The Story of Kentucky Boy, Hollywood's Hero Dog

On August 15th, 1929, a fire broke out at the Evans Studio.  Fortunately, the fire was extinguished before it did much damage.  There was an estimated loss of $25,000 in draperies and antiques, but the building was in good enough shape to host a talk by Dr Jogesh Misrow in late September.

The short report in the Los Angeles Times also mentions that the fire was put out before it could threaten the Mar-Cal Theater, which it claimed adjoined the studio.  However, what it didn't mention was the role of Kentucky Boy, the dog that saved the studio.

 

The basic story of Kentucky Boy's heroic deed is pretty straightforward.  On that fateful night, the 7 year old Airedale was out for a long walk with his owner, Robert Byrne.  While heading down Hollywood Blvd, Kentucky Boy broke loose, running for the Evans Studio.  When Byrne finally caught up, he found the dog scratching at a side door, smoke pouring out.  He raised the alarm and the fire was quickly put out.  For his actions, Kentucky Boy was awarded a medal by the State Humane Society.  Very quickly, his fame grew, as did the story of his heroic efforts.

Word spread of his medal, inspiring local humane societies and other groups to honor the dog.  Over the next several years, Kentucky Boy amassed 19 such medals, including ones bestowed by the mayor of Los Angeles and the governor of California. Stories about his honors and exploits were printed around the country.

From The Cincinnati Enquirer

 He even appeared in ads for dog food.

 

Interestingly, the story of the fire was often changed and embellished whenever it was retold.  In fact, the only article that I found that mentions the Evans Studio was from a couple of months after the fire.  After that, it was at best implied that the building that was saved was a film studio, often it was explicitly called a Hollywood motion picture studio.  In some accounts, fire was bellowing from the building by the time Kentucky Boy arrived, and studio employees were running around in a panic!  Other accounts moved the studio to "Poverty Row" (i.e. nearby Gower St.), again implying that it was a movie studio.

Of course, simply saving a building would not be enough to warrant giving a dog 19 medals.  He was also credited with saving the lives of nearly 300 people who were watching a film in the Mar-Cal Theater.  As mentioned earlier, the initial report of the fire said that the studio adjoined the theater, suggesting that if the fire had not been noticed, the theater would have also been set ablaze.  However, there's one small problem with that story.  The studio was not next to the theater.

Between the 2 buildings was the former Mabel Condon Exchange, as well as 2 driveways.  None of the 3 buildings were physically connected, so for the theater to have caught fire, the flames would have had to have jumped over the 2 driveways.  Possible, of course, but one would think that by the time the second building would have been engulfed, the theater would have already been evacuated.

The Evans Studio is the white building on the left and the Mar-Cal Theater is the large building on the right.

Tall tales or not, Kentucky Boy's fame lasted until his death in 1937.  A memorial service was held in Lafayette Park where several dignitaries, including actor Hobart Bosworth, gave eulogies.

 

Sadly, 2 years after Kentucky Boy's death, his owner Robert Byrne was murdered in his home.  So far, I have not found any indication that the crime was ever solved, although at least 2 people were arrested.

Cinevent 49

Cinevent 49 took place over the Memorial Day weekend in downtown Columbus.  One of the last remaining movie conventions, it is one of my most anticipated events of the year.  Not only to I get to see many great obscure movies, there is also a large dealers room full of a variety of movie memorabilia.  Usually, I can find a few Evans items, but this year was above average and included a few surprises.

Arcade cards are the most common item I tend to find, but this year I only came away with 3 new ones.

 It's always nice to find another early photo of Colleen Moore and Earle Williams looks quite dapper.  The May Allison card shows some odd retouching, but I do have an 8x10 of this same photo.  I also got another photo of Ms. Allison at the convention.

And it turns out that I had purchased another portrait of her by Evans without initially realizing it.  I found a copy of the December 1919 issue of Motion Picture Classic magazine.  Inside were 2 articles illustrated with Evans photos, one about Alice Lake, another Betty Compton (for which he has a byline).  There are also a few advertisements that use his photos.  However, it wasn't until after I purchased it that I read in the table of contents a note about the cover art.  The cover is a painting of May Allison, based on a photograph by Evans.  And by the look of it, one that was taking during the same photo session as the card above.

 Among a group of 5x7 fan photos that I found was this one of John Bowers.  Bowers is probably best known for his 1936 suicide, which was supposedly an inspiration for the film 'A Star is Born'.

Surprisingly, I only found 1 bathing beauty item that I did not already have, this nice double-weight photo of Vera Reynolds.

Finally, I came across this photo of Betty Blythe, a promotion for the California Theatre, which was in downtown Los Angeles.  The theatre often used Evans photos in their promotions, although this is only the second one that I've purchased.

Along with these Evans items, I also bought a number of DVDs and Blurays.  None of them were of silents, so I didn't expect anything Evans related on them.  But I was wrong.  Arguably the least likely to have any Evans references was a set of the British television series 'The Mind of J.G. Reeder.'  Based upon stories written by Edgar Wallace, which are great reads, I had been wanting to see the series for some time and was delighted to be able to finally get my hands on it.  Shortly after getting back home from the convention, I popped the first disc of the set into the dvd player.  Set in the 20s, the series has that cliched 'feathers-and-art-deco' look that in the late 60s/early 70s passed for the era in question.  However, one set representing the lodgings of a couple of ex-cons, the usual flashiness wouldn't have been appropriate, so the timeframe was defined by covering the walls with photos of various actresses, presumably cut from fan magazines.  There were a few bathing beauty type photos, although it was difficult to tell if any were by Evans.  But there was one large and very prominent photo of Gloria Swanson that was definitely taken by Evans.  Very unexpected! 

Apparently popular among fictional British criminals.

   

Buster at 100: Keaton's Leading Ladies in Pictures

This is my contribution to the Third Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon, hosted by the excellent Silent-ology blog.  This year's blogathon is a celebration of the 100th anniversary of start of Keaton's film career.

So far in my research I have only come across one Evans photo of Buster.  It most likely was taken around the time he started his solo career in 1920.

Evans may have only photographed Keaton on this one occasion, but he did create portraits of some of Buster's leading ladies, both on and off the screen.

Probably the earliest of these portraits is this one of Phyllis Haver.  Phyllis appeared along side Buster in The Balloonatic (1923).  Of course, a few years earlier she gained fame as one of Mack Sennett's bathing beauties and was photographed many times by Evans at the time.  This particular photo seems to be from very early in her career, probably at the beginning of 1917.

Alice Lake was the lead actress in several of the excellent films Buster made with Roscoe Arbuckle at the beginning of his career.  This is one of my favorite Evans photos, very modern but taken before 1920.

Arguably the most popular of Buster's leading ladies is Sybil Seely.  Like Phyllis (and another Buster co-star, Virginia Fox), Sybil spent some time with Sennett as a bathing beauty.  Her tour of duty came after Evans had left the studio, but he did at least one portrait session with her.

One of Keaton's first leading ladies off the screen was actress Viola Dana.  Alas, the romance didn't last very long.  Evans photographed Viola (as well as her sister Shirley Mason) many times.

Evans doesn't appear to have done any portraits of Keaton's first wife, Natalie Talmadge, but he did photograph her more famous sister, Constance.  Normally I would apologize for pulling a switch like this, but considering the low opinion many Keaton fans have of Natalie, perhaps it is for the best!  BTW, another favorite photo of mine. 

The Evans Estate in Hollywood

Whenever I visit Hollywood, one of the places I almost always make an effort to see is the street that the Evans family lived from about 1918 to 1940.  Granted, their home is long gone (as are all of the homes of their neighbors), but they managed to leave their mark on the landscape.

The area of west Hollywood south of Sunset Blvd was mostly citrus groves in 1918, when Charlie Chaplin built his studio there, just along Le Brea Ave.  Most buyers in this quickly developing neighborhood purchased small home lots.  But the Evans family was thinking more on the scale of Chaplin, buying a parcel of land 2 blocks west that was slightly larger than the comedian's studio.

A description of the property can be found in volume 3 of The History of Los Angeles County, published in 1923, shortly after Nelson's death:

The Evans home in Hollywood is unique.  Though situated in the heart of the city, it is so secluded that those unfamiliar with its location would pass it by entirely.  A blind street leads to the gate, and a fence is built around the entire acreage.  A large orange grove extends through two streets.  The family house is a place of three stories, quaint and of great beauty.

Sometime after Nelson passed away, the east and west sides of the property were sold off, with the rest going after 1936.  At some point after Nelson's mother died in 1940, nearly, the entire street had been redeveloped and is now mostly apartment buildings.

However, the footprint of the estate can still be seen.  The 'blind street' mentioned above is Alta Vista.  At the time, it essentially served as the Evans' driveway.  Most of the streets in the neighborhood were originally wide lanes that gave access to the groves.  As the area was developed, the lanes were narrowed as they were turned into streets.  Except Alta Vista, up to the entrance to the Evans property.  Contemporary aerial photos show that there were 3 palm trees down the middle of the street, and then the street ends with a wide turn-around.  Today, the 3 palm trees are still there and the turn-around marks the spot where the street now narrows, jogs a bit to the west and then continues through what was once the estate.

Looking south down Alta Vista

Here's an aerial view of the area.  The yellow box outlines the original footprint of the estate and the red box is a rough approximation of the property in 1930.  The blue box shows the area of the Chaplin Studio.

Another studio that was close by was the Pickford-Fairbanks Studio.  Built around 1918 as the Hampton Studio, Doug and Mary took it over in 1922.  Many of Fairbanks most famous films were shot there.  Here's a photo of the studio at the time of the filming of The Thief of Bagdad; the Evans property can be seen just a block north.

The large stand of trees just to the north of the studio is the Evans estate.