Makeshift Set

Year of Jane Russell: Day 20

Many Hollywood hopefuls were tested for the roles of Rio and Billy the Kid in Howard Hughes’s production The Outlaw. In order to economize his time, director Howard Hawks shot the screen tests on 16mm film, which allowed him to film them in the basement of the Hughes office building on Romaine Street in Hollywood. This meant that rather than having to drive to a studio, Hawks could just pop down to the basement from his office in the same building. The downstairs space was transformed into a mini Western set, which is where this photograph was taken after Jane and Jack Buetel were cast.