Dear Lovers of Local History,
A story has come to my attention that really must be shared ... particularly since it happened 100 years ago and involved the making of what is thought to be the first "moving picture" ever filmed in Butte County.
In 1914, a motion picture company came to Chico and Oroville to film a six-reel melodrama called "The Folly of a Life of Crime" - this according to local historian John Rudderow. He became intrigued when he read two stories in the Chico Enterprise-Record's "100 Years Ago" column dated
July 20, 1914: Movie Outfit Leaves for the Mountains and
Aug. 12, 1914: Wild Shooting on the Streets of Chico Friday.
Rudderow began sleuthing and found many local c
lippings in the Butte County Library about the movie which depicted the real-life story of the notorious Sontag and Evans Gang who reportedly robbed trains rather successfully. The story was widely known at the time and went something like this according to "A Guide to Silent Westerns" ...
George Sontag was the first of the Sontag Evans gang to be captured. John Sontag and Chris Evans continued their wave of robberies until, during one of their several visits home, their careers ended abruptly. Chris was captured after losing one eye to a bullet and John was killed by a hail of bullets. Later, Evans tried to stop the film form being produced, but failed. George Sontag went on a lecture tour recounting his experiences as an outlaw, and Ed Morrell, another member of the gang recently released from San Quentin, toured with Sontag's film.
Headlines from 1914 and 1915 newspapers in Chico and Oroville tell the tale of an ex-bandit turned movie producer turned "bandit" again:
Bandit Head of 'Movie' Firm: George Sontag Forms $50,000 Concern to Exploit Robber Band
Makes Plans for Movie Acting: George Sontag Completes Negotiations for Use of Hammon Lands
Ammunition for Massacre Received by U.S. Film Co.
Get Out Shaker Bonnets and Hoop Skirts for Picture
Film Troupe Moves to Oroville: Tract of Land for Studio Donated by Lawrence Gardella
Chris Evans Enters protest
Taking the Last Pictures at Folsom
Film Company Places More Stock on Market
George Sontag Has Been Deposed as President and H.C. Chesbro Elected
U.S. Film Company's Show Receipts Attached: Thomas Brothers Sue to Recover Salary and Commissions
Film Co's. Troubles Again Before Public
George Duke and George Sontag are Indicted by Butte County Grand Jury
It appears old habits are hard to break. The U.S. Film Company's proprietor's were charged with having obtained money under false pretenses and conspiring to obtain money under false pretenses.
Although the movie was made and it was shown regionally and perhaps on the West Coast (even rumored to have been shown to enthusiastic audiences in South America), it seemed the "The Folly of a Life of Crime" was to be plagued by legal troubles. It was later named "A Pardoned Lifer (1915) with Director Sidney Drew.
A February 20, 1960 KHSL transcript of an interview with two of the film's stars (no actual actors were used in the film) local Chico residents William R. Stead (77 years old at the time of the interview); and "Hank" Pickett (73 years old then) was uncovered by Rudderow. According to the transcript of "
Chico State Presents ... There is a Telling with Hector Lee" bloodhounds from Tennessee were brought in to track the outlaws in the movie, which took three months to make - starting in July 1914.
Portions of the silent movie were said to have been filmed two miles below the town of Centerville in the canyon as well as in Chico at 6th and Flume streets, down along Lindo Channel and various parts of Chico and Oroville and the surrounding hills - all meant to resemble Visalia where the REAL story occurred. There were also shots along the Feather River and a " ... goodly number of Oroville and Chico people are shown in the film" according to one clipping.
No copies of this film are known to exist. If we ever find one, however, you can bet we'll show it at the Chico Silent Film Festival.
Writing for all of us at Friends of the Arts ... this one's for you, Maria!
530-228-2860
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