Page 4 - carey-bunse_habs_ca2712

) HARRY CAREY RANCH
) (Clougherty Ranch)
HABS No. CA-2712 (Page 4)

The Carey Ranch and the Santa Clarita Valley in the Context of the Film Industry

The Western has been a staple of American film_ from the earliest days of the industry and
California has played a key role in the evolution of the Western film, as with all aspects
of the American film industry. The Santa Clarita Valley also played a distinct role in the
development of the Western film in California. It is within this context-the role of the
Santa Clarita Valley in the evolution of the Western film in California- that the
) importance of the Harry Carey Ranch can best be appreciated.

) The birth of American film may be placed at various points. Arguably, the movies as we
know them date to 1902, when the first dedicated motion picture theater was opened (in
Los Angeles, appropriately enough). Mass interest in viewing films dates in large part to
the internationally successful science fiction film, La Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the
Moon), directed by George Melies and released in 1902. The first broadly successful
American film was a Western-The Great Train Robbery (1903), directed by Edwin
Porter. It told a classic Western story, that of a train robbery by Butch Cassidy and the
Sundance kId. It was not, however, filmed inthe West; the picture was shot on location
in New Jersey. Among its other achievements, the film introduced the actor "Broncho
Billy" Anderson, who would do much to advance the Western as a popular film genre.

The American film industry coalesced quickly in response to huge increases in ticket
sales in the mid- to late 191 Os. In 1908, a group of motion picture makers and
() distributors in New York formed the Motion Pictures Patent Company, or MPPC. The
MPPC members pooled their various patents in an attempt to gain a virtual monopoly on
the technologies and receipts of this emerging industry. The MPPC, as much as any
other factor, encouraged filmmakers to leave the New York City area, seeking studio
locations outside the watchful eye of the film trust. In time, most of these companies
would settle in the Los Angeles area. 4
-C)

It was not obvious at the time that Los Angeles would emerge as the center of the film
industry, or even as the center of the industry in California. In 1912, before most of the
Los Angeles studios had been established, the Essenay Film Manufacturing Company
had built a substantial studio in Niles, part of modem Fremont, California, near San Jose.
The name derived from "S" and "A," with the "S" standing for George Spoor, the
principal investor in the company, and the "A" for Broncho Billy Anderson. Anderson
was already a film star by 1912, having made dozens of popular Westerns for the
company in their original Chicago studio. 5

McCaleb, recorded June 2, 1948, Deeds 27336:1_65; Grantee - Grantor indexes, Los Angeles County Clerk and
Recorder Office; Property records, Los Angeles County Assessor's Office.
4
Tim Dirks, "Film History By Decade," www.filmsite.org/pre 1920intro (I 996-2000).
5
David Kiehn, "A Short History of Essanay Film Company in Niles," http://www.essanavfilmmfgco.com/ (2000).
The Essenay Studio is famous, not only for its Broncho Billy Westerns, but also for the early films of Charlie