James Young Deer
James Young Deer (April 1, 1876 [1] - April 1946), born J. Younger Johnston and also known as Jim Young Deer, was a Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) who became an early film actor, director, writer, and producer. He is considered the first Native American director. Together with his wife and partner Lillian St. Cyr, also Ho-Chunk, the couple were an "influential force" in the production of one-reel Westerns during the first part of the silent film era.[2]
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[edit] Early life
He was born J. Younger Johnston in Dakota City, Nebraska, as the Indian Wars were ending and Native Americans were increasingly settled on reservations. He was said to be a member of the Nebraska Ho-Chunk (Winnebago) tribe. He grew up learning to ride and carry out ranching skills.
He began his entertainment career in the 1890s, when shows featuring performers from the Wild West were popular across the United States and in Europe. He performed as a cowboy with the Barnum and Bailey Circus and Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show, riding as a son of the Wild West.[3]
[edit] Marriage and family
After likely meeting in New York, where they were both working, on April 9, 1906, Young Deer married the actress Lillian St. Cyr, who was known by her stage name of Princess Red Wing. Born on the Winnebago Reservation near Omaha, she was also a member of the Ho-Chunk tribe in Nebraska, through her mother Julia Decora. Her father was a European American named William St. Cyr, reportedly wealthy. Her first film was White Squaw (1908).[3]
[edit] Career
Young Deer began acting and directing in 1909 in New York, completing several one-reeler Westerns that year.[3] Among the film companies for which he worked as an actor, director, and writer were Kalem, Lubin, Vitagraph, and Biograph. He worked at one of the first independent film companies, the New York Motion Picture Company, under the Bison trademark.[2]
In 1910 they both went to work for Pathé Frères, which was seeking more authenticity in its portrayal of Native Americans. They first worked at its studio in New Jersey. Young Deer eventually ran the company's West Coast studio operations.[3]
In all, Young Deer acted in, wrote, or directed dozens of early films.
[edit] Influence of work
By 1910, one-fifth of American films were Westerns, and companies worked to establish national dominance in the genre.[4] In these early years, American Indians were "generally portrayed in a positive way," and directors often hired Native Americans as actors.[3] The movie historian William K. Everson writes, "[D]uring this period the Indian became accepted as a symbol of integrity, stoicism, and reliability . . ."[3]
Young Deer's films have been noted as early Westerns "without the cliches of hostile Indian warriors or wagon train attacks."[5] The ability of Young Deer and St. Cyr to avoid the "inaccuracies and negative stereotypes" of Native American portrayal on-screen was due to several factors. At the time, film trade journals called for more authenticity, Native Americans and other moviegoers protested against stereotypes, and the film industry was adaptable and experimenting.[2]
As a result, Young Deer and St. Cyr
"rewrote the racial scripts of the western, commenting on racism, assimilation, racial mixture, and cultural contact. Many of their films revisited and revised the wildly popular 'squaw man' plot, involving a cross-racial romance between a white man and an Indian woman. Young Deer and St. Cyr systematically undermined the 'vanishing Indian' trope by giving the plots a new political center of gravity."[2]
[edit] Later years
He encountered legal troubles in California in 1913, when a 17-year-old girl alleged he assaulted her.[6][7] Young Deer went overseas, working first in Great Britain.[2][8] In 1914 he worked in London, shooting thrillers for British and Colonial Films that included The Queen of the London Counterfeiters and The Black Cross Gang.[8][9] During World War I, he created documentaries in France.[8]
After returning to the United States in 1919, Young Deer had a harder time finding work, as Westerns were less popular for a time. He was said to operate an acting school in San Francisco.[8] In the 1930s, he worked occasionally as a "second-unit director on independently produced low-budget B movies and serials."[3] He died in New York City in April 1946. Some of his early films have been lost. Film historians since the late 20th century have been unable to find out much about his origins. As he was not listed on the Winnebago tribal roll, the reporter Matthew Sweet thought perhaps he had created his Native American identity on his own.[8]
[edit] Films
[edit] Director
- Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924)
- The Stranger (1920/I) (as James Youngdeer)
- Who Laughs Last (1920)
- The Savage (1913)
- The Unwilling Bride (1912)
- The Squaw Man's Sweetheart (1912)
- Red Deer's Devotion (1911)
- The Yaqui Girl (1910)
- Cowboy Justice (1910)
- An Indian's Gratitude (1910)
- A Cheyenne Brave (1910)
- The Red Girl and the Child (1910)
- Under Both Flags (1910)
- White Fawn's Devotion: A Play Acted by a Tribe of Red Indians in America (1910) (uncredited)
- Red Wing's Gratitude (1909)
- For Her Sale; or, Two Sailors and a Girl (1909)
- The Falling Arrow (1909)
[edit] Actor
- Man of Courage (1922) .... Aquila
- Under Handicap (1917) (as James Youngdeer) .... Lonesome Pete
- Against Heavy Odds (1914)
- The Unwilling Bride (1912)
- Little Dove's Romance (1911)
- Red Deer's Devotion (1911)
- Young Deer's Return (1910) .... Young Deer
- The Red Girl and the Child (1910)
- The Indian and the Cowgirl (1910)
- The Cowboy and the Schoolmarm (1910)
- Young Deer's Gratitude (1910) .... Young Deer
- The Ten of Spades; or, A Western Raffle (1910)
- Young Deer's Bravery (1909) .... Young Deer
- Red Wing's Gratitude (1909)
- The Mended Lute (1909) .... Indian
- The True Heart of an Indian (1909) ... aka A True Indian's Heart (USA)
[edit] Writer
- Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924) (writer)
- Neck and Noose (1919) (story) (as Jim Youngdeer)
- White Fawn's Devotion: A Play Acted by a Tribe of Red Indians in America (1910) (uncredited)
[edit] Notes
- ^ (James Young Deer) World War One Draft Registration
- ^ a b c d e "Race and Ethnicity, HOLLYWOOD WHITENESS AND STEREOTYPES," Filmreference.com, accessed May 24, 2008.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jean Sanders, "Lillian St. Cyr (Princess Red Wing) and James Young Deer: First Native American Silent Movie 'Power Couple'", Nebraska State Education Association profile, 2004, accessed May 24, 2008.
- ^ "Preserved Films: 'The Prospector'", National Film Preservation Foundation, accessed 7 December 2011
- ^ Angela Aleiss, "Native Americans: The Surprising Silents" (Race in Contemporary American Cinema: Part 4), Cineaste v21, n3 (Summer, 1995):34 (2 pages).
- ^ "Movie Actor Held on a Grave Charges," The Lincoln Daily Star, 30 November 1913 - pg. 8
- ^ Sweet (2010), "The first Native American director," The Guardian. Note: Sweet's account says that the girl was 15.
- ^ a b c d e Matthew Sweet, "The first Native American director. Or was he?", The Guardian, 23 September 2010
- ^ "James Young Deer: Winnebago Film Maker", BBC, 26 September 2010, accessed 7 December 2011
[edit] Further reading
- William K. Everson, American Silent Film, Da Capo Press, 1998
- Scott Simmon, The Invention of the Western Film: A Cultural History of the Genre’s First Half Century (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003)
- Andrew Brodie Smith, Shooting Cowboys and Indians: Silent Western Films, American Culture, and The Birth of Hollywood, (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2003)
