I have a bunch of YouTube channels which I like, watch and subscribe to -- among them Sidetrack Adventures, which explores the highways and byways of the Southwestern United States, especially California. A couple of months ago, the channel posted a 25 minute video on the Jacumba Hot Springs near the United States - Mexico border. HERE is a link to that video, which is also embedded below.
The video description reads: "Jacumba, California was once an extremely popular resort destination, attracting the rich and famous, but after the trains stopped coming and the freeway bypassed the town, it’s golden age is long in the past. Articles have even been written about it, calling it a ghost town. But as we found out on a recent visit, there is still life in this town. Located on old Highway 80 in the southeast corner of San Diego County, right on the border with Mexico, Jacumba is an interesting place. In this video we head to Jacumba and explore its history including the railroad, its 1920s boom, a desert lake, and the return to being a resort town."
Jacumba is also the town where Louise Brooks and the cast and crew of Beggars of Life were located while filming the 1928 William Wellman directed film. And as a matter of fact, this short travel video contains a shout-out to the Brooks' film. Check it out.
Back in 2017, I authored a book titled Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film. This Louise Brooks Society publication, with a foreword by William Wellman Jr., coincided with the recommended Kino Lorber release of the film on DVD and Blu-ray. (I also provided one of two audio commentaries on the disc.) Here are a few related excerpts from my book, which is available on amazon.
"Production work on the film took place between May 18 and June 18, 1928, with location shooting near Jacumba, California taking place between May 30 and June 15.... The location work on Beggars of Life took place in and around the Carrizo Gorge, a rough stretch of railway some fifty miles to the east of Jacumba. The trains that road on this track belonged to the SD&A (San Diego & Arizona) Railway."
"The film’s company, numbering 75, nearly took over Jacumba, California—a hot, dry, resort town of 400 inhabitants located near the Mexican border. The movie’s seventeen days of nearby outdoor location work were filled with not only hair-raising stunts, but also, undoubtedly—as there were very few women on location—carousing, drinking, rough housing and male camaraderie. The extras, Brooks recalled in “On Location with Billy Wellman,” were “twenty riotous hobos selected by Billy from among the outcasts who financed leisurely drunks by working as extras in films.”
"Another far more likely story suggested the revelry at least some enjoyed: “The company filming Jim Tully’s story, Beggars of Life, recently went on location at Jacumba, a little town near the Mexican border. Jacumba sleeps during the day but at night four of the more talented citizens gather to form an orchestra and there is a dance—held next door to the one hotel. Louise Brooks, trying to sleep after a hard day before the cameras, finally arose, slipped a coat on over pajamas, and went to the dance hall. ‘How much do you make a night?’ she inquired of the orchestra leader. ‘Oh, about ten dollars,’ he said. ‘Here’s fifteen,’ said Miss Brooks, holding out the currency. ‘I’m hiring you to not play any more tonight’.”
"... Brooks didn’t dislike everyone. She came to admire Wellman, as a director. And, she was fond of Wellman’s 17-year old brother-in-law, Jack Chapin, who had a bit part in the film as well as a crush on the 21-year old Brooks. They hung around the town pool in Jacumba.
Surprisingly, Brooks also liked Wallace Beery. The two had worked together the previous year in Now We’re in the Air, a comedy set during the 1st World War. The actor drove Brooks to Jacumba in his own car, and they talked about working in Hollywood and what to expect working under Wellman."
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| Jim Tully, Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery & Richard Arlen on location during the filming of Beggars of Life. |
THE LEGAL STUFF: The Louise Brooks Society™ blog is authored by Thomas Gladysz, Director of the Louise Brooks Society (www.pandorasbox.com). Original content copyright © 2025. Further unauthorized use prohibited. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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