Picture it. Hoot Gibson steps off a train on June 17, 1925, with his horse Silver and an entourage of 40 people. The University of Calgary says Universal Pictures treated the trip as one of its most expensive and elaborate location shoots to that point.
Calgary, you were a movie set before you knew it.
What the crew shot at the Stampede
The film was called The Calgary Stampede, and Herbert Blaché directed it. According to the university, the cameras caught the parade, square dancing, roping games, the grandstand and the rodeo holding areas.
Our favourite detail is how Blaché handled the streets. He used a covered wagon with a hidden camera to film street scenes, including a downtown street dance on Seventh Avenue. It was a 1925 candid camera wearing a prop costume.
Where the story came from
Screenwriter Raymond Schrock got the idea after the Stampede caught his attention, the university says. The plot follows a down-on-his-luck champion Roman rider on the rodeo circuit, with a romance involving a warden’s daughter played by Virginia Brown Faire.
How the Siksika responded
This is the part worth slowing down for.
It says they did so for making what they viewed as a historically accurate film. That is a real compliment, and a nice reminder that the story of the Stampede belongs to more than the studio.
Where to find it today
Filmmaker Mary Graham documented it in her book A Stunning Backdrop: Alberta in the Movies, 1917 to 1960, published by University of Calgary Press. The Whyte Museum catalogue describes the book as the untold story of six decades of filmmaking in Alberta.
The university’s article also points to the Glenbow Library and Archives collection and the University of Calgary digital collections.
If you want to know what a Stampede week looked like in 1925, start with those collections and the book. The studio plot is the least interesting thing in the story, and the real thing is waiting for you.
If this one hooked you, try Hoot Gibson Rode Into Calgary and Made a Stampede Movie, then When Hollywood packed up for Banff and Jasper in 1953. Or try The Stampede Is Secretly Calgary’s Biggest Music Festival for a change of pace.
If this one hooked you, we think Calgary Once Watched Movies From the Front Seat of a Car is a good next read.
Quick answers
Hoot Gibson stepped off a train in Calgary on June 17, 1925, with his horse Silver and an entourage of 40 people. The University of Calgary says Universal Pictures treated the trip as one of its most expensive and elaborate location shoots to that point.
Director Herbert Blaché’s cameras caught the parade, square dancing, roping games, the grandstand and the rodeo holding areas. He also used a covered wagon with a hidden camera to film street scenes, including a downtown street dance on Seventh Avenue.
Mary Graham’s book A Stunning Backdrop, Alberta in the Movies, 1917 to 1960, was published by University of Calgary Press. The university’s article also points to the Glenbow Library and Archives collection and the University of Calgary digital collections for the 1925 Stampede shoot.
