Circle M Ranch, Charles F. Mavety, Wilf Carter, Tex Ritter and Hank Silby; Cowboys On Film and Cowboys On Stage

Autographed photo at  Circle M Ranch during the visit of The Tex Ritter Tour with signatures by members of the group including Ritter, Slim Roberts, Hank Silby, Spud Goodale, Dickie Robinson

Wilf Carter, left,  with former boxing champ/actor Eric Cryderman who went on perform in Rodeo events at The Circle M Ranch. He also had a role on the Forest Rangers and Littlest Hobo. He once boxed the great Joe Lewis.

Do you know these performers who played at Charles Mavety Ranch in Kleinburg in the 1940's. Could it be members of Tex Ritter's Tour Band?

SMALL PHOTOGRAPHIC COLLECTION FROM THE "CIRCLE M" RANCH, IN KLEINBURG, OFFERING A BIT OF COUNTRY AND COWBOY FILM HERITAGE

CHARLIE MAVETY WAS KNOWN FOR COWBOY FILMS, SINGING COWBOYS, AND HIS LOVE FOR HORSES

PART ONE

     What turns on a couple of elder statesmen (husband and wife) antique dealers, these days, who have pretty much seen and owned it all, at one time or other, in the past thirty years of business? A bag of vintage photographs with provenance for one thing. How's that possible? What kind of photographs? Vintage nudes? Sexually explicit images? Early Playboy originals? Nah! Who needs stuff like that? Yet what kind of black and white photographs, with those ugly bent corners, and yellowing of age, from such a bygone era as the 1930's to 1950's, would be even more alluring than a night of champagne, caviar and after dinner ballroom dancing? You see, I write things like this, in order to find out if my partner really does read my blog. Though she denies it to my face. If she's sneaking a peak, the statement above will set her off like a Roman candle on the fourth of July. I hate ballroom dancing, can't stomach caviar, (neither can she), and champagne gives a fellow with a hiatus hernia, like me, a night reliving the sinking of the Titanic, with no life preserver. The over-riding situation here, is that my dear wife is a research maniac, and I even have to insist she stop for a breather, or to go to bed, on her multi-hour jags at the computer. We are both mystery lovers, in our choice of movies and television shows, and well, piecing together historical paperwork is pretty neat, on those nights when we don't go ballroom dancing. Let's just say we have a little wiggle room in this area. Not everyone's cup of tea, but it works for off-duty antiquarians looking for some non aggressive recreation. We don't climb mountains, or go white-water rafting, and there's not much danger associated with paper sleuthing except getting paper cuts.
     Putting ourselves to work to find the linkage between the photographs, inscriptions and autographs, and if they have any historical relevance, beats all other sources of entertainment. We're not closed minded, and that's the point. We love to take on an adventure, but having one unfold indoors is good too. That may seem damn sad, and pathetic of us, to admit this form of thrill seeking re-boots the cranky, tired Curries; but when you've lived the life of a freelance archivist / historian, for three decades, it's true that following a paper trail, can be more exciting than paddling a canoe to the far horizon, or, yes, being locked overnight in a candy store. The information we can ferret-out, can turn a plastic bag of dog eared photographs (or letters etc.) into a treasure chest of profoundly connected images, making up a chapter of family, regional, provincial, national or international history. Let's just say there's a lot of back slapping and cheering, when we finally start connecting the dots, and pull what had been a scattered lot of puzzle pieces, into what can only be described as the "big picture." In this case, we've got a lot of small pictures that tell a big, big story. And it spins off into the successful music career of Joe Mavety, a Canadian guitarist of immense acclaim. All of it having come together for us, when we took a chance and purchased a small collection of photographs, that yes came in a bag, and a beat-up album, that didn't speak for the immense value contained within.
     There have been fifty or so occasions, since Suzanne and I began our antique business, back in the late 1980's (I had a family antique business before this), when we've made estate acquisitions, that other dealers chose to avoid, due to the lack of old furniture, glass, china, silver, and related vintage bric-a-brac. In other words, and in their minds, "the good stuff was already gone." In these cases for us, the more distinguishable antiques, most dealers climb all over themselves for, had already been sorted and taken by family members, or given to those who had been promised pieces by the particular estate. We got the remainders, and yes, just before the boxes of old paper and photographs were hauled off to the landfill site. I hate the "gone forever" scenarios, when family of these estates, would let us know they threw all the paper away, early in the process of settling the property affairs of a relative. In other words, they facilitated "a clear-out". Words we never want to hear, but do so regularly. If they only knew how much money they lost by being indiscriminate in this fashion, they'd probably collapse in agony. So we don't say anything more, than "well, that's too bad. It's what we buy most of these days." A lot of antique dealers we know today, find ephemera a nuisance to deal with, and although they will often buy it as a job-lot, at auctions or estate sales, it's because they know someone who deals with paper heritage, stamps, postal covers, post cards, personal letters, handwritten journals, advertising, invoices or historic documents. It is a "fiddly" business as Suzanne calls it, but Suzanne and I have apprenticed with several accomplished archivist-types, and old paper collectors, and we both feel comfortable sitting amidst mountains of documents, letters and photographs, trying to figure out what they represent, and if there is any heritage significance. You'd be surprised at what linkages and historical relevance we can sleuth-out, of what most of our contemporaries would find a waste of time, and unprofitable.
     This week, an antique colleague offered us a small but significant photographic and autograph collection, that centered on the historic Kleinburg, Ontario property, known in its heyday of the 1930's, 1940's and early 50's, as the "Circle M Ranch," owned by a curious and industrious fellow, by the name of Charles Mavety. Mavety's ranch was well known for its horse-back-riding facility, taken advantage of by thousands of visitors over the years of its operation. The large property was also used as a suitable place for filming early westerns, and he played host to some of the biggest Hollywood cowboys, and some of the best known musicians of the period, including Canada's Wilf Carter, and American cowboy singer, Tex Ritter.
     Seeing as our family is in the vintage music business, (including antiques) and both sons, Andrew and Robert, currently play in a country band known as "Grant Tingey and Hired Gun," I jumped-on the opportunity to own this small but historic photographic collection, that we could, for a time, use as display in our Gravenhurst shop. We do hang on to some of our special finds, but always share them with our shop visitors, who would never get to see them otherwise. We used to run a community museum and run tours of the property. We still delight in offering these special exhibits, which we are considering for this collection. In fact, I bought it without even seeing the images, because our colleague is always spot-on, with his overviews of items, he's either selling at the moment, or is negotiating to acquire. The album was falling apart, when he handed it over to me, but with a quick glance through, gosh, it was spectacular. If of course, you like old time country music, and images of musicians, and have an interest in cowboys, it will seem mildly precious. If not, well, too bad for you! I grew up loving cowboys. I wanted to be one, which would explain the family pictures of me wearing a holster, with gun drawn, and a tiny white cowboy hat tilted to one side of my head. So seeing this collection, for the first time, was just staggering to me, and I could hardly wait to show it to both our lads, and Suzanne, who are part of the country resurgence imposing on our new century lives; and of course, our combined antique and music shop, is always a showplace of old time music and nostalgia. It was the perfect fit.
     My dealer friend handed me a nicely framed panoramic scene, circa 1937, of the Circle M Ranch, with an inscription and signature to Pat Gibson, from his friend Charles Mavety, owner of the ranch. From what we can gather, Pat Gibson was a rodeo performer, who had connected with Mavety early-on, in the operation of the ranch property, because he appears in the 1940's, in both a special parade in Toronto, in the early years of the Second World War, promoting a rodeo performance, which if our information is correct, was used as a fundraiser to help-out in war-torn England. There are pictures of Gibson doing stunts on his horse, in the early going of the photographic collection, which we believe belonged to him, and may have been acquired originally from his estate. We are still researching these facts.
     When I brought the binder-full back to the shop, when I got home from my minor road-trip, Suzanne and Andrew found identifying details about the photographs inside the first ten minutes. A little quicker than usual, but they had been eagerly awaiting the album's arrival, and had some preliminary information to whet their appetite. The first discovery, other than the original signature of Tex Ritter (father of the late comedian John Ritter, of the sitcom "Three's Company"), and the autograph of Canadian country singer, Wilf Carter, also known as Montana Slim, there were many more autographs and names to decipher, which for an archivist, is what turns the proverbial crank. Prior to this, however, Suzanne had already done preliminary research on the Circle M Ranch and Mavety, (because there was a 24 hour delay, from the point we made the purchase, until we actually picked it up from our source). We are an impatient lot, let me tell you. But we get results.
     The first information we garnered, when searching the Circle M Ranch online, was finding the biography of the late Canadian guitarist, Joe Mavety, son of property owner, Charles Mavety. For one thing, we found that the Mavety family was a talented bunch, and were big on the entertainment scene in numerous capacities. Joe Mavety, an incredible on-stage performer, with the kind of creative genius with a guitar, that got the attention of some of the finest and most recognized musicians of his time, having played with a variety of bands over the decades; he passed away, in Toronto, on September 25th, 2013, after a battle with pulmonary cancer. The online article, under the byline Marie Deflece, highlights Joe's stellar career, from the time on the Ranch, when he found an old acoustic guitar left in a bunk house, until he earned the status of being one of the most talented and reliable sessions musicians in the country. Rather than try to interpret the excellent story, composed by Marie Deflece, you can look it up online by searching Joe Mavety and the Circle M Ranch.
     The online article notes that Joe's father, Charlie, "was the sole distributor for Hollywood films in Ontario, when the whole cinema industry first started during the 20th century."  Charlie Mavety also owned the "Mavety Theatre" in Toronto, where a lot of those pioneering westerns played to full houses. The author indicates, "The Circle M Ranch being a highly successful horse riding ranch, was also used in the early days for the filming of many early cowboy, and western films, starring the likes of Roy Rogers, Hop-a-Long Cassidy and Gene Autry." The property, that is bordered by the Humber River, was formerly the site of the early 1960's CBC classic "The Forest Rangers." "In 1940," Marie Deflece writes, "Joe's father (Charlie F. Mavety Sr.) spearheaded a fundraising event resulting in $712,000 being raised and donated to the 'Win The War,' campaign. Joe's mother Norma, was a young British showgirl who came to Canada with the RAF. Joe's father was tragically killed in an automobile accident just months after Joe was born. That left his mother along to raise both Joe and his older sister. The ranch where Joe was born was later sold and the family then relocated to Toronto."
     The Ranch, in its Golden Years, played host to many huge celebrities of film and country music, and the photographs published above show three examples of the collection, and include a picture of country singer, Wilf Carter, left in picture, with Canadian actor, and former Heavyweight Boxing Champion, of Canada, Eric Cryderman, who in 1933, boxed the legendary Joe Lewis. Cryderman was inducted into the Canadian Boxing Hall of Fame. He appeared in the movie "Winter Comes Early," and the well known CBC kids show from the early 1960's, "The Forest Rangers," and "The Littlest Hobo." On the photograph showing the Ranch's "Lorado Jail," some of the autographs include, "Tex Ritter," "Hank Silby," also known as comedian "Quincy Snodgrass," "Alan 'Slim' Roberts," "Spud Goodale," and "Dickie Robinson," all part of the Tex Ritter Touring Group, that visited the Kleinburg ranch, owned by the Mavety family.
     The third photograph, also taken at the Circle M Ranch sometime in the 1940s, is potentially a component of the Tex Ritter group, but we've been having a difficult time making positive identification. Hey, if you know who these folks are, we would be greatly indebted, if you could help us out. The gentleman crouched on the left side, (without a cowboy hat), is picking up his glasses. We're pretty sure the guitarist on the right side, is not Tex Ritter but we aren't one hundred percent sure. So please, do not be bashful if you have anything to add.
     I'll publish additional photographs from the same collection in tomorrow's blog. Please join me!