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| Pat Gibson and his horse Shamrock |
THE MYSTERIOUS "CIRCLE M RANCH" PHOTOGRAPHS OF RODEO COWBOY, PAT GIBSON - WHO LOOKED A LOT LIKE THE MOVIE'S ELDER "HOOT" GIBSON
THE PATIENCE REQUIRED TO PUT NAMES TO FACES
I have always been a sucker for photographic collections. I hate the fact so many of these incredible family and personal histories, are dumped at yard and estate sales, and sold off in job-lots at auctions. There are inclusions in photographs that many former owners dismiss as irrelevant but it is the exact opposite for archivist types like us. A vintage photograph may show a couple of kids posed in a downtown setting, of their hometown, but what might be of more significance to folks like Suzanne and I, is the fact the storefronts of a bygone era are clearly profiled as a background, or foreground. When trying to piece together the visual past, of regional history, we look for any images that offer panoramic overviews of local architecture, businesses, industry, accommodations, such as at resorts, hotels, and campgrounds; photos that show interiors of these same places, including hospitals, inside and out, arenas, outdoor rinks, recreational events, parades, and in some cases funerals. There are lots of inclusions we scan for, sorting through vintage photo collections, that could well help us identify, and validate certain historic claims, that might be in doubt. As an example, I had an argument with a well respected local historian, one afternoon, about the location of Bracebridge Barber - Artist, Bill Anderson's shop on Manitoba Street. As one of his customers, every two weeks, I knew the shop was in the most southerly corner of the former Patterson Hotel, opposite the clock tower. My colleague disagreed. I happened to have another historian mate, who offered me the use of a vintage photograph of the barber shop, if I wanted to settle the argument once and for all. I was right about its location. It was not necessary to rub it in, but it was important to me, because I had written a number of newspaper columns about this shop, and its location; so I was at least glad to know, for sure, I was spot-on in the hard copy.
For Part One of this short series of articles, you can archive back to yesterday's blog.
Charles F. Mavety isn't a name that rings the proverbial bell. At least in contemporary times. But in his heyday, and the run of the Circle M Ranch, a cowboy and country singer retreat, this rather unassuming fellow, was becoming a go-to movie promoter in the very early days of the cinema in Canada. Early westerns were even being filmed on the ranch property, bringing in some of the biggest actors of the day, to the rural clime of Kleinburg, Ontario. He was so significant to Hollywood, and the theatre business, that Billboard Magazine carried his obituary, on February 9, 1952. It read as follows:
"Mavety, Charles F., 54 years, Theatre owner and Canadian film industry figure, January 27 in Kleinburg, the owner of 'My Theatre" in Weston, Ontario. He founded and operated the Mavety Film Delivery Service, which he sold recently. He was also one of the founders of Canadian Picture Pioneers, and was the group's secretary at his death. His widow, a son and daughter survive."
Written by Hy Burstein, under the heading "Ride Em Jewish Cowboy," the online site notes the biographical information, beginning, "....in 1946 with World War II over, at the age of eighteen with driver's license in hand, I convinced my dad to loan me his 1938 Model Ford and I managed to get to the Circle M Ranch in outlying Kleinburg, 15 miles Northwest of Toronto, where you could rent horses by the hour, or house your own horse and pay boarding fees."
Hy Burnstein writes, "The Circle M Ranch stable was run by Al Greco, later known as Colonel. The Circle M. Ranch was a great place to ride and was also used as a movie studio for western-style movies. The man who owned it was Charles Mavety, quite a wealthy businessman, the sole distributer of Hollywood films to all the movie houses in Ontario. In 1946 Circle M. Ranch was the only decent place to rent a horse to ride. The countryside had hills, bush and a good choice of riding horses. Yes it was far. The only way to get there was by car, and to drive up. In 1946 it was something to be proud of especially after World War II."
Mr. Mavety, as I explained yesterday, made major fundraising efforts to assist the war; one being a $25,000 donation to help with the restoration work in England, and over 750,000 to the "Help Win The War," campaign in Canada. He could call on many of his Hollywood connections, and well known Canadian musicians, and actors, to help with these fundraising efforts.
Mavety, a native of Saskatchewan, was interested, early in his life, in the blossoming of the silent film industry, sensing there was a lot more to come in the future. He began as a film projectionist for a small theatre. He would be an integral part of this growing enterprise, and as owner of the Circle M Ranch, his own movie theatre in Weston, Ontario, and his role as a film distributor in the province, Mavety was also willing to take risks. For example, to help with the national effort to fundraise for the war effort, Mavety decided to hire Gene Autry's professional rodeo to come to his ranch. The rodeo represented everything Mavety was interested in; movies, cowboys, helpfulness, and friendship. The Autry effort was a fine start - $25,000 sent to Britain where bombs had created great hardships."
The bulk of the photographic collection we acquired this week, relates to a 1950's event at the Circle M Ranch, involving the visit of the Tex Ritter tour, as evidenced by the numerous signatures of an image published in yesterday's blog, the names belonging to the famous tour. (You can archive back to see this image)
There are sleuthing "dead-ends" every researcher / historian has to face, and kick down the street like an old tin can, (in frustration) as the inevitable result of those relevant figures to the story, (being pursued) having thrown corroborating materials into the trash. Generations in fact, dumping paper heritage in dumpsters, that could help us today, tie pieces of the chronology together. Way, way back, of course. It still happens a lot, that paper history is chucked instead of being offered to local historians, libraries, archives, researchers, and why not, antique dealers, specializing in regional and family history. This week, as I wrote about in yesterday's blog, Suzanne and I have been trying to sort out, and identify, a small, interesting collection of vintage photographs, taken from the late 1930's to 1950, at Kleinburg, Ontario's well known "Circle M Ranch," an equestrian centre, and film location for cowboy flicks, owned by the very ambitious Charles F. Mavety. Mavety owned his own movie theatre in Weston, Ontario, and was the lone distributor of Hollywood films in Canada, from the period they were pioneered in theatres. He was known by many of the biggest names in Hollywood, and in the country music scene generally, in those years, in North America; including performers like Wilf Carter and Tex Ritter. The collection of photographs we purchased included signatures of both gentleman plus a half dozen of Wilf Carter, posing with various guests at the Ranch in July 1950. Carter is photographed with former Canadian heavyweight champion, Eric Cryderman, who became a noted actor following his boxing career.
One of the conundrums, outside of the fact, there are still about fifteen individuals, photographed in the collection, who haven't yet been identified (10 have been successfully researched), there is one cowboy who is giving us a particular spot of trouble. I want to point out, first of all, that online research has drastically reduced research time, on most of these missions of discovery, and if we had been forced to employ travel, interviews and book-research instead, it would be months, if not most of a year, to infill the names of these same cowboys and musicians. Even before we brought the collection home, Suzanne knew a great deal about the Ranch and the good Mr. Mavety, and his son, Joe (Charles Jr.), a hugely successful musician and sessions player in Canada, Britain and the United States. With the collection in hand, it took about an hour to start putting the names to faces, and after only five dedicated hours, we are at least a third of the way through what we perceive our estimated time, to get all the answers needed. When we do pass this collection on, sometime down the road, we want the information to be as complete as possible. This is our hallmark. If we don't fulfill what we feel is our obligation of stewardship, then rightly so, we feel like goofs-ups in the archive-business, and substandard in the antique profession. We never attain the perfect we would like, because we are often dealing with records that are long gone, and so obscure, even Sherlock Holmes couldn't find it through the fog of the moor, hidden in the old castle.
So here now is the problem of getting past the biggest-of-big hurdles, to making complete sense out of the photo collection. Part of the collection, included a nicely framed panorama of the "Circle M Ranch" that is inscribed to Pat Gibson, from Charles Mavety, dated 1937. The first eight photographs in the collection, taken non-professionally on the ranch property, are of the good Mr. Gibson, on his horse, named "Shamrock." As you will see from the reproductions of three of these photographs, seen above today's blog, the horse hardware, and the cowboy's belt, carry the embellished raised name in brass, "Pat Gibson." The horse is identified as Shamrock, which is noted by looking at two images in the collection, showing both angles of rider and mount. One shows clearly the "Sham," and on the other side, "rock." The images show Mr. Gibson, presumably the same fellow, Mr. Mavety, ranch owner, inscribed the panoramic scene for, riding the horse from a standing position, then leaping over it, while it laid on its back, and another, showing the horse rearing up, while the cowboy waves to the photographer. Here's the issue. Who the heck is Pat Gibson anyway? What relationship did he have to the Mavetys and to the Circle M Ranch…
There are facial parallels in archive photographs between Pat Gibson, in these photographs, and the Hollywood cowboy actor, Edmond Richard "Hoot" Gibson. Striking in fact. Hoot never owned a horse named Shamrock, at least according to our research thus far. But it is more than likely that Hoot Gibson did know of Charlie Mavety, and his distribution of films, some he probably starred in, during the 1930's in particular. Mavety knew a lot of these stars of the silver screen, including Tom Mix, Hop-a-Long Cassidy, Roy Rogers and Gene Autry. It's not beyond the realm of possibility then, that Hoot Gibson may have visited Mavety at some time, during a visit to Canada which we know he made. If this fellow is not Hoot Gibson, he must have been significant otherwise, because he certainly is well appointed, and his horse looking magnificent, probably with a green and white striped saddle bordering. Judging by his prowess on his trusty steed, this Mr. Gibson was probably well established on the rodeo circuit, and possibly as an actor in some capacity in the films shot at the Circle M Ranch, dating back to that 1937 signed panorama, of the Kleinburg property, inscribed to Mr. Gibson.
The fact this rodeo star looks like the great "Hoot" Gibson himself, might suggest he is related somehow to the Hollywood actor, although we currently can't associate him in this regard, as a cousin, nephew or brother. Possibly he is listed on an actor's roll in some archives that has never otherwise been published online. As well, it's possible he was a regular rodeo performer, and may as well be listed with some associated organization, that maintains such records. Despite several hours of searching online, which is still a pretty modest investment of research time, we have at least ruled-out a lot of possibilities, and come up with a number of theories; one of which being that Pat Gibson may have been performing as a sort of tribute to Hoot Gibson, for rodeo purposes, which in entertainment is pretty ordinary today; such as with music tributes, and characterizations by actors, of performers such as Elvis and The Beatles. We have to at least consider this, and rule it out if information gathered in the future, points us in a different direction. We are always interested in hearing from our friends, who may have some insights about the photographs of the talented Mr. Gibson, and his beautiful horse, Shamrock. Was Mr. Gibson representing his Irish ancestry? Maybe! We read above about a Jewish Cowboy so maybe Pat was an Irish Cowboy.
Tomorrow, via this blog, I will share another small collection of photographs part of the Circle B Ranch collection. Your input is always welcome.
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