MovieChat Forums > Meet Me in St. Louis Discussion > Same house they used in the 1950, Cheape...

Same house they used in the 1950, Cheaper By the Dozen.

posted 8 years ago by crlnrgbrght5
3 replies | jump to latest

Not the Smith house, but the one next door where John Truett lives. I know they build these house on a studio back lot, but "Meet... and "Dozen" were from different studios, MGM and Fox respectively. I wonder if 'Fox' had to ask permission to use the street, or if MGM rented it out, Lol.

[–] AmyJolamb 7 years ago

That's really cool. I love both movies.

[–] muchmeow 7 years ago

Actually, according to what I just read on the Hooked on Houses site, it was the Smith house, not the Truett house.

[–] Doghouse-6 7 years ago

As muchmeow points out above, it was indeed the Smith house set that was used in Cheaper By the Dozen. Here's a link to the Hooked On Houses page with pics showing the house in both films:

http://hookedonhouses.net/2009/12/13/meet-me-in-st-louis-the-victorian-on-kensington-ave/

I wonder if 'Fox' had to ask permission to use the street, or if MGM rented it out

It wasn't at all uncommon at the time, just as now, for studios to rent the use of either standing exterior sets or sound stages to productions originating at other studios.

In one case, Paramount paid to use space on the Universal backlot to build an exterior set for The Desperate Hours. The set remained and was subsequently used in other Universal productions, most notably as the Cleaver home beginning in the third season of Leave It To Beaver and as that of Marcus Welby, MD.

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