollywood thought The Ellipse had baseball diamonds . . . and . . . Farewell to the Master

http://www.rellimzone.com/images/movies/the-day-the-earth-stood-still-1951-01.png

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_zlre9qsAdX0/SxhjQh2OGaI/AAAAAAAABhk/wz_RVbVFjt8/s400/washington-dc-ellipse.jpg

http://www.ncpc.gov/ppdc/rma/large1.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3006/3098971143_23086ef6c5_z.jpg

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/f5/e6/c3/f5e6c33fc80fc58808258cfa3ca7a0a0.jpg

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4AEnUexW2AA/UDzY7emmXYI/AAAAAAAABYY/NNA5CCxghoI/s1600/LincolnMemorialReflPool_DayThe%2BEarth.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/101122943.jpg

http://bigaslife.com/imageGallery/WashingtonDC/websize/LincolnMemorialViewOfWashingtonMonumentInside.jpg

https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8244/8480457172_e4119b1690_z.jpg

http://www.mccullagh.org/db9/1ds-1/lincoln-memorial-columns.jpg

[–] Mysteriously_Eerie 9 years ago

I googled "Washington DC ellipse baseball," and I found several accounts of those baseball fields being real.

[–] dannieboy20906 9 years ago

I lived in Silver Spring, MD and worked at National Naval Medical Center from 1992 to 1995. I lived there again and worked in Rosslyn, VA from 1999 to 2004. I also visited Washington, D.C. several times on business during my military career. In addition, I ran the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run through Washington, D.C. three times between 2001 and 2004.

I have watched parts of baseball games played on those ball fields and I have walked on them. In addition, the Cherry Blossom Ten Mile run starts and ends there. They are real and they are located east of the mall and north of the Jefferson Memorial.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] dannieboy20906 9 years ago

Pardon me, I got my directions screwed up in my memory. The ball fields are adjacent to the polo field south of the mall (it is aligned east to west) and west of the Jefferson Memorial, across the tidal pool.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] ncsr11 9 years ago

I don't doubt D.C. has baseball diamonds, but it was a spliced aerial shot of the Mall and an outdoor set in Los Angeles. It would have been where the Vietnam Memorial is today.

By happenstance, Manhattan has baseball diamonds in interesting locations.

[–] dannieboy20906 9 years ago

If you have been to the National Mall and the Vietnam Memorial, then you would recognize the location of the ball diamonds. It all fits. I have been in front of the ellipse, which is north of the Washington Monument. You can see the whole layout in Google Maps or Google Earth.

The Vietnam Memorial is on the north side of the Mall and also north of the ball fields and polo field. They are farther south.

I think the source of our disagreement is our visual perception of how the saucer was shown on approach. I think they did an excellent job, among the best I have seen before or since CGI. I will never be able to see it in your brain, nor you in mine. I think we are forced to live with our varying perceptions.

The best diplomat I know is a fully charged phaser bank.

[–] ncsr11 9 years ago

. . . military types.

[–] davidwile 8 years ago

Hey Folks,

Mysteriously_Eerie is absolutely correct about the baseball diamonds still existing in the Ellipse when this film was made in the summer of 1951. I do not remember exactly when the ball fields were removed, but I am pretty sure they were gone in the late 1960s or early 1970s when I lived near there.

Dannieboy is correct about ball fields still in the areas south of the Lincoln Memorial and west of the Tidal Basin, but they are not the ball fields shown in the film. When the saucer lands in the beginning of the film, you can clearly see the saucer is landing in the Ellipse and on the existing ball fields at that time. The White House is clearly visible directly north, and the Executive Office Building at that time is also clearly visible.

Baseball was played on the Ellipse from after the Civil War until sometime after this film was made. As I said earlier, I can no longer remember when the ball fields were removed from the Ellipse, but it was probably in the 1960s.

Ncsr11 is wrong in his assertion that "...it was a spliced aerial shot of the Mall and an outdoor set in Los Angeles. It would have been where the Vietnam Memorial is today." It was not shot where the Vietnam Memorial is; it really was shot on the Ellipse, as the Ellipse was in 1951 - with multiple baseball fields.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[–] ncsr11 8 years ago

I'm glad, gives D.C. some character.

[–] liscarkat (18388) 6 years ago

Go to www.historicaerials.com.

Click on "Let's see some aerials".

Type in "Washington D.C. ellipse".

A map of the ellipse and its vicinity will appear.

On the left side of the map, under "Aerial", click on a year, and an aerial photograph will appear.

The oldest photograph is from 1949. In all of the photos from 1949 through 1964, four baseball diamonds are visible within the ellipse.

In the photos from 1979 through 1988, only one baseball diamond, on the west side, is visible within the ellipse.

By the 1994 photo, there are no baseball diamonds visible within the ellipse.

So, at the time "The Day the Earth Stood Still" was made, and until at least 1964, there were four baseball diamonds within the ellipse. By 1979, there was only one left. Sometime between 1988 and 1994, the last remaining one was removed. There are no baseball diamonds within the ellipse today.

[–] CarolTheDabbler (570) 3 years ago

I keep wishing this forum had "Like" buttons!

There's some very good detective work here, all around.