Ex-Stuntman Who Fell for Corriganville Hopes for a Happy Ending

Steve Gillum never thought twice about what he wanted to do for a living.

From the first time his parents took him to Corriganville Park in 1951--then a thriving Old West theme park and movie lot--the Simi Valley resident was fascinated by the entertainment business.

He loved horses, dreamed of acting and believed an aching body was a small price to pay for a stunt role.

Although at the time his family lived near Pasadena, Gillum says they made at least 100 trips to the Simi Valley attraction from 1951 to 1960. There were stunt shows. Famous cowboy actors. A trip back to another place and time.

Ray “Crash” Corrigan--the park’s owner, and a stuntman and popular actor in B-grade westerns--saw Gillum so many times that in 1961 he offered him a job.

“Corrigan said, ‘You’re out here all the time. Why don’t you just start working?’ ” recalls Gillum, who was 14 at the time.

After a year of stunt training in Corrigan’s school, Gillum landed a bit part in an episode of “Gunsmoke.”

Nine episodes and seven movie roles would follow. Bit parts. Most with no lines to read. Nearly all of it B-grade stuff.

But Gillum didn’t care. It was Hollywood.

He got paid to hang around with Gregory Peck, Hugh O’Brien, Johnny Cash, Dennis Weaver, Burt Reynolds and Dan Blocker. They talked show biz.

Gillum has rarely watched his on-screen work because he is too critical of himself. Memories of the experiences have been enough.

Between movie roles, Gillum rode horses and jumped off buildings as part of Corriganville’s stunt show. The pay was $10 a day, regardless of how many times he played the fall guy.

In 1964 he met a fall gal named Debbie in the stunt show. They would marry eight years later.

Life in Corriganville seemed too good to be true. Until one day it was.

In 1966, Gillum got the call he hoped would never come. His boss told him Corriganville, which had opened in 1937, was going to close down. For good, most thought.

The land was to be sold to a developer of homes or strip malls.

“I was broken-hearted,” Gillum says. “I loved it so much.”

Later, during the 1970s, brush fires would destroy every building on the site.

Just like that, it was all gone. Dust to dust. Ashes to ashes.

So Gillum joined the “Wild West Stunt Show” at Universal Studios. From 1970 to 1991, he performed as many as 15 falls a day from building ledges up to 45 feet high. He once jumped off an 85-foot-tall building. Gillum suffered eye, back and knee injuries, but says with pride, “I never broke a bone. It’s just the wear and tear.”

Since 1991, Gillum has coordinated the horses for a new Universal Studios stunt show.

He likes his work at Universal but his thoughts have often returned to Corriganville.

By 1988, most of Corriganville had been sold off. But the 188 acres on which the theme park and movie lot sat were suddenly on the market again.

The weeds were waist-high and the concrete floors were all that was left of the Old West-style buildings. The man-made lake Johnny Weissmuller drove into while filming TV episodes of “Jungle Jim” was dry.

At least there were no houses or strip malls.

Gillum and Gene Cordes saw their chance; they formed the Corriganville Preservation Committee, which today has 70 members.

That same year, the Rancho Simi Open Space Conservation Agency was formed as a purchasing arm for the land, then owned by a Calabasas developer.

And four years later, Gillum moved his family from Palmdale to Simi Valley to be closer to his dream. Only this time around, he would rather write, act and direct than jump off buildings.

Gillum’s slogan: Save the past for the future.

“It’s just a very special place that has to be preserved,” he says. “There will be nothing else like it.”

The park will open to campers and hikers soon. Supporters hope their efforts will entice Hollywood studios to financially back the resurrection of the Old West-style buildings for use in future westerns. Gillum believes the market for that genre still exists.

The process has been slow. But Gillum vows to follow the advice he received from John Wayne a decade after Corriganville closed.

“He said if you want something, you stick to it until the job’s done or you’re dead,” Gillum recalls. “The job’s not done yet and I’m not dead.”

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