Thursday, July 25, 2024

Beyond the Newsreels: Swaps in Hollywood

In which we recount the little-known Hollywood feature film appearance
of "California's most famous Thoroughbred."

Swaps on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine

Horse history lovers remember the California-bred chestnut Thoroughbred stallion Swaps (chestnut horse, foaled 1952, Khaled [Great Britain] x Iron Reward) as the winner of the 1955 Kentucky Derby (over the heavily favored Nashua), the Santa Anita Derby, the Hollywood Gold Cup Stakes, and many more races. He has been called "California's most famous Thoroughbred." 

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame website summarizes his career. It begins:

Swaps was so fast that he set a world record for a mile, a world record for a mile and 70 yards, a world record for 1 1/16 miles (and broke that one), equaled an American record for 1 3/16 miles on turf, set a world record for 1 5/8 miles, and raced to three other track records — 10 in all — yet owner/breeder Rex Ellsworth said he never fully turned Swaps loose to see how fast he could run.

Bred in California, Swaps won three of his six starts as a juvenile and finished second in two others before emerging as a 3-year-old superstar in 1955. He began the year with victories in the San Vicente Stakes and Santa Anita Derby before defeating Nashua in the Kentucky Derby. Swaps then returned to California to win the Will Rogers, Californian, and Westerner stakes. 

In August, Swaps tried the grass for the first time, winning the American Derby at Washington Park. He gave seven pounds to Traffic Judge and beat him by a length in 1:54 3/5 to equal the American record for 1 3/16 miles on turf.

Eleven days later, Swaps met Nashua in a match race at Washington Park. Swaps was not in his best form and was defeated by 6 1/2 lengths. It was his final race of the year....

There's more to his story. We'll look at that shortly.

We remember Swaps in many ways. There are many famous photographs of him. Swaps appears in this montage of California Thoroughbreds that author and artist Gladys Brown Edwards saved:


Gladys Brown Edwards' scrapbook page of California Thoroughbreds.
Swaps is at the top of the center row.
(Cecil and Gladys Brown Edwards papers, W. K. Kellogg Arabian
Horse Library, Cal Poly Pomona.)

I found this old souvenir photo print of Swaps
at an estate sale several years ago.


This photo of Swaps appeared in Western Horseman magazine.

Another old magazine carried this photo of Swaps and Shoemaker.

Sculptor Albert Stewart created a bronze statue of Swaps and jockey William Shoemaker, based on a design and setting by Millard Sheets. It stood at Hollywood Park from 1958 until the facility (which had closed in 2013) was demolished in 2015. The statue is reportedly being stored until it can be relocated elsewhere. 

The Southern California pottery Hagen-Renaker, Inc. captured Swaps in two different ceramic designs by artist Maureen Love. 

Hagen-Renaker's miniature and larger "Swaps" ceramic figurines
in front of a photo print of the real Swaps. Photo by author.

The larger Designers Workshop "Swaps" was first issued in 1957, and the miniature in 1959. Both molds were leased by Breyer and issued in plastic; its Classic "Swaps" was first issued in 1975, and the smaller Stablemate "Swaps" in 1976.

Closeup of the author's DW Hagen-Renaker "Swaps"

We're fortunate that Swaps raced in the age of film, because he can be seen in action in a number of newsreels and documentaries that have survived online. I'll put some links to these at the end of this post.

But there was more to Swaps' film career than documentaries and horse racing newsreels. Swaps is listed as an uncredited cast member in the 1956 RKO Studios feature film "Glory." 

Part Girl-Meets-Horse film, part musical, "Glory" starred Margaret O'Brien in her first "grown-up" role. O'Brien is considered by many to have been the best "child star" of Hollywood's golden era. When she was six years old, she played Judy Garland's little sister Tootie in the 1944 classic "Meet Me in St. Louis," for which she received a special Academy Award for best child actress.

Margaret O'Brien and Judy Garland in "Meet Me in St. Louis."
Source: Wikipedia

In "Glory," O'Brien's co-stars included Hollywood stalwarts Walter Brennan and Charlotte Greenwood. O'Brien's character falls in love with a Thoroughbred filly called Glory, who (in the story) went on to win the Kentucky Derby.  

"Glory" began with commentary on Thoroughbred horse racing, including mentions of Fair Play, Mahmoud, Alibhai, Citation, and Bull Lea. Swaps gets a mention as having been in "Glory" because the film contains actual footage of him -- as the fictional horse Glory -- winning the 1955 Kentucky Derby. 

The fictional Glory was also played by at least two unnamed Thoroughbreds. The foal in the photo below played the title role early in the film. The caption under this photo in a local newspaper mentions that "many scenes in the picture were filmed at Calumet Farm, Keeneland Race Course and other locations in Fayette County." 

Lexington Herald-Leader, January 5, 1956

Other newspaper accounts say that the birth of the filly was actually filmed in California. As soon as foaling was complete, the mare and her offspring were trucked to the RKO Studio in Hollywood for two days of filming with their human co-stars. 

Greensboro, NC News and Record, July 31, 1955

Glory the adult movie horse was chestnut like Swaps -- although of course Swaps was not female.  We can see an unknown horse that played the title role in "Glory," in this screen grab of a picture from Allen Ellenberger's 2000 biography Margaret O'Brien. This horse looks slightly roman-nosed. 

Since the film of Swaps winning the Kentucky Derby was used in "Glory," it was important that the horses that played the part of Glory in closeup shots have similar color and markings. It's not uncommon for movie horses to have white markings added or removed for their film roles. 

Here's a publicity still from "Glory" showing Margaret O'Brien with a horse. Look at the size and shape of the star on its forehead. This horse also appears to have a snip near its right nostril. The makeup artist (if that's what you call the person who adds or removes white markings from movie horses) was attempting to replicate Swaps' facial markings. 

We also see the movie horse Glory in a film clip archived on YouTube. (I'll put a link to it at the end of this post.) The star on the horse in this sequence appears to be different than the one in the photo above. 

Compare the stars on Movie-Glory's forehead with the real Swaps' smaller star marking. This photo from the cover of the July 18, 1955 issue of Sports Illustrated also shows his white snip.


But, considering that we see the real Swaps from a distance in the '55 Derby footage in the film, perhaps these errors on the part of pre-CGI Hollywood horse makeup artists can be forgiven.

TCM has archived the original trailer for "Glory" on its website. 

https://www.tcm.com/video/143279/glory-1956-original-trailer/

Horse Figurine Sidebar: Look at this screen grab from the trailer. See the trophy above Margaret O'Brien's head?


It appears to be a Dodge. Inc./Gladys Brown Edwards Thoroughbred and jockey trophy! I don't own one, but my friend Vickie was kind enough to loan me a photo of hers. This example of the trophy top is mounted on a piece of marble or onyx.


Back to the main story: Even though the exterior scenes in "Glory" were filmed at historic locations in Kentucky, much of the movie was shot in California. TCM notes that the San Fernando Valley ranch of film director Rowland V. Lee was used; the Internet Movie DataBase website and contemporary newspaper accounts say that the RKO Studios in Hollywood were also used. 

While the film's premiere was given many, many column inches in Kentucky newspapers, the Los Angeles Mirror mentioned the film's connection to the famous young race horse.

Los Angeles Mirror, January 12, 1956

The cover of the January 8, 1956 Louisville Courier-Journal newspaper's Magazine section featured a full-page photo of "Margaret O'Brien and horse."


That was an understatement. Inside, the magazine explained that the horse in the cover photo was none other than Swaps himself.


Ellenberger's biography quotes O'Brien about her meeting with Swaps:

While I was making "Glory" we were out at Hollywood Park, and  they let me ride Swaps. He was very gentle --not too high strung like so many race horses. You could get hold of him and he wouldn't go too fast if you didn't want him to.

Calling her "quite a skilled equestrienne," columnist Tommy Fitzgerald said that O'Brien rode Swaps bareback, which is backed up by this publicity still. O'Brien is wearing the same cap and clothing as in the magazine cover photo above. 


The 1955 relationship between Margaret O'Brien and Swaps went a step further. A syndicated news story reported that O'Brien would act as Swaps' mascot in his $100,000 match race against Nashua in Chicago. 

(San Fernando) Valley Times, August 6, 1955

She didn't bring Swaps any luck. He did not have a good race, and lost that one to Nashua.

But the defeat was far from the end of Swaps' story. His NRMHF website biography concludes:

...As a 4-year-old, Swaps was recognized as Horse of the Year and Champion Handicap Male. He won eight of his 10 starts and carried 130 pounds seven times. His wins included the Los Angeles County Fair, Broward, Argonaut, Inglewood, American, Hollywood Gold Cup, Sunset, and Washington Park handicaps. 

Swaps set a world record for one mile in the Argonaut (1:33 1/5), a world record for 1 1/16 miles in the Inglewood (1:39), and matched the world record for nine furlongs in the American Handicap (1:46 4/5). His time for the 1 1/4-mile Hollywood Gold Cup was 1:58 3/5, a track record that missed the world mark by two-fifths of a second. In the Sunset, at 1 5/8 miles, Swaps shattered the world mark with a clocking of 2:38 1/5.  

Swaps fractured a cannon bone while training that October and was retired with a career record of 19-2-2 from 25 starts and earnings of $848,900. Ellsworth had sold a half-interest in Swaps to John Galbreath for $1 million during the 1956 season and later sold the other half for a like amount. Swaps was sent to Darby Dan Farm in Kentucky for stud duty, later relocating to Spendthrift Farm.

Swaps sired 35 stakes winners, including Hall of Fame member Affectionately. Swaps died in 1972 at the age of 20.

During his career, Swaps touched the lives of millions of people all over the world.  He, and Hollywood Park, are now gone. We occasionally see "Glory" on cable television. As of the publication of this post in July 2024, Margaret O'Brien is still with us.  She continued acting until 2018. She has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame -- one for her work in film, one for television. It's good to know that she also liked horses, and especially that Swaps, the world-famous winner of the Kentucky Derby and so many more races, was also gentle enough for her to ride.

***
Many thanks to Vickie Neiduski and Melanie Teller for their assistance in preparing this blog post.

***
Here's a newsreel of Swaps' 1955 Kentucky Derby win:

Here's the trailer for "Glory" on the TCM website:

Here's a the clip from the film "Glory":

Swaps' pedigree is here:

The Blood-Horse magazine website has a summary of Swaps' career, and many photos:


Here's a grainy copy of "Races to Remember." You can see Swaps win the Kentucky Derby starting at about 6:33, and his match race against Nashua starting at about 7:24:

The Online Archive of California has a copy of the Inglewood Public Library's photo of the Swaps statue at Hollywood Park:

Rowland V. Lee's ranch is listed on the Visiting the Movie Sites website:

Gladys Brown Edwards' papers, photographs, and scrapbooks are at the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library, Special Collections unit, University Library, Cal Poly Pomona:  https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8vd745z/







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Thursday, July 18, 2024

More Than Harness Racing: Some Other Equestrian Events at Devonshire Downs, Northridge, California, 1947-1959

(San Fernando) Valley Times, 8 May 1947

In our continuing look at the very "horsey" place that Southern California used to be, we turn our attention to a stretch of land in the San Fernando Valley known as Devonshire Downs.

In 1943, equestrians Helen Dillman and Lee O. "Pete" Spears bought 80 acres of land at Devonshire Street and Zelzah Avenue in the San Fernando Valley to develop a harness racing track. A shortage of materials and labor during World War II delayed the project; the US Army used the property as a dispatch depot for military supplies until the end of the war.

The 4 April 1946 issue of the Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet reported that Mrs. John McCarthy of Los Angeles had purchased the property in 1945, and Spears was managing the development of the land for the equestrian facility. (Like so many suburbs in Los Angeles County, Granada Hills and Northridge were cheek-by-jowl with one another back then.)


By March 1947, plans were being made for a "horse show and harness race meet" on the property. 15,000 people were expected to attend. 

Valley Times, 20 March 1947


Van Nuys News and Valley Green Sheet, March 27, 1947

We often hear of Devonshire Downs as a venue for harness racing, but it's important to remember that it hosted many kinds of equestrian activities. 

A few months after its opening, the Arabian Horse Breeders Society of California sponsored its third annual Arabian Horse Show, under the direction of Cecil Edwards.




Pomona Progress-Bulletin, September 3, 1947


The show was promoted in newspapers and horse magazines.  The horse in the photo insert is Sharik, the Arabian dressage horse. 


The horse in this photo insert is *Lotnik, who had been imported to Southern California along with *Witez II and many other horses captured from the Nazis in Europe at the end of World War II. The painting of *Lotnik is by Gladys Brown Edwards. 



Over the next decade, Southern California's population continued to grow, and many local residents took riding lessons, participated in horse shows and parades, and enjoyed equestrian events at Devonshire Downs. Here's the San Fernando Valley Fair program from 1956. 

Valley Times, 29 August 1956

The Lipizzaner Dressage Performance at the 1956 show featured Cilly Feindt and her Lipizzaner Pasha. They are a key feature of my earlier blog post on the "dancing white horses" of Southern California (link below).


In October 1956, the nearby Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce hosted a "Fall Round-Up" at Devonshire Downs. It featured a free Western horse show, music, and "bar-b-q."


Valley Times, 5 October 1956

In 1957, the venue hosted a gymkhana in May, and the West Hills Hunt Club's two-day National Horse Show in June. Around Labor Day, 100,000 people were expected to attend the San Fernando Valley Fair at Devonshire Downs over its five-day run. That year's Fair featured daily equestrian events, including horse shows, harness racing, rodeos, and "cowboy racing."



Newspaper accounts reported that, by 1959, 100 Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and show horses in training were stabled at Devonshire Downs. The 1959 West Hills Hunt Club National Horse Show raised funds to help send the US Olympic Equestrian Team to the 1960 Olympics in Rome.

Valley Times, 10 June 1958.

Many online accounts of horses at Devonshire Downs focus on harness racing there, often with a mention of Quarter Horse racing. Standardbreds that raced in Northridge during the spring season would move to Bay Meadows in San Mateo (San Francisco Bay Area) because there were no other opportunities to race in Southern California at the time until the Los Angeles County Fair in September.

But the times, as they so often do, were changing. By the late 1950s, the Valley Times newspaper was reporting on concerns that "advancing urban development" would crowd out the San Fernando Valley's long history as an agricultural area. 

In the early to mid-1960s, harness racing was starting to be featured at Santa Anita in Arcadia and at Hollywood Park in Inglewood. Purses for races there were described as "rich." But by 1968, Devonshire Downs was the last remaining track offering harness racing in Los Angeles County, according to the Los Angeles Times. 

Sidebar: If Devonshire Downs is remembered for one thing -- for most people, even more than than its equestrian history -- it is for the June 20-22, 1969 "Newport '69 at Devonshire Downs" festival that featured an unbelievable number of famous, and soon-to-be-more famous, musicians.  This was held about two months before the Woodstock festival in New York. 

Los Angeles Times, June 8, 1969

Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Marvin Gaye, Eric Burdon (and his "new band, War"), Joe Cocker, Ike & Tina Turner, Taj Mahal, Jethro Till, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rascals, the Byrds, Three Dog Night, Booker T & the MGs, Johnny Winter, Buffy Saint Marie, Steppenwolf, Poco, Friends of Distinction, the Edwin Hawkins Singers, and others performed. A three-day pass cost $15.  

Newport '69 at Devonshire Downs was big, noisy, very crowded, and not without its problems. Newspapers across the country, while praising some of the performances, concentrated their coverage on police arrests of gate crashers, the cost of repairing the damage to nearby property incurred during the festival, the number of people taken to the hospital for injuries, and the amount of trash left behind by concert-goers. [End sidebar.]


Ownership of the property changed several times over the years, and by 1971, Devonshire Downs was owned by Valley State College (now Cal State Northridge). The school chose not to continue to pay for a facility that could not "pay for itself."  

The last horse left Devonshire Downs in May 1971. The land is now the north end of the Cal State Northridge campus, covered in dormitories and various businesses.

More details are in the 27 October 1985 Los Angeles Times' article on the history of Devonshire Downs. 

















***

The Los Angeles Public Library collection holds a number of photographs of activities at Devonshire Downs.

https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/search/searchterm/%20Devonshire%20Downs

Materials on the early days of the Arabian Horse Society of California are in the Cecil and Gladys Brown Edwards papers at the W. K. Kellogg Arabian Horse Library at Cal Poly Pomona:


Here's my blog post on Lipizzaners in Southern California:


Moving from horses to Hendrix, here's a link to Rolling Stone magazine's coverage of Newport '69: 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/crashers-cops-producers-spoil-newport-69-120810/

There are several old films of Newport '69 archived on YouTube. Here are a couple; it's easy to search for more.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvPx_YhWqc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRpArDH9MCE




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