Almanac of Story Tellers: The Squaw Man

    Every day brings a new story.  And each day contributes to the art of story telling -- in prose and poetry, in music, on the stage, on the screen, and, of course, in books. 

Today is the story of December 29th.

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    It is the 363rd day of the year, leaving two days remaining in 2021.

   

    On this date in 1913, shooting began on "The Squaw Man," a silent film generally recognized to be the first full-length feature movie to be made in what is now Hollywood.

    Its directors were Oscar Apfel and the pioneering Cecil B. DeMille, also credited as a writer and as  "picturized by," in his first feature film. It was a western about an English nobleman, Captain Wynnegate, who came to the United States after being accused of embezzlement, a crime actually committed by his cousin.

    While out west, Wynnegate (Dustin Farnum) and a Native woman, Nat-U-Rich (Red Wing), fall in love and marry after saving each other from an evil cattle rustler. Later, Nat-U-Rich commits suicide after believing that her husband will be accused of murder for the cattle rustler's death.

    The movie's portral of Native Americans was both ahead of its time as several, although not all, of the Native roles were played by Native actors, and of its time in the language used in its tagline:

A Wild Western story of blue blood and red blood; of white-souled redskins and black-hearted whites; of love that demands all and love that gives all.

    Although DeMille's earlier career in theater was a failure, his first movie was an instant success, and he went on to a legendary career in Hollywood. He was one of the few early directors who made the transition from silent films to talkies.