What It Was Like to be an Extra in "Junior Bonner"

Sam Peckinpah was in Prescott directing the 199th movie made in Yavapai County, “Junior Bonner, when he noticed a nude painting titled “Olympia” by Earl MacPherson. Peckinpah thought it would be perfect hanging behind the Palace bar for some scenes he would shoot there. When asked if the movie could use his painting, MacPherson bargained that they could if he was hired as an extra. Peckinpah was happy to agree. Thus began an interesting, four-day, behind-the-scenes experience for the painter.

Prescott's Best Early Movie

 

If newspaper reviews are any indication, “The Power of Silence” (the sixth movie made in Prescott) was the best one Lubin produced there in 1912. After reading the glowing critiques and lively descriptions, one is left only to lament its loss.

The Forgotten Westerns of Prescott: 1912

This article was inspired by the hard work of Tom Slaback, whose comprehensive list of the movies made in Prescott lives on the Sharlot Hall Museum website. (CLICK HERE)

1912 was the year the Lubin Manufacturing Company set up shop in Prescott to produce western motion pictures. In a mere four-month span, they produced nine one-reel western shorts.

First Movie Made in Prescott: The Cringer

The only surviving image from "The Cringer"

There are no known surviving copies of the first movie filmed in Yavapai County. However, a nationwide search of movie reviews and newspaper accounts for “The Cringer” offers a reasonable, albeit general, recapitulation of the film and some of its background.

That's My Daddy! (at Frontier Days)

Lester Ruffner, Arena Director, Frontier Days

Early etiquette at movie theaters was sacred. People paid good money to watch and demanded to do so without distraction. But there was an occasional time when the silence was broken and even more rarely, when it was excused.

Hollywood's First Child-Star Was a Prescott Girl

Virginia Lee (born LaVerne) Corbin

On March 2nd, 1910, the Weekly Journal-Miner reported that Mrs. LE Corbin, wife of a wealthy business owner in Prescott, left for Long Beach, CA, to visit relatives there for several weeks. The couple’s parting must have been both cordial and celebrated, for nine months later, on December 5th, a future star was born.

The couple named her Virginia LaVerne Corbin, but outside Prescott, she would become known as Baby Virginia Lee Corbin; “The Dresden Doll,” comparing her fair complexion to the celebrated porcelain-headed playthings. 

1921: The Birth of the Smoki People

As the end of the 20th century approached, Smoki ceremonies, performed by Anglos disguised as Native Americans, became increasingly controversial and were finally discontinued. 

However, the first of their performances was held as fundraisers to save the cash-strapped Frontier Days, and was called the “Way Out West” show. In these, the Smoki were only a portion of the festivities.

Prescott was Hollywood for Silent Westerns

(Tom Mix with an unknown starlet in an unknown film.)

What do these movies: "Creepshow 2," "Universal Soldier," "Arizona Summer," "Transamerica," "Jolene," "How the West Was Won," and "Billy Jack" have in common?

They are part of 16 modern movies that were all filmed, at least in part, in Prescott, Arizona. (*1)

But when it came to silent western movies, Prescott was a real "Hollywood."  Incredibly, in the three years of 1913-15, over a hundred silent westerns were filmed in Prescott and the surrounding area.

The first movie ever made in Prescott was The Cringer.