Cinema Art (November 1926)

CINEMA ART Colonel Ttm CWcCoy, “High A Former Cavalry Officer Is Using Genuine American Indians in a Series of Films (Jo Ion el Tim TMcCoy H E is tall and tanned and blue-eyed, of Irish extraction and his name is “High Eagle”! His other name is Colonel Tim McCoy, but he prefers “High Eagle,” because that is the name given him by his friends, the In- dians, whom he knows as well as any white man alive. When he left his home in Wyoming and started working on motion pictures the cin- ema gained, but the Indians did not lose a friend. Colonel T. J. McCoy, one of the greatest experts in Indian sign language and tribal lore, cavalry officer, once adjutant general of Wyoming, protege of General Hugh L. Scott (former chief of staff and world’s greatest authority on the Indian), has served the Gov- ernment time and time again in settling diffi- culties among the Indians on the reservations. He has been the Indian’s friend for years and he is going to continue so, because his greatest ambition is to tell the American public what the real Indian is like. “The average person thinks of an Indian as a stony-faced individual who goes about scalping people and setting fire to houses,” said Colonel McCoy. “No idea could be so false. It is to correct this idea and give the public something I know will be entertaining that 1 am helping make motion pictures.” McCoy was first connected with the mo- tion picture industry during the filming of “The Covered Wagon.” James Cruze, the director, found himself in a predicament. He could not get Indians to act in his picture. He could not make them understand what he wanted, so knowing McCoy’s reputation he asked him to come to Hollywood as technical director. T HE Colonel came and brought a num- ber of his friends, Indians, with him. By JOSEPHINE MacDOWELL Their great confidence in him told them that anything he said was for their good. They took his direction and even consented to appear on the stage in a prologue for the picture. He took the same group to Europe and they created such a furore and caused such wide comment that McCoy conceived the idea on which he is now working. McCoy knew that the American boy has no real conception of these magnificent people, and that this ignorance was not entirely con- fined to boys. Even adults have a false idea of the Indians. So McCoy determined to present on the motion picture screen the real American Indian, for he knew he would not only be doing a remarkable service to the red men, but would also be making pictures that were exciting, thrilling and entertaining. And he is now under contract to Metro- Goldwyn-Mayer to make Westerns that are entirely different from any Westerns ever made. It was not his original idea to act in these pictures, but when the studio executives discovered that he photographed well and had a great deal of talent along this line they in- sisted that he become a star and use the Indians in his pictures. Entirely different! That is the only way that his idea can be de- scribed. The pictures he will do are not to be made in the studio. Cameras, lights and equipment will be moved to the Indian reserva- tions in Wyoming, where the tribes of Arapahoe and Shoshone live, and the pic- tures will be “shot” on the home land. slapped on the back. That is why most people have the idea that they are hard and unsmiling. I want to show the public the gay, gentle side of the Indian, which it does not believe exists.” Colonel McCoy was referring to Goes-In- The-Lodge, who will have a prominent part in “War Paint,” which will be his first film. “If I used any other Indians and did not use him he would be heartbroken,” he said. “ TJ E got his name when he was just a 1 Y young brave. His tribe was fighting the Crows and the chief lay sleeping in his tepee. It was announced that the man who would enter that tepee and capture the enemy chief would be made the leader of the tribe. “One young brave volunteered. Instead of entering in the usual way he slit the side of the tepee and found not one man as he had ex- pected but three. He took all of them by storm and was victorious. His name is really ‘The Man Who Goes Into The Lodge Alone,’ but it has been shortened to Goes-In-The- Lodge.” The man is McCoy’s “brother” and he is perhaps even more loyal, more devoted to him than a blood brother would be. McCoy spoke of the fact that two tribes (Continued on page 49) I NEVER have been able to understand how my interest in and love for the Indians began,” said McCoy. “Instinctively I felt a kinship for them. Funny that an Irishman should feel himself a brother to these dignified, stoical people! But I have always felt at ease with them, and Goes-In-The-Lodge, an In- dian over eighty years old, is my ‘brother.’ He made him- self so. “The most mistaken idea that the average person has is that an Indian never smiles. Why, they are the gayest, happiest people in the world and they love a joke. Among themselves, or with a white man whom they trust, they are as carefree as any of us. But their dignity is their outstanding char- acteristic. Until they know a person well they are re- served. They draw into themselves when they are Colonel McCoy has been in the cavalry for many years and is an accomplished horseman Pane Thirty-tvvo