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Lana Turner and Dick Foran visit Jadaan
at the Kellogg Ranch in 1937 |
Horses help build community by drawing people together. People naturally gather around them -- particularly if the horses are considered special, exotic, or famous.
During the early twentieth century, Battle Creek, Michigan cereal magnate W. K. Kellogg fulfilled his childhood dream of owning Arabian horses. Kellogg built his Arabian horse empire with the goal of “helping to improve the saddle horse stock of the nation.” Not only could people see these exotic animals, owned by a famous man, in a lovely setting, they could aspire to own an Arabian, or half-Arabian, themselves.
The Kellogg Ranch in Pomona, California drew countless thousands of visitors over the years. Most of them attended the afternoon Sunday Shows, where the resident horses and ponies would be put through their paces for the public, whether the spectators were well-known or just average citizens having a special day out.
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A vintage postcard shows visitors to the Kellogg Arabian Horse Ranch
in the late 1920s or early 1930s. |
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| A Southern California family visits the Kellogg Ranch in 1933. |
The establishment of the Kellogg Ranch in the mid-1920s coincided with the great popularity of American newspapers and magazines, and, importantly, the expansion of the American film and broadcast industries. These media outlets provided Kellogg, his staff, and his advertising agency. N. W. Ayer, with ample opportunities to promote the Arabian horse. There weren't many Arabians in the United States back then, and the Kellogg Ranch was one of the largest breeding establishments in the country.
Arabian horses, the stuff of dreams, were now an accessible reality. Photographs, including the famous "Three Graces" photo, were taken and distributed to the press; souvenir postcards of the horses and ranch grounds were printed.
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A postcard showing "The Three Graces:"
the colt "Latif" (later registered as Deyrak),
his dam Arak, and her half-sister Fasal. |
The Kellogg Arabians themselves took part in horse shows at the Los Angeles and Orange County Fairs. They were ridden in the nearby Tournament of Roses and Monrovia Days parades. They performed at the "Days of Saladin" festival in San Diego. On several occasions, Kellogg Arabians were rented to movie studios.
One of the most important ways Mr. Kellogg promoted the Arabian horse was through celebrity visits to the property. Pomona is not too far from Hollywood, and Kellogg and his staff, including Spide Rathbun, encouraged visits from actors and other famous people, who naturally drew the attention of the press.
Perhaps the best-known celebrity connection to the Kellogg Ranch came from silent film idol Rudolph Valentino. A good horseman, Valentino borrowed some of the Kellogg Arabians for "The Son of the Sheik" -- his last film. In the movie, Valentino played two roles: the son of the sheik, and the sheik himself. The older sheik's character rode the Kellogg Arabian stallion Jadaan. Valentino died shortly after filming "The Son of the Sheik." Afterwards, Jadaan, billed as "the horse Valentino rode," drew visitors to the Kellogg Ranch all by himself.
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(Newspapers are not always great at spelling Arabian horse names.
It's J-a-d-a-a-n.) |
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| A colorized postcard image of Rudolph Valentino on Jadaan |
Books, films, photographs, and newspaper articles record many celebrity encounters with the Kellogg Arabians during the 1920s and 1930s: Clara Bow, Gary Cooper, Mary Pickford, Olivia de Haviland, cowboy star Tom Mix, Robert Taylor, Loretta Young, Laura LaPlante, Lois Wilson, Victor McLaglen, Ken Maynard, Joan Marsh, Tim McCoy, Arthur Stone, Dorothy Westmore, boxer Jack Dempsey, Lee Duncan (trainer of dogs for film including Rin-Tin-Tin), 1930 Tournament of Roses Parade queen Holly Halstead, and others.
Aviator Charles Lindbergh drew the public's attention to the Kellogg Ranch by simply flying The Spirit of St. Louis over the property in 1927. In 1931, actresses Marguerite Churchill and Dorothy Sebastian rode Hanad and Antez in some of the Sunday Shows.
The largest crowd ever at the Kellogg Ranch was during the Great Depression, when 25,000 people turned out in May 1932 to witness the ceremony when Kellogg turned over the ranch property to the state of California for educational purposes. California Governor James Rolph and other public figures were on hand, as well as the Arabian horses, but the real "draw" for the crowds was legendary humorist Will Rogers, who served as emcee for the event.
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Henry O'Melveny, Will Rogers, James Rolph,
W. K. Kellogg and others at the Kellogg Ranch in 1932. |
(Kellogg stipulated that the Arabian horse breeding program be continued after he turned over control of the ranch -- and it has been, to this day. After serving as a US Army Quartermaster Remount Depot during World War II, the property is now the campus of Cal Poly Pomona.)
However, one celebrity visit to see the Kellogg Arabians has been noted, but previously was not well documented. We know that in November 1937, several of Hollywood's brightest new stars visited the Kellogg Institute, all at the same time. Mary Jane Parkinson mentions this in her book Romance of the Pomona Ranch by quoting Ronald Reagan, who in 1973 remembered:
I once had a couple of publicity pictures taken of the late [actress] Marie Wilson and myself at the ranch with some of the beautiful horses... We spent about half a day taking pictures, seeing the horses and all...
The future governor of California and President of the United States didn't recount all the details of the day. Only one source that I could find, gives the entire roster of young stars and "starlets."
My friend and fellow equine history researcher Tobi Lopez Taylor started me down the rabbit trail of this particular celebrity visit by pointing out that the book The Star Machine said actress Lana Turner had visited the Kellogg Ranch property -- along with Reagan.
Lana Turner (1921-1995) and Ronald Reagan (1911-2004)
at the Kellogg Institute in November 1937.
A newspaper article told me that not only were still photos taken, but a film crew documented the visit! A diligent search of old newsreels on YouTube reveals some, but not all, of the details. The film was titled Vitaphone Pictorial Revue No. 6, distributed by Warner Bros. It would have been shown in movie theaters along with a feature film. The description mentions Arabian horses, but not the location.
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The Turner Classic Movies website gives us a bit more information on the newsreel. It includes the names of Lana Turner and Ronald Reagan, plus others who are mentioned by the film's narrator, Alan Kent. As Reagan remembered, he and actress Marie Wilson were there. But so were Lana Turner, singing cowboy actor Dick Foran, singer Kenny Baker, and an actress TCM identifies as Hannah Johns.
But TCM didn't get Johns' first name quite right (more on that shortly). And there were other young stars in the short film that TCM doesn't name. For a fuller picture, we turn to that article in the Pomona Progress-Bulletin's November 15, 1937 edition. Ranch manager Herbert H. Reese facilitated the visit, which included the taking of still and film footage of the stars and the horses.
The seven young actors are all dressed in English or Western riding attire in the film. The newspaper identified them as:
Dick Foran
Dicki Lester
Lana Turner
Ronald Reagan
Kenny Baker
Marie Wilson
Geraldine Spreckels
Most of them appear in a group shot in the film.
Here is the film itself, via YouTube:
Like my screengrab photos, the audio quality of the film is not great; a jangly version of the old tune "My Pony Boy" accompanies the narration.
Apparently no one before remembered to make a list of the Kellogg Arabians in the short film, but the narrator mentions several familiar horse names. So we'll start compiling the list here. The horses in the film are:
An unnamed mare and her foal
Jadaan (gray horse 1916, *Abbeian x Amran, by *Deyr)
Rossika (bay mare 1928, *Nasik x *Rossana, by Skowronek)
Rossdin (gray horse 1933, Ferdin x *Rossana)
Ralet (bay horse 1930, *Raseyn x Sherlet)
An unnamed Hackney Pony, possibly Willowmere
Farana (bay horse 1929, *Ferdin x *Farasin)
Two teams (four each) of unnamed Kellogg Shetlands
The unnamed people associated with the Kellogg Ranch in the film include trainer Mark Smith, probably his wife Stella Smith, possibly their son Harold Smith, and one other pony chariot driver.
The film starts out with Dick Foran with several mares and foals in a pasture. (Cal Poly Pomona archivists, students, faculty, and staff: Notice the wide open spaces on the Kellogg property in late 1937. Those pastures are now under the campus buildings, sidewalks, and roads.)
Ronald Reagan and Marie Wilson are seen with an unidentified mare and her foal in the passageway in the old Kellogg stables.
Lana Turner and Dick Foran then pose with Jadaan, wearing his full costume from The Son of the Sheik. Jadaan, a kindly horse always ready for his own closeup, appears pleased with all the attention he's getting from two humans who were still children when he first became a movie star.
Next, trick horse Rossika demonstrates her amazing ability to walk along a narrow plank. I believe Stella Smith is her handler in this scene, wearing a costume like Marlene Dietrich had worn in the 1933 film The Scarlet Empress, which featured another Kellogg Arabian, King John.
The stallion Rossdin then demonstrates his "movie horse" techniques in two short scenes.
Liberty jumper Ralet makes a few passes in front of the camera. leaping "with grace and ease," as the narrator notes. (I had trouble capturing a photo of Ralet from the film, so I'm using a postcard image here.)
An unidentified Hackney Pony pulls a vehicle around the show ring. Neither the pony nor the female driver is identified; the pony may have been Willomore, the only Hackney Pony with a file at the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library.
One of the most exciting parts of the film is the reining demonstration by the prize-winning stallion Farana and rider Mark Smith. This is one of the longest and clearest films I've seen of Farana in action; it shows the harmony between horse and rider.
Finally, Lana Turner signals the start of a chariot race between two teams of Kellogg Shetland Ponies and their young drivers. They could really move.
(The newsreel moves onto another subject after this, a story on ice hockey narrated by legendary broadcaster Clem McCarthy. McCarthy is well known to horse lovers as the person who called the match race between Seabiscuit and War Admiral in 1939.)
It's easy to find information on Ronald Reagan and Lana Turner, herself so popular during the 1940s and '50s TCM calls her a "movie goddess." So I looked for information on the other young stars who got to visit the Kellogg Arabians in 1937.
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| Marie Wilson (public domain/Wikipedia) |
Radio, film, and television actress Marie Wilson (1916-1972) is perhaps best remembered for playing the title character in the radio and TV comedy series My Friend Irma. Her 1938 film was Boy Meets Girl, where she plays a film studio waitress opposite James Cagney and Pat O'Brien. Wilson comes in at about 2:25 in this preview clip.
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| Dick Foran (Warner Bros./Wikipedia) |
In 1937, Dick Foran was making a name for himself as a singing cowboy. He appeared in several films with his Palomino "wonder horse," called Smoke or Smokey.
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Dick Foran and Smoke(y) graced the cover
of the sheet music for "Moonlight on the Prairie." |
Foran sings his hit "Go to Sleep, My Little Buckaroo" here:
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| Kenny Baker (public domain/Wikipedia) |
Monrovia, California native Kenny Baker (1912-1985) was the singer on Jack Benny's radio program from 1935 to 1939. This audio clip is from the February 21, 1937 episode. Baker starts singing the popular "When My Dreamboat Comes Home," starting at about 4:30 into the show.
Here, Baker sings the George and Ira Gershwin classic "Our Love is Here to Stay" in the 1938 Goldwyn Follies:
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| Vicki Lester (Photoplay/Wikipedia) |
The actress identified in the Pomona Progress-Bulletin article as "Dicki" Lester was actually called Vicki Lester. (Her name is spelled "Dicki" in some newspaper ads and articles promoting her films.) Born Dorothy Gertrude Day, Lester (1915-2001) started out as a model for artists and photographers. Her stage name was "borrowed" from the main female character in A Star is Born. Lester mostly had smaller roles in a number of films. She was uncredited for her work in Vogues of 1938, but did receive credit for her part in The Patient in Room 18 and several other films in 1938.
The narrator of Vitaphone Pictorial Revue No. 6 identifies the last actress as Geraldine Spreckels; the TCM website calls her Hannah Johns. That's not quite correct; Anna Johns was the stage name of Geraldine Spreckels (1919-1998). Her life story reads like a celebrity columnist's dream.
Spreckels was an heiress; her grandfather was industrialist and sugar entrepreneur Claus Spreckels. Newspapers reported that Geraldine Spreckels spoke eight languages, learned when she lived in Turkey with her mother and stepfather, a Turkish prince. In November 1937, the Associated Press reported that Spreckels, an heiress to her grandfather's Spreckels sugar fortune, was getting divorced from her second cousin Adolph Spreckels, Jr. She was reportedly now "nearly broke" and had decided to start her career as an actress, using the stage name Anna Johns. She had signed a short contract with Warner Bros. shortly before Vitaphone Pictorial Revue No. 6 was shot.
Though talented, Spreckels' Hollywood career never really took off. She was unable to appear in Bette Davis classic film "Jezebel" because she had an appendectomy in December 1937. Spreckels asked Warner Bros. to release her from her contract in January 1938, which the company did.
News reports said Spreckels worked for awhile as a nightclub singer and performed in little theater productions. In 1939, she was injured when her negligee accidentally caught on fire in a Hollywood hotel room. The Internet Movie Database credits Spreckels with appearing in the 1942 film "Secrets of a Co-Ed." She appeared on Broadway in the 1939 production of "DuBarry was a Lady," and was once offered a role in a Los Angeles production of the opera "La Boheme."
Ultimately, though, Spreckels received far more public attention as a wealthy socialite and respected arts patron than she did as an actress. A December 1937 news service story reported she received almost 400 marriage proposals after she decided to become an actress. Spreckels was rumored to have had a serious relationship with silent film icon Charlie Chaplin in 1938. In 1945, Spreckels was briefly engaged to Greek millionaire Aristotle Onassis (who would, years later, marry the widowed Jacqueline Kennedy).
In 1946, Spreckels married wealthy Texan Andrew Powhattan Fuller, and became well-known as a knowledgeable collector of modern art. In 1965, their daughter Gillian's marriage to Lord Charles Spencer-Churchill made headlines in the US and Britain. Charles was the grandson of American heiress Consuelo Vanderbilt, and a member of the extended families that produced Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales. Gillian's wedding attendant was Mary Anne Parker-Bowles, sister of Andrew, the first husband of Queen Camilla of Britain. Geraldine Spreckels Fuller died in Florida in 1998.
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And so we come to the end of our recap of the events surrounding the creation of the Vitaphone Pictorial Revue No. 6. In later years, the stories of the seven celebrities who visited the Kellogg Ranch would take many turns, leading some to international fame and others to relative public obscurity.
But horses don't seem to know, or care, if a human is "famous." The horse is a great equalizer; it will respond to you the same way whether you're a bit part actor or a future president. And on that one day in November 1937, the horses and ponies at the Kellogg Ranch simply interacted with a group of young people and a film crew enjoying a grand day out, sharing their appreciation of horses.
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The W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library at Cal Poly Pomona has digitized its collection of postcards. Photographs of several of the horses discussed in this blog post are in the collection. You can see them here:
Tobi Lopez Taylor's blog Musings from the Mare's Nest is here:
The Turner Classic Movies website is here:
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