Tales of Corriganville

“Better Than Disneyland”: When Disneyland first opened in 1955, Ray “Crash” Corrigan and Elaine DuPont, Corriganville’s leading entertainers, attended the grand opening ceremonies as guests of Disneyland architect C.V. Wood. Wood was married to actress Joanne Dru. Corrigan and the thirsty news reporters at the event noted the lack of drinking fountains at the Magic Kingdom. Back at the Ranch, Corrigan told visitors to Corriganville, “Hey! We have drinking fountains! We give free water!”

Expansion: Universal Studios reopened its studio tours to the public in 1964. Just before that time, Universal wanted to buy Corriganville. Its own back lot acreage was quite expensive, so potential tour territory was discussed, with the Corriganville Movie Ranch under consideration. One of the directors at Universal helped formulate the proposal. However, egos flared and conflicts arose to the extent that the deal was never finalized.

Stars and Friends: Listed among those as special friends of Corrigan were actors Tom Mix, Hoot Gibson, Bill “Hoppy” Boyd, George O’Brien, Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Dale Robertson, Rory Calhoun and Lee Marvin.

The Flying Pick-Up: Corrigan spurred his horse, Flash, to a gallop to execute a “flying pick-up” with his partner Elaine DuPont. Without slowing down, Corrigan reached down and out from the saddle to grab DuPont by the upper arm, lift her from the ground and deposit her behind his saddle in this Western rescue maneuver. It seems that Bud Stiltz, the ranch foreman and Crash’s nemesis, had loosened the girth on the saddle. When the grab was made, DuPont’s extra weight caused the saddle to roll under and deposit them both beneath Flash’s pounding hooves. Corrigan shifted to protect DuPont, as one of the horse’s hooves missed her head by one-quarter inch. In doing so, a hoof came down on his hand, breaking it.