By Dewey E. Born
At the beginning of this century a frequent visitor to Prescott was the Medicine Man. He would set up shop on a street corner at night and, with flaming torches and some entertainment to draw a crowd, sell his cure-all elixir. In 1906, one of these potion purveyors arrived with a different attraction. He had a motion picture projector which he set up in the second story window of a building and used the wall of a building across the street for a screen. When it was dark enough, he showed "The Great Train Robbery" which was just eight minutes long. This was probably the first movie shown in Prescott.
By the time the people of Prescott were watching their first film there were several film makers in business. These included the New York Motion Picture Company, Edison, Selig, Vitagraph, and Lubin.
Called "photoplays", these early films were made indoors in New York, New Jersey and other Eastern cities. These black and white movies were not very long usually running 15 or 20 minutes. Lubin was one of the first to move out of the studio and make use of natural scenery. At first they made use of the country scenes in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Later, units were sent to locations in the West and by 1912, were filming in Arizona.
The Lubin Company was founded by Siegmund Lubin, a Polish immigrant, who operated an optical supply business in Philadelphia. One of the first to make motion pictures, he used his back yard as a studio and had a dark room in the basement to process the film.
In the Spring of 1912, the Lubin Company was making pictures in Tucson and vicinity. Malcolm Frazier, Secretary of the Prescott Chamber of Commerce, wrote to Romaine Fielding, manager of the Lubin unit in Tucson, telling him of the many advantages of filming in Prescott. The two carried on an extensive correspondence for several weeks. On July 12, 1912, the Lubin Company arrived in Prescott headed by Romaine Fielding with nineteen actors, actresses, cameramen and stage hands.
The members of the cast, in addition to Mr. Fielding, were Robin Adair, second lead and leading cowboy; Richard Wangemen, character actor with over 30 years on stage; Mary Ryan, leading lady; George Clancy, comedy roles; Miss Mason, ingenue, writer and composer; and Mrs. Williamson, character actress and heavy. Romaine Fielding was the leading actor, director and unit manager. A medical doctor, he practiced medicine for about two years and then decided that he really wanted to be an actor. He closed his practice and went to New York. After playing in melodramas for eight years, he had parts in such plays as "Prisoner of Zenda" and "The Renegade". Fielding was a prolific writer; he wrote and produced thirty one vaudeville and dramatic plays in one year.
The company built a stage with a sliding canopy behind the Mercy Hospital on Grove Avenue. A building at 712 Western Avenue was used to house the wardrobe and props. The main building of the Mercy Hospital burned years ago but some of the structures remain and are currently used by Prescott College.
The first film made in Prescott by Lubin was "The Cringer". Romaine Fielding was the cringer, a not-too-bright sheepherder who was goaded by his friends into proving he was no coward by stealing a horse and robbing a bank. To divert attention from the bank robbery he set fire to a barn. The scenes included some wild horseback riding at Granite Dells and at a goat ranch filmed at Three Mile House, a bank robbery filmed on the stage behind the hospital, and the burning of a barn on east Gurley.
The riding scenes made use of local talent. According to the Prescott Journal Miner, "Rough riding by the Henderson boys, Dave Berry and Messrs. Criley, George Miller and Reverend Marshall furnished thrills. It was not ordinary riding, either, but such as would have tested the courage and grit of the most adept and daring riders of the country."
The goat ranch scenes were filmed at Three Mile House on the Black Canyon Highway. Three Mile House was located about where the Walker road turns off of Highway 69 today.
The bank robbery required two locations. The exterior scene was of the Yavapai County Savings Bank on North Cortez. The interior scenes were filmed on the stage behind the Hospital. Malcolm Frazier played the part of the banker. When Romaine was coaching Malcolm he told him to greet the sheepherder with a big smile. "You never can tell about a mangy sheepherder or a cowhand, he just might be able to buy the bank and kick you out." In this case, of course, the sheepherder robbed the bank.
The fire scene was last. The Fire Chief, Tony Johns, wanted the fire to be within the city limits where there were hydrants. Mayor Morris Goldwater refused to have a deliberate fire in the city. It was decided to burn the barn on Gurley across from the ball park. This was just outside the town limits but close enough to run hoses from a hydrant. Since there was no barn at this location Fielding had to have one constructed. The barn was burned on Sunday morning, July 21, at 9:00. To add realism, a crowd scene was included showing half of the town rushing to the fire.
When "The Cringer" was shown in Prescott that October it drew big crowds. They were more interested in looking for themselves than in the story.
Next week: Tom Mix comes to Yavapai County.
Dewey Born is the Author of Stories of Early Prescott.
Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (pb159f2i42). Reuse only by permission.
: The first movies made in Prescott after 1912 were filmed on a set behind what is now the Prescott College Chapel or in locations like this in the Granite Dells.