In 1991, Bill and Posy Piper, of Patagonia, befriended Carlo Gaberscek, an Italian professor and aficionado of western movies. Twenty-seven years later, as an expression of gratitude to the couple, Gaberscek has sent his latest books, “Westerns in Arizona,” a two-volume set of the history of movies made in Arizona between 1912 and 1960, which Posy Piper has donated to the Patagonia Public Library.
Gaberscek searched out the Pipers after being told by a motel desk clerk in Nogales that Posy Piper would be a good source of information about filming locations in the area. “The wish to find the locations of ‘Duel in the Sun’ (1946) and other westerns at first introduced me to know your beautiful area,” he wrote to Posy recently. “In the late afternoon of a day in late July 1991, we were on highway 83…I realized that was the location where scenes for ‘Duel in the Sun’ had been filmed, but I knew that movie had been shot in several other locations of southern Arizona and I wanted to know all of them.”
Bill Piper agreed to help Gaberscek look for locations. “Bill would take him out with four or five cameras and drop him off. He would have pictures from Hollywood and he would try to get the same shot,” Posy said. Gaberscek returned to Patagonia for the next ten years working on his project. He was scheduled to come in September 2001, but his flight was cancelled due to the attack on the World Trade Center.
The two volumes, which have more than 1100 pages, showcase approximately 450 movies with hundreds of photographs of the locations where the films were shot. Gaberscek has included details about the productions, as well. Local locations discussed in the books include Elgin, Rain Valley, the San Rafael Valley, Circle Z Ranch, the Empire Ranch and High Haven Ranch. Westerns filmed locally include “Red River,” “3:10 to Yuma,” “Winchester 73,” “Gunman’s Walk,” “Last Train from Gun Hill,” Heller in Pink tights,” “Duel in the Sun,” “Oklahoma,” “A Star is Born” and “Broken Lance.”
The books are written primarily in Italian, with some sections in English. The language barrier is inconsequential for the most part, as place names and individuals are listed and local readers will recognize many of the locations and structures in what is primarily a book of interesting photos.
Librarian Abbie Zeltzer is grateful to Piper for her donation and is planning to showcase them, saying, “We look forward to setting up an exhibit with the books and photos from local films.”
