Historically, the motion picture industry has been good at telling exciting tales that also reinforced cultural, ethnic, racial, and gender stereotypes. Some of the films mentioned in this blog post may fit that description.
But the horses working alongside the actors and film crews didn't know about stereotypes; they were just doing their jobs.
This story is about the horses.
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Some Arabian (and Not Really Arabian) Horses
in Silent Films, 1921-1926, Part Two
Continuing our look into the history of "Arabian" horses in silent films shown in the United States in the early 20th century, we now move to an early example of a film that combined a quasi-biblical storyline with one of the most over-the-top chariot race scenes -- with stunt riding -- of its day. A famous movie cowboy and his Morgan horse also played key roles behind the scenes.
Hollywood in the 1920s was big on movies featuring so-called "Arabian horses," but usually brought in other kinds of horses to play the part of Arabians. "The Queen of Sheba" was one of those films.
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| Southern California hills serve as the backdrop for the chariot race in the 1921 silent "Queen of Sheba." |
The Queen of Sheba (1921)
"The Queen of Sheba" (partly filmed in Laguna Beach), depicted a love triangle between the Queen of Sheba (the goodie, played by Betty Blythe), the Biblical King Solomon (played by Fritz Leiber), and a character called Princess Vashti (the baddie, played by Nell Craig).
The huge, elaborate edifices in "The Queen of Sheba" amazed audiences. Producer William Fox built a huge set for the film, including a stunning "hippodrome" on 150 acres. the Internet Movie Database says that some of the scenes were filmed in Laguna Beach.
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| Philadelphia Evening Public Ledger, 30 July 1921 |
Audience members were also stunned by the title character's costumes, or rather the lack thereof. Betty Blythe was described by one press release as "a beauty, a horsewoman, and a motorist," which came in handy for this production. Critics praised Blythe's performance, despite the fact that in some scenes she was wearing mostly beads and scarves. New York film critic Harry Carr was succinct in his assessment:
Miss Blythe is so undressed that she must have spent hours getting undressed. [Actress] Theda Bara in the "Cleopatra" picture gave the film world and the censors the shock of their lives, but she was positively muffled up in clothes compared with Betty Blythe.
However, Miss Blythe has an appearance of refinement that...takes away any sense of the risque.
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| Betty Blythe, giving Theda Bara and Beyoncé a run for their money in one of her costumes for "Queen of Sheba." Fox Film Corporation, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons |
Most publicity for the film focused not on the costumes, but on the chariot racing. Newspaper ads alerted movie theater patrons to the "blooded Arabian horses" they would see:
"Six great chariots, each drawn by four blooded Arabian horses, plunging madly head-on toward the audience... Nothing Like This Terrific Chariot Race Has Ever Been Shown In the World."
Blythe changed into something more durable for her scenes holding the reins; she and co-star Nell Craig drove against each other in one of the film's chariot races.
The races were staged by legendary rodeo performer and film star Tom Mix (1880-1940). Mix was one of several stunt performers who took off their ten-gallon hats and put on other costumes as extras in Hollywood film extravaganzas featuring chariot races.
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| Tony the Wonder Horse (a Morgan) and his person, actor and rodeo star Tom Mix. |
Mix trained Blythe and Craig to handle the reins for closer-up shots. Sheba's horses were white; Vashti's, predictably, were black. Mix, on his Wonder Horse Tony, oversaw the race; both were dressed in suitable costumes in case the cameras picked them up.
The Muncie, Indiana Star-Press described the race between Sheba, driving "white Arabian horses," and Vashti and her "black Egyptian" horses, for its readers in its June 4, 1922 edition:
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Although advertisements and newspaper stories identified the horses in "The Queen of Sheba" as "blooded Arabians," other accounts are more realistic in reporting that Mix used horses from his own stable that were the "peppiest," sturdiest, most reliable horses he could find to pull the chariots.
Film critic Carr observed:
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| Los Angeles Times, 17 April 1921 |
"There is a chariot race, staged by Tom Mix, that is a thrill of the first magnitude.
"In this connection I am constrained to wonder at the ways of the exuberant press agent who always announces in such plays that the swift racers are 'thoroughbred Arab chargers.' No press agent would ever consent to having anything but an Arab horse win a race."
The chariot racing in "Queen of Sheba" was indeed dangerous, because the plot called for two of the drivers, including Sheba, to "Roman ride" their horses -- standing on the horses' backs while they were running, pulling the chariots. Even if Betty Blythe was a good horsewoman, it's unlikely she could have pulled off this difficult trick riding stunt at speed.
Mix was credited in some sources as one of the Roman standing riders, and he brought in multi-champion cowgirl Lorena Trickey (1893-1961) as a stunt double for Blythe in the Roman riding shots.
Here's Lorena Trickey in action at one of the many rodeos where she performed. Multiply this by four horses, and add a chariot.
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| Multi-champion cowgirl Lorena Trickey demonstrates Roman riding at the 1922 Pendleton, Oregon Roundup. So -- wonderful horsemanship, but no real Arabian horses. Unfortunately, only a few fragments of "The Queen of Sheba" have survived, and they only show human actors, so we're not able to see the chariot race with Roman riders and the horses. In our next installment, we will explore the stories behind some actual Arabian horses that played the part of Arabian horses in an American silent film in 1922. Part Three: _______________________________________________ Thanks Many thanks to Carol Woodbridge Mulder, Tobi Lopez Taylor, Dolores "Dee" Adkins, and Shay Canfield for their invaluable assistance in preparing this series. Lorena Trickey Here's cowgirl stunt rider Lorena Trickey's biography, from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame website. She was inducted in 2000.Tom Mix Here's cowboy, stuntman extraordinaire, and film star Tom Mix's page at the Oklahoma History Center website: Tony And here's an article on Mix's horse Tony, from The Morgan Horse magazine: Roman Standing Riding Unfortunately, we don't have any footage of Tom Mix and Lorena Trickey performing the Roman standing ride in "The Queen of Sheba." Well-known contemporary horseman Ben Atkinson demonstrates his own technique in this short video. (Don't try this at home.) |
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