Safeway Stores. The house was demolished, and a shopping center was built in its place. In October 1943, Chaplin's studios were opened up for the first time to be used to shoot an outside production, My Client Curly, released as Once Upon a Time (1944), produced by Columbia Pictures. The Los Angeles Times reported at the time that the Chaplin Studio "has been more or less sacrosanct, in the sense that outsiders were practically never permitted to work there." However, studio manager Alfred Reeves told the Times that the Chaplin organization was "not going into the space rental business," and that the use of the studios by Columbia would not create a precedent. In 1949, the studios were reportedly the site of Greta Garbo's last screen test. Television production (1953–1966) Chaplin left the US in October 1952 amid political persecution, and sold the studio the following year to Webb and Knapp for $650,000. The new owner had planned to tear down the studio, but it was quickly leased to a television production company and became known as Kling Studios. In 1955, it was used to shoot the Adventures of Superman television series starring George Reeves. Beginning in 1959, Red Skelton shot his television series at the facility, and in April 1960 Skelton purchased the studio. From behind a desk in the office once occupied by Chaplin, Skelton said: I'm not the head of the studio. I'll be president and just own the joint. ... Seriously, I couldn't be a studio executive because I'm not qualified. ... I've got a nice enough racket trying to make people laugh and don't intend to foul that up. And, besides, that's harder than running a studio. Skelton purchased three large mobile units for taping color television shows, making a total investment estimated at $3.5 million. Skelton had a large "Skelton Studios" sign erected over the main gate on La Brea Avenue. Skelton also removed a block of sidewalk on the studio grounds into which Chaplin had signed and pressed his footprints on January 21, 1918, for display at his Palm Springs home. After Skelton's death in 1997, the block was donated to the Skelton Museum collection at Vincennes University. Skelton sold the studio to CBS in 1962, and CBS shot the Perry Mason television series there from 1962 to 1966. A&M Records (1967–1999) In 1966, Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss purchased Chaplin's studio from