Horse-Themed Christmas Cards During the Great Depression

The Pinto horse Thunder and his person, Merle Little,
appeared on Christmas cards Merle sent in 1932.

Since Christmas is almost here, I thought it would be fun to look at several examples of personalized horse-themed Christmas cards from the early 1930s.

By the time the Great Depression began, horses were already common images on greeting cards. We can illustrate this with examples I found at an estate sale in the San Gabriel Valley several years ago. The families whose names are inside the cards sent cards with somewhat stereotypical images of horses in winter. The horses pull carriages and coaches full of revelers, or they pull sleighs, delivering Christmas trees to homes.

Many of the cards have a distinctive "deco" style typical of the period.  The one just below, shows a long-eared equid of some kind. 

The cards from the San Gabriel Valley estate sale show classic Christmas designs, straight out of fairy tale New England or even Great Britain. 

By contrast, the personalized Christmas cards that Monrovia/Duarte horse rancher Merle Little pasted into his scrapbook in the early 1930s show a distinctive Western United States flair. These customized cards show that Southern California riders who came from very different backgrounds, were sometimes good enough friends to warrant sending a card. Their horses brought them together. 

The first card is a small piece of Hollywood and history: it was from the legendary silent film cowboy Tom Mix, showing him standing next to his horse, Tony, Jr.

I'm not sure where Merle Little would have met Tom Mix; it was possibly either through participating in equestrian events like rodeos and parades, or when Merle loaned some of his horses to film studios for cowboy movies.  The scrapbook also contains other Tom Mix memorabilia, including an article about the retirement of Mix's horse Tony in November 1932; he was replaced by Tony, Jr. (no relation to the original horse).

Two other cards in Merle's scrapbook were from people Merle probably encountered while riding in parades, rodeos, and other equestrian events. 

This green, white, and red card was sent by Dick Dickson. Dickson was the district manager of Fox West Coast Theatres in Los Angeles. 

Newspaper articles of the day tell us that Dickson owned absolutely stellar "silver mounted riding gear," a "prize-winning sensation" in parades in which the Los Angeles Sheriff's Posse rode. Both Dickson and Merle Little were members of that group. Dickson's parade tack was "almost entirely encrusted with silver and beautifully moulded and chased, is the expensive handicraft of Edwin H. Bohlin, Hollywood silversmith and saddlemaker."

Visalia, California Times-Delta, 4 June 1936.

The next card, also comic in nature, is from Elmer Awl. Merle Little knew him from his participation in the annual Rancheros Visitadores trail rides in Santa Barbara County, and probably from other equestrian events.

"Feliz Pascua" usually means "Happy Easter," but it can also refer to Christmas.
The image shows Christmas gifts, a candy cane,
a small Christmas tree and a holly wreath. 

Both Dickson and Awl used Christmas card designs by Western artist Joe DeYong. A protege of Charles Russell, DeYong was well-known for his art depicting Native Americans in the early and mid-20th century. Each holiday greeting card shows a different, cartoon-cowboy style; each card was customized for the sender. 

Merle Little had his own Christmas cards customized, possibly at a local print shop. His 1931 card contains a poem, "Christmas Greetings from California," and a photo of Merle riding his black and white Pinto horse Thunder.

Merle's card for 1932 shows him with two Pintos in silver Western tack. The tall horse on the left is Thunder; the smaller one on the right was named Patches. Unlike Dickson, Merle crafted his own silver-mounted Western saddle. (It will be the subject of a future blog post.)

The final Christmas card in Merle Little's scrapbook show Merle and his bride Edna May (Price) on Thunder and another Pinto, Lightning. It dates to 1934.

Wishing all the readers of this blog a peaceful, hope-filled holiday season.

_______________

This link will take you to photos of a 2016 auction for an Edwin H. Bohlin "Dick Dickson" model saddle from the collection of Marty Stuart:  

https://www.cowanauctions.com/lot/edward-h-bohlin-dick-dickson-silver-parade-saddle-with-matching-bridle-from-the-collection-of-marty-stuart-890292/?fbclid=IwAR25L0SmJPOnFl1OJ70UJQVjlAk_eJblsqvTnOcKEo7y9nnQiO5HIe0QkTY

KAAG Horse Trophy from Azusa Golden Days, 1949

Along with the hundreds of photos in the estate of Monrovia/Duarte horseman Merle H. Little were a few of the trophies won by his horses. One trophy is of a horse with Western saddle and bridle on a wooden plinth and an attached copper-colored plaque.  It's about 10 by 4 by 8 1/2 inches, and weighs about 4 pounds. 

A maker's mark on the underside of the horse tells us it was made by KAAG Trophies of Los Angeles.

The plaque added to the front of the plinth is engraved:

AZUSA GOLDEN DAYS

OCTOBER 29, 1949

Azusa is about 6 or 7 miles from Monrovia, so it isn't surprising that Merle took part in the Golden Days equestrian activities.

1949 was the first year the community's week-long annual festival was held to commemorate the time when gold was found in nearby San Gabriel Canyon during the mid-1800s.  Newspaper articles reported that a "giant barbecue" would be held; they expected 20,000 people to attend. A morning parade would feature 750 to 1,000 horses, with an afternoon horse show to follow. 

(Can you imagine, 750 to a thousand horses in just one smaller city's parade? That shows just how many horses were available to even be in a parade back then.) 

A Monrovia News-Post article from October 18, 1949 summarized some of the activities.

Merle Little rode with Eugene Biscailuz's Los Angeles County Sheriff's Posse, and he was good friends with legendary trick roper and fellow Pinto horse aficionado Montie Montana. (Each of those relationships is worthy of a separate blog post.)

The plaque on the trophy is inscribed "Azusa Golden Days, October 29, 1949." 

I haven't been able to find out much about the maker of the trophy. The earliest date I can find for KAAG Trophy Company in a newspaper article or ad is April 1948. That makes sense, since the metal to make trophies would have been more readily available after World War II. 

Newspaper articles of the day tell us that the KAAG Trophy Company was co-founded by George Ebert; he had been born in Kansas City and was raised in Los Angeles, then moved to Tacoma, Washington in 1959. An online source says a man named K. O. Dean was another co-founder of the company. 

I don't know why this award was presented to Merle Little. I haven't been able to locate results for the Azusa Golden Days horse show, or to find out if awards were given for parade entries. We are able to look at results from other horse shows that have been preserved, to see which horses Merle was taking to shows in 1949. They included several Morgans:

Lippitt Morman

Alma Sonfield

Santa Ynez

Betty Joaquin

Indio Morgan

Senor Morgan

Senorita Morgan

Easter Morgan

Lady B

Altonia 

Midnight Sun

And one Pinto, his stallion Tesoro.

Merle's Arrow Rock stagecoach also took part in parades in 1949. It was often pulled by his Morgan mares Santa Ynez and Anita Belle Gift.

The horse on the plinth himself shows a lot of action; his Western tack would not look out of place at a horse show, rodeo, or parade. I haven't been able to find the name of any designers for KAAG.  The horse is not as refined as many of Gladys Brown Edwards' equine designs for Dodge, Inc., and he's a different style than the metal horse awards produced by Trophy Craft, Abbottwares, and K & O during the same era. I have seen other examples of this trophy for sale online in recent years.

This trophy, or one like it, appears in a photo from a horse show of one of Merle's hinnies, Father Devine (or Divine), who was sired by Merle's well-known Pinto stallion Tesoro. The man holding the trophy is identified on the back of the picture as Pop Godwin.  (This may have been Ray Godwin, a friend of Merle's from nearby Arcadia who took part in several parades and other activities with Merle.) There's no way to tell if the award was given at the Azusa Golden Days horse show in 1949, or at another show. 

The copper-colored plating on the trophy is starting to peel in several places, particularly on the horse's head and neck, giving it the appearance of striding into a high wind. It's a survivor of an era in Southern California where a local weekend parade might feature 750 or more horses and riders.

Over the decades of showing horses, Merle Little collected hundreds of trophies and ribbons. After his death, his family told me, they gave away most of his awards to local equestrian groups, to reuse with younger riders. If anyone reading this knows of the whereabouts of any of them, please get in touch with me! I'd love to know how they were used to encourage another generation of horse lovers.

____

Many thanks to Carolyn Martin for her assistance in translating the maker's mark on the trophy. Carolyn's books on metal horses are a must for any serious collector. Her website is here:  https://www.metalhorsefigurines.com/

Azusa Golden Days continues to be held each October. The sponsoring organization's Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/azusagoldendays/ .

"Our Forever Blacksmith," from the estate of Merle Little, Monrovia/Duarte, California

 As I work my way through the hundreds of photographs and other items from the estate of Monrovia/Duarte horseman Merle Little, I see evidence of just how horsey a place Southern California used to be, and the diversity of skilled workers who supported local horse owners and riders in the San Gabriel Valley in the twentieth century.

For some reason, Merle had saved two old horseshoes. They are old, heavy (just under a pound apiece), and seem to have belonged to a smallish equine. Each shoe is only about 4 inches wide and less than 5 inches long. A blacksmith had added small pieces of metal near the toe of each shoe.

I wonder if farrier John Baker made these horseshoes? The Monrovia Daily News-Post ran an article on him on June 9, 1951, along with a photograph of Baker, Merle Little, and one of Merle's horses. Merle had dozens of horses, ponies, donkeys, and even some hinnies (a cross between a male horse and a female donkey) at his El Rancho Poco over the years.

The photo caption tells is that Baker traveled around in his 1936 Chevrolet, "a blacksmith shop in itself," visiting the Monrovia/Duarte area on Wednesdays. The caption asks the reader to "note the fire in the back of the car." 

The accompanying short article says John Baker lived in Montebello, where he also had boarding stables for horses, and had "more work all told than the blacksmith can handle."

A color photograph from the Merle Little estate also shows us John Baker at work. 

On the back of the picture, someone wrote "John Baker, August 4, 1971" and "our forever blacksmith."  Merle's daughter Marlene had carefully stored the print in a green file folder labeled "Dad's Buddies." 

"A Western Catalog for Western People": Montgomery Ward & Co., Oakland, California, Fall & Winter 1928-1929

On a recent trip to the Bay Area, I went into an antique store and came across an original copy of the 1928-29 Montgomery Ward catalog. I had a few minutes to spare, so I leafed through the pages that showed the horse-related items could purchase from Wards through the mail.

Knowing that some readers of this blog are interested in the evolution of tack, I took some photos of the catalog page showing several kinds of Western saddles. Many of them could be stamped with the rider's initials or ranch brand design.

The saddles were not inexpensive; $20 in 1928 would be about $350 in 2022 terms.

The first saddle on the catalog page was called the "Northwest Range." It sold for $44.75, or $49.25 if you paid in installments. 

The "Eagle" Western saddle was more expensive, at $59.75. It came with either squared or round skirts; the round skirts could be stamped with a design.

At $24.75 (cash only), the "Western" saddle was a lower-priced model saddle, a lightweight 14 pounds.

Montgomery Ward & Co. did not neglect the needs of younger riders. A red leather "Handsome Pony Saddle and Bridle" came in two sizes.

Here's what I was really hoping to see: a western "Women's Astride Saddle;" $18.45, and it too could be customized with the initials of the rider or the ranch brand design.

An "Army Type Saddle" (saddle tree, actually) could be had for only $9.95.

A $16.95 (cash only) embossed saddle was marketed to "Young Men and Boys."

For very small riders, the catalog offered rocking horses and stick horses.

And looking ahead to Christmas 1928, the Wards catalog Santa recommended "Brown Beauty," a felt "skin" over papier-mache horse on wheels, about 11 inches high. It's nice to know that people got model horses for Christmas almost a hundred years ago.

Labor Day Equestrian Events at the Rose Bowl, 1933-1934

In their silver parade regalia:
Thunder, Merle Hartley Little, and Patch, early 1930s

The photo collection from the estate of Monrovia/Duarte horse rancher Merle Little is a gift that never stops giving. Many photos in the collection show us the importance of equestrian activities as a "draw" to get people to attend large public events.

Merle was part of an Orange County riding group called the El Rodeo Club, and a member of the Los Angeles and Monrovia Sheriff's Posses; he headed up equestrian activities for local festivals in Monrovia and Duarte for many years. 

Since I'm writing this on Labor Day, I thought it would be interesting to share a couple of images of equestrian Labor Day events at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena during the Great Depression. It almost goes without saying that many people were out of work during the Depression, and employment and workers' rights were on many people's minds back then. 

The 1933 event, billed as an "Oklahoma Stampede and Wild West Rodeo" combined with "Thrills of the Air." It must have been something to see. Motion picture flying stunt men and National Guard airmen above, and horses and riders below. The event was staged in cooperation with the Los Angeles Central Labor Council and Pasadena Labor Council; it benefited the Mt. Sinai Home for Chronic Invalids in Boyle Heights. 35,000 people attended.

Los Angeles Times, 5 September 1933

 

Edna May and Merle Little rode their Pinto horses at the 1933 Stampede and Rodeo. In this photo, Merle, on the right, is carrying the banner of the El Rodeo Club. Edna May appears to be riding Thunder, and Merle, Patch.

The 1934 Labor Day rodeo and wild west show at the Rose Bowl was sponsored by the California State Federation of Labor. It featured some of the top rodeo riders in the country.  Proceeds from the 1934 rodeo benefitted the annual convention of the Federation, held later the same month. 

Los Angeles Daily News, 6 August 1934

Los Angeles Evening News-Record, 29 August 1934

It was attended by several members of Hollywood's elite, according to the Los Angeles Evening Post-Record:

Los Angeles Evening News-Record, 29 August 1934

Edna May and Merle, fourth and fifth from left, posed along with other riders at the 1934 event. Merle is riding the tall Pinto Thunder; Edna May appears to be riding another Pinto, called Lightning, whose markings are different than Patch's (above).

A reported 7,000 people marched in a parade alongside several floats at this event.

___

Here's a link to information on the Mt. Sinai Home for Chronic Invalids, at USC's invaluable Scalar site: https://scalar.usc.edu/hc/jewish-histories-boyle-heights/mt-sinai-hospital-and-clinic-bikur-cholim-society

The Fiesta Invitation's in the Mail: Western Art by Ed Borein

Merle and Edna May Little participate in the
1935 Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade in Santa Barbara.

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to visit the Santa Barbara Historical Museum with friends. I spent a lot of time looking at the permanent Ed Borein Gallery, as well as the special exhibit "Project Fiesta!"

Ed Borein (1872-1945) was one of the few Western artists of the 19th and 20th century actually born in the Western United States. The Santa Barbara Historical Museum website summarizes his life and career (link to the website below):

...As a young man he roamed the western states and territories and much of Mexico, working as a cowboy and using his artistic talent to record these experiences. Developing a deep affection for the West, and nurtured by his free lifestyle as a cowboy, he soon became known as a facile and spontaneous recorder of cowboy and Indian life.

In his early thirties Borein decided to pursue a career as a professional artist and moved to New York City, where his studio soon became a favorite haunt for important figures such as Will Rogers, Charles M. Russell, Carl Oscar Borg and Buffalo Bill Cody.

Borein returned to his native California, married, and set up a permanent studio in Santa Barbara in 1921. His etchings, watercolors, and drawings quickly earned him a reputation as one of the foremost interpreters of the American West, and few artists have done so as accurately and skillfully as Borein.

"Ed Borein, the cow-puncher artist,"
San Francisco Call, 30 September 1900.

Apparently it was a tradition for the Fiesta to send out invitations to participants illustrated by Borein. This one, from 1933, is in another scrapbook that's part of the collection of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. (It's under glass in the Museum, thus the glare from the overhead indoor lights.)

This is a photograph of the 1933 Fiesta invitation. It's in the collection
of the Santa Barbara Historical Museum.

Parades are one of the many ways humans use horses to build community connections. By 1935, the Santa Barbara Fiesta Parade was such an important equestrian event that the Pasadena Tournament of Roses committee agreed to refrain from making horses a major feature of the annual New Year's Day parade, "conceding that Santa Barbara's Old Spanish Days fiesta remains the State's outstanding equine parade," according to a story in the Los Angeles Times.

Los Angeles Times, 20 January 1935

In an earlier post, I mentioned that Monrovia/Duarte horse rancher Merle Little kept a large scrapbook during the 1930s and '40s. It's full of newspaper clippings, photos, letters, Christmas cards, horse show programs, and other things related to horses and riding. Merle, often accompanied by his wife Edna May and sometimes by their daughters, took part in a wide variety of public events -- parades, rodeos, stock shows, trail rides -- all over Southern California, riding their Pinto and Morgan horses.

One of the most unique things Merle saved was an invitation to participate in the 1940 Old Spanish Days Fiesta Parade in Santa Barbara. It wasn't glued to a page, but rather just lying loose inside the large journal Merle used as a scrapbook. It, too, featured an Ed Borein illustration.

Many of the riders who received such invitations to take part in the annual Fiestas rode their horses to Santa Barbara, a journey which could take several days. Here's a photo from the Los Angeles Times of part of a group of 150, including some children, who made the trek from Los Angeles County to Santa Barbara in August 1940. When they got to Ventura, they were met by a party of 100 riders from Santa Barbara who finished the ride with them.

Los Angeles Times, 12 August 1940

One of the reasons for the ride, according to the Times story, was to promote the idea of an equestrian trail from San Diego to Santa Barbara.

I don't see photos, clippings, or other information in the scrapbook indicating whether he was able to attend in 1940. But a photo album from his estate contains an image of Merle, on the left, and his wife Edna May, on their Pinto horses in the 1935 Fiesta Parade.

The riders are identified in the photo as, left to right: Merle Little, Edna May Little, Russell Cotton, Leo E., and Mildred E. I don't have information yet on the last three.

Newspaper articles said a thousand horses had been expected to take part in the 1935 Fiesta Parade.

________

The Santa Barbara Historical Museum's Ed Borein Gallery is well worth seeing. This link provides information on the artist and many examples of his art.  

https://www.sbhistorical.org/borein-2

Western Horseman magazine did an article on Borein in 2018:  

https://westernhorseman.com/culture/out-west/roping-with-ed-borein/

Here's a link to the History of the Fiesta: 

https://www.sbfiesta.org/history-santa-barbara-fiesta

And here's the Santa Barbara News-Press article on "Project Fiesta!"  

https://newspress.com/project-fiesta/?fbclid=IwAR3bNtGCpWVgF_nDzhxOEHectKMfgUo2yp2AT21P2Gi0rEVPgEsZ8URVG5I