Colleen Moore
Biography, Images
and Notes
With the endo of her association with Selig Polyscope, Colleen scrabbled to find more work. She had no agent or other representation, and did all the footwork herself, collected her clippings and presumably a reel of her work herself.
In the Culver City Ince studio, she landed her next role opposite Charles Ray in a baseball-themed picture called The Busher. Thomas Ince had started directing with the Biograph Company, and during his early years supervised productions for Carl Laemmle’s IMP company, and eventually moved to California to supervise the New York Motion Picture Company's new west coast plant, Bison Studios, in the former Los Angeles neighborhood of Edendale. Finally, he established his own studio, nicknamed “Inceville” (technically the "Miller 101 Bison Ranch Studio") in the Santa Ynez canyon, at a tract of land owned by The Miller Bros of Ponca City, Oklahoma. He leased the 101 Ranch and Wild West Show from the Miller Bros., bringing the whole troupe west from Oklahoma, and they became his stock troupe. The new studio was an isolated location that was only accessible via a combination of streetcars, hired wagons, and hiking, but it was a large plant and self-contained, with stages, offices, dressing rooms and all the necessities of film production. By 1916, he left the New York Motion Picture Company and had moved from Santa Ynez to what would become Culver City. That was where Colleen would work.
Ince had proven to be an innovative individual in motion pictures, having re-established the western genre. Westerns were cheap to produce, could be staged easily in landscapes largely unchanged since the arrival of civilization, and because they were shot outdoors, westerns could be staged with a minimum of equipment. Western literature and historic figures who had helped create wester lore provided plenty of inspiration. Because of these factors, the western had been suffering from overexposure. Audiences had become tired of the same stagey look and stories recycled over and over. Ince injected a new authenticity into his productions with his new stock troupe, and made a star of William S. Hart. Ince’s star was in ascendance.
He was not limited to westerns, and produced films in a variety of genres, with a number of stars; Charles Ray was one of Ince’s biggest stars, and being cast as the romantic lead opposite Ray was another stroke of luck for Colleen. The Busher would be “the country type of picture, with Mr. Ray as the baseball wonder of the local team,” directed by Jeremy Storm, who had directed several of Ray’s most popular films. An actor named Jack Gilbert was cast as the heavy, Jim Blair. He would find fame under the name John Gilbert. The production took about a month to shoot, and Colleen’s part was typical of the sort of wholesome girl as befit an All-American hero-type who suffered through hard time and emerged triumphant, his girl awaiting him.
From The Busher, Colleen moved to Fox Films and a new production, swapping the earnest hard-working Charles Ray hero for the flashier Tom Mix.
William S. Heart, who had helped revive the western with Ince, and a long face full of character: a Shakespearean actor, he had been taken American western lore and went to great lengths to ensure the authenticity of his performances and appearance. Tom Mix had grown up around horses. He had enlisted in the Army during the Spanish–American War, though eventually left the service. He was an accomplished horseman and expert shot who had worked at the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch. His film career began with Selig in 1909, and by 1919 he had started to eclipse Hart as the best-known western star. While Hart aimed for authenticity and grittiness, Mix was flashy and photogenic.
Mix, however, did not entirely shun authenticity. His next film, The Wilderness Trail, would be shot in Arizona. Mix had been shooting films in and around Prescott since the Selig years with the Granite Dells or Watson and Willow Lakes as backgrounds, but this time he was looking for a new location: he settled on Flagstaff. Though the film would be shot in Arizona, it was to be an adventure set in the far North. Mix would play the part of Robert MacTavish, new head commissioner of the Hudson Bay Company in the Canadian Northwest. Colleen was cast as Jeanne, daughter of MacTavish’s rival. Jeanne was in love with MacTavish’s son Donald. As often happened to Colleen’s characters in those early days, she would be abducted and in need of rescue.
Colleen had a crush on Mix. “Tom was a tall, handsome man, part Indian—and proud of that, too—with a slim no-hips figure and a face tanned to leather by the sun. He had strong jaw lines, a large, slightly hooked nose, ebony black hair, and brown eyes so dark they were almost black. In my love scenes with him I nearly swooned away….”
With her success in motion pictures, Colleen’s family had moved out to join her. Colleen’s mother typically accompanied her on locations. Colleen wrote that Tom considered Colleen a little girl, and that he was more interested in Colleen’s mother, but that was fine by her. She just wanted to be around Tom. She’d listen to him tell stories for hours. The mix troupe was a lively bunch that took over the town. In the story “Lively for Mix,” the Los Angeles Times of March 16th, 1919, (page III9) reported that the Commercial Hotel had been renamed the Mix House, with a sign atop the entrance reading:
“Mix Café.
Tom Mix Manager.
Operated under the Personal Super-
vision of Mr. Mix.
All Complaints must be made in per-
son to Mr. Mix.
Between the hours of 8 and 9.
In the back yard ad 15 paces.
(Leave name of next of kin.)
Mrs. Frank Harrison (phone 139), writing in the Flagstaff Coconino Sun on February 14th, 1919, reported the sign was in the hotel lobby, and that it only renamed the dining room, not the entire hotel. The Los Angeles Times story, however, doubtless sold more copies.
Production in Flagstaff lasted until Sunday night, February 2rd, when Mix left town. The next day the rest of the troupe departed by train. Interiors were shot in Los Angeles and the picture was in the can.