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FIRST MOVIE MADE IN HOLLYWOOD CALLED OLD CALIFORNIA ABOUT MEXICO SPAIN AND CALIFORNIA LATINOS IN HOLLYWOOD                                                                                                                     This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

PANCHO VILLA PRODUCED HIS FILM THE LIFE OF VILLA   1912   

http://www.biographcompany.com/celebrity/villa.htmlMonument.jpg

 

 

In 1910 famed director D. W. Griffith discovered a great "Little village" to shoot many of the Biograph films. The weather was great and it had room to grow. He shot a film "In Old California" there; the first time a movie was ever shot in this village. This village was known as Hollywood. The pioneers at Biograph turned Hollywood from a small farming town to the movie and entertainment capital of the world.

Hollywood's First Movie Has Monument Once Again

The mystery of the missing monument comes to a happy ending

The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company announce the restoration and re-dedication of the monument commemorating the first movie in Hollywood, "In Old California" produced by Biograph in 1910. The film was a Latino melodrama depicting life in 1840's Mexico-occupied California.

The monument was dedicated in May 2004, but less than a year later the three-ton monument disappeared overnight, being found several months later near a garbage dumpster in Hollywood. Since then the monument has been stored by Biograph until arrangements could be made for a re-dedication.

Biograph is the oldest movie company in America, established in 1895. "In Old California" was made in 1910 by Biograph, three years prior to the movie the "Squaw Man" made by Cecil B. DeMille. It was significant because of it being Hollywood's first film, and the subject matter was about the Hispanic settlers in California. The film was directed by movie pioneer D. W. Griffith (pictured), who was location scouting from New York for Biograph.

He discovered this lovely village with beautiful scenery, flower gardens and friendly people, and decided to film many of Biograph's films there, this one being the first.

Since the monuments first dedication, two of Biograph's "Family" passed away. Maryellen Sennett/VP who was western actress and singer in the 1940's and Tommy Bond Sr./VP, actor who was "Butch" on the "Little Rascals" and "Jimmy Olsen" in the original "Superman" serials. Both of which were the aunt and father of Biograph's President/CEO Thomas R. Bond, II.

Biograph's CEO Thomas Bond II says "The re-dedication will now have added meaning since my aunt and father have since passed away." Bond continues, "Many good people put a lot of hard work so this historic film's monument, that this film would finally be recognized. The film's impact on Hollywood and its multi-cultural theme bridges time. It was significant not just being Hollywood's first film, but the subject matter is about the Latinos in early in California".

The re-dedication is scheduled for 2010 on the 100th anniversary of the making of the film at a non-disclosed location in Hollywood, later to be announced by the company.                                                

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5156569

Listen        DURANGUENSE   MEXICO MEETS THE MIDWEST

By Melissa Giraud

                   

   DEATH MASK OF PANCHO VILLA       Pancho Villa's Death Mask            

 

http://archivosderb.org/?q=es/node/45           Radio Bilingue interview Ernesto Nava Villa and Francesco Taboada Tobone   new film interview is in Spanish.... Pancho Villa  La Revolucion no ha Terminado   Interview starts about  38:50.............                                 

image

 Cármen Aristegui en CNN español con Paco Ignacio Taibo II y Pedro Angel Palou, Villa y Zapata.          http://www.radio.larnr.org/?p=303










       


    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sgD-6yZy18

                               


Se invita a participar en las Jornadas Villistas 2008

Los Eventos   www.parral.org.mx/

http://www.parral.org.mx/calendario.html

Jornadas Villistas 2008

DE principio a fin fueron custodiados por elementos de Seguridad Publica del Estado.
ARRIBARON MÁS DE 3 MIL JINETES
El Sol de Parral
20 de julio de 2008

Ricardo Sánchez



Parral, Chih.- Llegó la Cabalgata Villista, que en esta ocasión estuvo integrada con un número de jinetes superior al año anterior, con alrededor de 3 mil cabalgantes provenientes de distintas partes del estado; incluso del extranjero, así como de zonas serranas, ciudades como Chihuahua, Cuauhtémoc, Juárez y decenas de poblados.

Arribó luego de dos semanas de haberse iniciado en la fronteriza Ciudad Juárez, tras lo cual se vinieron agregando contingentes de diversos lugares; procediendo a un desfile por las principales calles, para culminar en las instalaciones de la mina La Prieta, el contingente siempre estuvo custodiado por agentes de Seguridad Publica del Estado y Municipales.

Finalmente llegó a su destino. En Ciudad Juárez arrancaron cerca de 150 jinetes, donde en el camino se fueron uniendo cabalgantes de distintos municipios del estado, del país e incluso personas del extranjero.

Superó las expectativas el evento, ya que en un principio se calculaban cerca de 2 mil 500 y al final del recorrido se contabilizaron más de 3 mil. Por lo que en esta ocasión se presenció la cabalgata más grande desde 1995, cuando se realizó por primera vez.

La novedad no sólo fue el número de caballos que ingresaron a la ciudad por el antiguo camino a Santa Rosa, sino que el recorrido no fue el mismo. Ahora cruzaron por la calle Flores Magón, en lugar de seguir hacia calles como la Zaragoza y 20 de Noviembre, sino que siguieron hasta la Libertad, calle del Rayo, Independencia, hasta llegar a la glorieta Pancho Villa.

Al tiempo que cientos de espectadores se aglomeraron en puntos como la plaza Guillermo Baca, en la estación del ferrocarril, la glorieta Pancho Villa, así como frente al templo San José y en la colonia Talleres.

El regreso fue por la misma Independencia, cruzando por atrás del templo de San José, hasta llegar la mina La Prieta, en este lugar la entrada fue encabezada por el licenciado José Salcido, fundador del magno evento.

Este personaje fue seguido por Las Adelitas, que portaban la bandera de México, donde participó la primera dama Nancy Gutiérrez de González; atrás ingresaron funcionarios, el presidente Oscar González Luna y el diputado federal César Duarte, así como varios regidores, el representante del Gobernador, Guillermo Márquez, secretario de Desarrollo municipal.

La cabalgata incluyó personalidades del ámbito político, empresarial, comerciantes y de las principales rancherías, no sólo de este municipio, sino de distintas partes del estado, así como mandatarios de otros municipios.

El contingente cada que llegaba a su destino en el estacionamiento de la mina La Prieta, se veía más grande, ya que no cesaban de entrar caballos a este lugar, el estacionamiento en un lapso de tres horas se inundó de cuadrúpedos, tripulados tanto por hombres como por mujeres.

De principio a fin fueron custodiados por elementos de Seguridad Publica del Estado, a bordo de motocicletas deportivas, así como oficiales de vialidad y policía de Seguridad Pública Municipal, tanto en unidades como en cuatrimotos.

 

 /El Diario

 

Histórica afluencia en Jornadas Villistas

Festeja Parral su 377 aniversario con presentaciones nacionales e internacionales

De la Redacción

Sábado, 12 de Julio de 2008

Parral, Chihuahua.- Bajo una lluvia de pirotecnia multicolor alrededor de 35 mil almas se congregaron para la inauguración de las Jornadas Villistas que rompieron todo record establecido de ediciones anteriores.
Desde las cinco de la tarde comenzó la gente a ingresar a las instalaciones de la Mina La Prieta para que tan solo unas horas más tarde se pudiera apreciar un mar de personas viviendo la euforia, la locura… las fiestas de Parral.
Y es que el motivo no puede ser mejor, Parral festeja su 377 aniversario y eso es válido para que turistas nacionales y extranjeros pongan sus ojos en esta ciudad rica en historia.
Éxito sería la palabra que mejor describiría el arranque de las jornadas, día en el que el Presidente Municipal, licenciado Oscar González Luna tuvo a bien regalar la entrada para que nadie se perdiera el inicio de nuestras fiestas.
Los 30 mil boletos que se repartieron en un día no fueron suficientes por lo que la entrada fue completamente libre a todas las familias, que es a quien están dirigidas estas fiestas que fomentan los valores y enaltecen la hermandad de los habitantes de la capital del mundo.
No cabía un alfiler en el teatro del pueblo con la presentación de Lorenzo de Monteclaro quien con sus éxitos cimbró el escenario.
Playa Limbo fue el grupo invitado para el segundo día de fiesta por lo que los jóvenes pudieron disfrutar de un momento inolvidable amenizado por este grupo que gracias a su talento y originalidad ocupa un lugar entre los artistas del momento.
Hoy continúan las fiestas con la presentación de Ninel Conde, el domingo la estelar la tendrá Aida Cuevas, el lunes Reinas para una noche, Estrella, Ericka y Aranza, el martes Napoleón, miércoles Gloria Trevi, jueves Ernesto Solano, el viernes Tania Libertad, sábado 19 La Chupitos, Domingo Sonora Tropicana y el lunes para el cierre Impostores de Durango, Los Reyes del Pasito Duranguense y propuesta musical.
Lo mejor está por venir con el arribo de grandes eventos como la llegada de la Gran Cabalgata Villista conformada por más de tres mil jinetes y la representación del asesinato del General Francisco Villa… es tu fiesta Vívela!!!






Museo Francisco Villa

Cama donde fue velado el General Francisco Villa.

En el Museo Francisco Villa se encuentra la cama en la cual fue velado el General Francisco Villa el día 20 de julio por la tarde y hasta el día 21, en que partió el cortejo fúnebre rumbo al panteón de Dolores en el año de 1923.

La cama formaba parte del mobiliario del Hotel Hidalgo, propiedad que pertenecía al General, razón por la cual fue velado en ese lugar. El inmueble, posteriormente pasó a ser propiedad del sindicato de Mineros de la Sección 9 y es en ese período, en donde algunos de los muebles fueron adquiridos por la familia Benítez.

A partir del año de 1968 la familia Benítez es quien ha a aportado la mayoría de los objetos exhibidos; la cama formó parte del los objetos de la colección a partir del mes de julio del año 2000 y se puede apreciar en el piso superior del Museo.

Autor: Olivia Holguín Villalobos

Principal







 


                                               Check out  PANCHO VILLA STATE PARK   http://www.emnrd.state.nm.us/PRD/parksevent/calendar/Default.aspx

Pancho Villa, so the saying goes, was "hated by thousands and loved by millions." He was a Robin Hood to many and a cruel, cold-blooded killer to others. But who was this colorful controversial hero of the Mexican Revolution and where did he come from?

Doroteo Arango, for that was Pancho Villa's real name, was born in the state of Durango in 1878, a share-cropper peasant on a hacienda. According to the legend, one day when he was sixteen, he returned home from the fields to find that his sister had been raped by the owner of the hacienda, Don Agustin Lopez Negrete. Doroteo took up his revolver, shot Don Agustin, and escaped into the mountains on a horse.

Today Villa is remembered with pride by most Mexicans for having led the most important military campaigns of the constitutionalist revolution, in which his troops were victorious as far south as Zacatecas and Mexico City, east as far as Tampico, and west as far as Casas Grandes. Because of Villa's Columbus escapade and subsequent evasion of U.S. troops, he is also often cited as the only foreign military personage ever to have "successfully" invaded continental U.S. territory.


He became a cattle rustler and later joined a band of rustlers that was led by a man named Francisco Pancho Villa. In one of their many skirmishes with the law, the group was surprised by a group of rurales (mounted police) and Francisco was killed. Doroteo then took command of the gang and also assumed the name of the fallen leader. He may have done this to throw off those who hunted him for the murder of the hacienda owner or he may have done this to insure his authority over the group. Anyway, from that time on it was he who was known as Francisco Pancho Villa.

Pancho Villa was a natural leader and was very successful as a bandit, . He was also involved in more legitimate ventures, including being a contractor on the Copper Canyon railroad.

In 1910, when the Mexican Revolution broke out, Villa was recruited by the revolutionary leader, Abraham Gonzalez. Villa put together an army of armed cowboys and ruffians and became the revolutionary general who led the war in the northern part of Mexico. His charisma and victories made him an idol of the masses.

In 1916, when an American merchant refused to deliver the arms to Villa's army which they had paid him for, Villa entered the United States and raided the town of Columbus, New Mexico. He was pursued by General Black Jack Pershing through the mountains of the State of Chihuahua. Pershing's pursuit of Villa ended in failure, causing him to telegraph back to Washington that Villa is everywhere, but Villa is nowhere.

The war ended in 1920, and many attempts were made on Villa's life . On July 20, 1923, while driving his car through the town on Parral, Chihuahua, he was assasinated.

    THIS IS THE PLACE PANCHO VILLA WAS BORN.  

www.e-local.gob.mx/work/templates/enciclo/durango/mpios/10028a.htm

.   http://www.radiobilingue.org/ 

 Image hosting by Photobucket         
Oración al espíritu mártir de Pancho Villa:

En el nombre de Dios nuestro Señor invoco a los espíritus que te protejan para que me ayudes.
Así como ayudaste en el mudo terrenal a los NECESITADOS.
Así como venciste a los PODEROSOS.
Así como hiciste retroceder a tus ENEMIGOS.
Así te pido tu protecicion espiritual, para que me libres de todo mal y me des el ánimo necessario y el valor suficiente para enfrentarme a los más difícil que se me presente en la vida.
Amen.

Pancho Villa in film.

Not all Villa’s press in the United States was favorable. William Randolph Hearst, the media mogul of his day, also owned extensive cattle ranches in Chihuahua and Sonora. Villa financed his army through cattle sales – the cattle belonged to Hearst. Driven across the border into Arizona, the cattle were sold to small ranchers who didn’t ask questions, and didn’t like rich California newspaper owners either. In Hearst’s newspapers, Villa was nothing but a bloodthirsty bandit.

Hearst’s greatest rival was the New York Times. To the Times, Villa was a Mexican Robin Hood. George Carrothers, the Times reporter, was treated more as a foreign ambassador than a war correspondent. With good reason: Carrothers had a cousin named Woodrow Wilson: Villa was hardly the simple bandit chief he sometimes seemed. His staff included social reformers, anxious to try out new theories in Villa controlled territories, politically astute civilians, competent financial advisors, adventurers, military men (Villa paid his army regularly, and attracted willing soldiers and professional officers to his side), and more than a few cold-blooded killers.

But what impressed Carrothers’ cousin Woodrow about Villa was that he was winning, and Wilson concluded someone – anyone – would run Mexico better than Huerta. And Wilson had seen the pictures of Villa in action. There had been battle photographers before 1910, but cameras were too bulky to carry. Most war photos were staged after the battle. Portable cameras, and movie cameras were available by the time the Mexican Revolution started. Also, there had been advances in printing, so photographs could now be printed in the newspapers. Finally, people had begun going to the movies. People were still amazed to see films of President Wilson taking a walk. A real battle was something only soldiers (and a few adventurous tourists – or unfortunate bystanders, like those in El Paso) ever saw. Raoul Walsh, a pioneering Hollywood film director, claimed he only wanted to bring the reality of war to the people. The closest battlefield to Hollywood was just across the border from Arizona, where Pancho Villa was attacking the Federal Army. Walsh found a cooperative Pancho Villa ready to help. Walsh’s The Life of Pancho Villa was one of Hollywood’s first international hit. Who used who is an open question, but Villa did become the world’s first film star.

Sophie Treadwell and the Centaur of the North ; Francisco "Pancho Villa

by Carter Cox               http://www.ic.arizona.edu/ic/mcbride/ws200/mex-cox.html

In August 1921, an extraordinary meeting took place between two very different people which would result in a brief and unlikely friendship

  readwell and the Centaur

by Carter CoxIn August 1921, an extraordinary meeting took place between two very different people which would result in a brief and unlikely friendship. For four days at an isolated and picturesque ranch called Canutillo near Rosario in northern Mexico, the infamous Mexican revolutionary leader Francisco "Pancho" Vlla played host to an intrepid American newspacper correspondehttp://www.ytbtravel.com/navavilla               ttTJJJJJThe booking engineJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ  RRR

Plan your next travel arrangements  With Pancho Villa Travel  You can use this search engin to plug in your travel anywhere in the U.S. or International. You can use Farebuzz. 

Every year the Festivites or the Reenactment of Pancho Villa how he was killed starts around   July 13th till July 20th And the life of Villa what he stood for. Check it out.        Pancho Villa Ride check it out.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dVWstMFhfk

2007 schedule      Here it is.   http://www.omnia.com.mx/not_detalle.php?id_n=7223

                                                   http://www.oem.com.mx/elsoldeparral/notas/n166096.htm   

If you don't understand Spanish use this tool just copy Paste.

http://translate.google.com/translate_t

.       The resulting article that ran on the front page of the New York Tribune on Sunday, August 28, 1921 entitled "A Visit to Villa, A Bad Man Not So Bad" earned Treadwell international notoriety. Recognized for her expertise on the people and politics of Mexico, she would go on to write a series of articles on the topic of Mexican affairs. At that time Mexico was still reeling from a bloody Revolution that saw the ousting of the progressive but tyrannical regime of Porfirio Diaz and three more successive regimes. Treadwell's sympathetic treatment of Mexican affairs allowed her to access people and information that were unavailable to most. As a result, Sophie Treadwell brought to her readership enhanced understanding of important people and events in Mexico; most notably that of Francisco Villa. That an American woman received so much respect and was able to accomplish so much in a country which at the time was generally resentful of Americans as well as totally male dominated attests to the ambitiousness and cultural sensitivity of this noteworthy writer of fact and fiction.

Born October 3, 1885 in Stockton Californ

ia, Sophie Anita Treadwell's ancestry waaaaaa

s a mixture of Mexica

PANCHO VILLA AND THE 1st AERO SQUADRON

n, http://www.swaviator.com/html/issueJA05/ChasingPanchoVilla.html

English, German, and Scot. The daughter of a judge, she described herself as "a Californian, a mixture of the old 49er and the o

- - - - - -
riginal Mexican"(Wynn 1). Her family life was marred by the marked absence of her father, of whom she said; "The first thing I remember of my father is that he wasn't there" (Wynn 4). Despite this, it was her father, a theater fan, who introduced Sophie to the theater.<!-- Begin: Google PageRank Check Code //-->
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Though she would until v

                            

Antonio Aguilar Gracias por tu gran música. y  del Cine.

http://cinemexicano.mty.itesm.mx/libros/somos_tonyaguilar.html 

NEW'S  ZAPATA    REVOLUTION  1910  FROM THE SOUTH OF MEXICO.

1879- 1919     ZAPATA   

From North to South: Zapata Vive!

Although the Mexican media was focused on the occupation of the nation's
congressional tribunal April 10 by opposition legislators protesting the
Calderon administration's proposed PEMEX oil company reform, other events
of national significance unfolded on the 89th anniversary of the
assassination of Mexican revolutionary leader Emiliano Zapata. Across
rural and urban Mexico, farmers and their allies held protests, conducted
highway blockades, convened meetings and staged marches to vent their
anger over current agricultural and other policies.

"If we were to deliver a report to General Zapata today, we could say that
poverty in the countryside continues,  that migration to the US grows
daily and that the agricultural branches of production are not
profitable," said Federico Valle Vaquera, national director of the CIOAC
rural advocacy organization.

Involving thousands of people, and encompassing political forces ranging
from the revolutionary left to the centrist National Campesino
Confederation, numerous activities were reported in the states of
Chihuahua, Sonora, Durango, Guerrero, Veracruz, and Chiapas, among other
places. In Chiapas, members of the National Struggle Front for Socialism
blockaded an international bridge connecting Mexico to Guatemala.

In the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, hundreds turned out for a
march to protest the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), social
security and energy reform initiatives, the Lomas de Poleo land conflict,
and the presence of the Mexican army in the border city.

Ciudad Juarez's El Diario newspaper ran a photograph that showed a Mexican
soldier with a camera allegedly snapping pictures of protestors and
journalists from El Diario and TV Azteca.

Demonstrators also blasted last month's assassination of farm leader
Armando Villareal Martha and the recent arrests of social activists
Cipriana Jurado and Carlos Chavez. Attending the event, Jurado reported
that charges against her for allegedly participating in the blockade of an
international bridge in Ciudad Juarez in 2005 had been dropped.

While Zapata anniversary protests are nothing new in Mexico, a noteworthy
development in this year's actions was thelinkage between agricultural,
water and energy issues. In the northern border state of Sonora, for
instance, forty farmers blockaded the state office of the federal Ministry
of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries to protest what they said were
excessive electricity and water rates. In the coffee-producing highlands
of Veracruz, an estimated 500 growers demanded $150 million in government
subsidies as an answer to 80 percent price hikes for petrochemical-based
fertilizers.

Soaring fertilizer prices also prompted farmers in Guerrero to seize state
and federal agricultural agency offices and blockade for one hour the
Highway of the Sun that connects Mexico City to the tourist resort of
Acapulco.

Small growers in the indigenous La Montana region of Guerrero have
complained of fertilizer price hikes in the neighborhood of 200 to 300
percent in recent months. Schooled in the practices of the Green
Revolution, most Mexican farmers still rely on petrochemical-based
fertilizers to grow their crops.

Agriculture and energy was a theme picked up by Mexican Agriculture
Minister Alberto Cardenas yesterday. Speaking at an official Zapata
anniversary ceremony in the state of Morelos, Cardenas implied a direct
relationship between improvement in the rural economy and passage of the
Calderon Administration's controversial energy reform package in the
Mexican Congress.

"(Rural Mexico) can't be removed from the issues related to the energy
reform," Cardenas said. "We can't bet on populism or on deceit," Cardenas
added in an indirect poke at opposition leader Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador's movement against the privatization PEMEX.

In recent weeks, the heated debate over PEMEX has diverted public
attention away from Mexico's ongoing rural crisis, which resurfaced as a
pressing national issue in the wake of the mass farmer protests against
NAFTA earlier this year. Negotiations between farm groups and the Calderon
Administration have since broken down. To the chagrin of many farmers,
Calderon administration officials insist that renegotiating NAFTA is off
the table. Consequently, more rural protests are almost certain in the
weeks and months ahead. It remains to be seen to what degree the
anti-NAFTA movement will coalesce with the campaign against the
privatization of PEMEX.


Sources: La Jornada, April 11, 2008. Articles by Andres T.Morales, Matile
Perez U., P. Munoz, C. Gomez, J. Aranda, and correspondents. El Diario de
Juarez, April 11, 2008. Article by Pedro Sanchez Briones. El Sur, April
11, 2008. Articles by Zacarias Cervantes.


Frontera NorteSur (FNS): on-line, U.S.-Mexico border news
Center for Latin American and Border Studies
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, New Mexico

Tren                                                        onal journalist. In 1908, she was hired on as feature writer and theater critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. She lat<script language="javascript" src=" language='javascript'>var api = VE_getPlayerAPI('1.4');var vars = {file:'download.videoegg.com/gid328/cid1096/R4/0P/1192987652GHVUUP3J0NP7OYS7N88B/', allowGrabcode:true, width:320, autoplay:false, showAd:false, wmode:''};api.embedPlayer(vars);</script>er created a sensation in San Francisco by writing two popular serials for the Bulletin. In one she used her acting skills by posing as a homeless prostitute and venturing into charitable organizations all over the city in an attempt to discover what aid was available to women in need. A serial that followed was a fictionalized account of "How I Got My Husband and How I Lost Him", which echoed her less than successful, though amiable marriage to <embed src="http://update.videoegg.com/flash/proxy.swf?jsver=1.4" FlashVars="gc=c2hvd

rom the 
Anthony Quinn: Pancho Villa
 
 
Anthony Quinn: Pancho Villa
 
 
ynopsis: Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is the mayor of the hillside village of Santa Vittorio. The wine-loving town leader erases a pro-Mussolini slogan when he hears of the fascist being killed and hanged from a meathook. His wife Rosa (Anna Magnani) throws him out of their wine shop when he and hisRead More
Source:
Anthony Quinn: Pancho Villa
 
 
ynopsis: Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is the mayor of the hillside village of Santa Vittorio. The wine-loving town leader erases a pro-Mussolini slogan when he hears of the fascist being killed and hanged from a meathook. His wife Rosa (Anna Magnani) throws him out of their wine shop when he and hisRead More
Source:
ynopsis: Italo Bombolini (Anthony Quinn) is the mayor of the hillside village of Santa Vittorio. The wine-loving town leader erases a pro-Mussolini slogan when he hears of the fascist being killed and hanged from a meathook. His wife Rosa (Anna Magnani) throws him out of their wine shop when he and hisRead More
Source:
 
onset of her journalism career, Sophie Treadwell pushed the limits of women's place in the field. Treadwell became perhaps the first American woman to be accredited as a foreign war correspondent around the year 1915, covering WWI from various locations in France. Denied access to the front lines because she was a woman, however, she returned to the U.S. and took a job as a reporter in New York. Here Treadwell participated in women's rights issues, such as marching on the New York legislature with a petition for women's suffrage, and continued to write plays. In the Spring of 1920 Treadwell embarked upon a series of assignments in Mexico which will be the focus of the remainder of this essay. Now working for the New York Herald Tribune, she was sent into Mexico to cover the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution. Treadwell's work in Mexico yielded several articles, most notable of which was her interview with the at once despised and admired bandit turned revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa.

Pancho Villa was already known throughout the world when Treadwell went to Mexico. He had fought in the revolution of 1910-11 against Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. Following the exile of Diaz, the Presidency was assumed briefly by fair elections by the leader who had orchestrated the revolution, Francisco Madero. In 1913, Madero's supposed ally General Victoriano Huerta seized the Presidency and assassinated Madero. Villa would ally himself with another revolutionary leader named Venutsiano Carranza in opposition of this new government. The ousting of Huerta led to more conflict, as Carranza took the presidency and a rift developed between him and his former allies Pancho Villa and Emmiliano Zapata. The recognition of Carranza's government by the United States infuriated Villa, and prompted him to stage raids on U.S. border towns (Tuck). The most famous of these was his attack on the New Mexico town of Columbus in 1916 in which several American troops and civilians were killed. Now hunted by both Mexican and American troops, Villa and his loyal "banditos" gained fame for their wily and elusive guerrilla tactics. Meanwhile, Carranza's government floundered and finally collapsed in 1920. While trying to escape the country, Carranza's train, loaded with money and government officials and their families, was attacked, forcing Carranza to flee into the mountains. He was assassinated during this flight by followers of a local bandit-turned-general named Rodolfo Herrero (Tuck).

Because of her background and her love of Spanish culture, the Mexican officials deemed Treadwell simpatico (Dickey 10), and as a result she was able to gain access to important stories. Ten days after the assassination of Carranza, Sophie Treadwell offered the first account of his attempted flight, and of the subsequent investigations into the identities of his assassins . These were lengthy and detailed stories which were run on the front page of the Tribune. Shortly thereafter she was granted the first interview with the new President of Mexico, Alvaro Ombregon (Wynn 62). In these interviews Ombregon revealed his policy towards the United States, and as such were important (Wynn 73). Treadwell's growing reputation as an expert on Mexico led to several feature articles on that country. It was Treadwell's point of view in those articles that America underestimated greatly the importance of relations between the U.S. and Mexico: views which in light of Mexico's huge oil and mineral reserves were ahead of their time (Wynn 62).

Around the same time, Villa and his followers were making moves to strike a pact with the government of Mexico. On the 28th of July, 1920, Villa signed a peace treaty in which he pledged to cease military activity (Tuck 178). Under the terms of the bargain, Villa was to be allowed to retire to a remote hacienda deep in the hills of Durango called Canutillo. It was here a year or so later that Treadwell would spend four days with the Centaur of the North. Treadwell would return to the U.S. with the epithet "La Amiga de Mexico" for her sympathetic reporting (Heck-Rabi 11).

That a woman of that time would endeavor to undertake such a dubious journey into the hills of Durango is remarkable enough. That she was able to do it at all was certainly due to her reputation as a person who was righteous and sensitive in her dealings with the Mexicans (simpatico). For indeed all other newsmen were turned away at the border. The following account, written for a publication from 1936 called Ladies of the Press, attests to the special consideration granted to Treadwell by Villa;

Villa had just retired with his men to a huge ranch in Chihuahua

and was in an evil humor. Orders had been given to chase off every

interviewer who tried to approach the place. Cameras were

broken and further violence was threatened. But on her previous

trip, Miss Treadwell had rolled up that priceless newspaper asset,

goodwill, and so she was able to arrange an interview with the bad

man of Mexico."

This meeting would reveal to America and the world an image of Villa that was inconsistent with his fabled reputation as a dangerous bandito.In her carreer-topping Tribune article A Visit to Villa, A "Bad Man" Not So Bad, Treadwell presents the image of a magnanimous farmer and family man; a devoted and highly respected leader of a peaceful and romantic utopia of his own design. Told in a chronological, narrative style, a penchant for colorful description abounds. Her story begins with her arrival at the train station at Rosario. Of the three hour ride by automobile from the train station at Rosario to Hacienda Canutillo Treadwell writes:

There is, indeed, something divine about the whole landscape.

It's loveliness stretches on mile after mile without any sign of man

or any of his works to once break the illusion. Its silence,

and its vastness, and its beauty seem that of eternity, of

infinity, of God. So perfect is its smell it seems an unknown

paradise not yet discovered by any angel...Here dwells Villa.

Along the way Treadwell encounters a Villista officer, and sets the tone for her characterizations of Villa and his remaining followers. It is an unabashedly romantic image that she puts forth of these men:

My first view of a Villista officer. Thin intelligent face. Great

pride here, and great endurance...And they were all to give

me something of the same suggestion: of men worn down by

hardship to an unflinchable residue. Thin sinewy men, with sad,

unconquered eyes...I got my first feeling of what it means to be

a Villista: to follow the fortunes of one man for ten years through

struggle, triumph and defeat ; to be outcast with him to the

farthest mountain tops; not safe during years for one hour's

release from vigilance; hunger, danger, everyday companions.

When Treadwell finally meets Villa, her impression of him is in

concord with his legendary status. Treadwell writes:

. ...he came in swiftly, limping slightly, Villa - the Jefe .

He does not look like his pictures. Better looking,

somehow; different. Rather heavy, with a tremendous chest...

Villa's eyes are really remarkable. They have all the

intensity of deep set black eyes, but they slightly protrude

and are brown and small. Protruding as they do, and

burning, they give the effect of some fiery power within,

concentrated and bursting to come out...The eyes impress

one first, and the sense of great bodily strength, and the

voice.

Treadwell gives detailed and sensuous descriptions of the dwellings and facilities of the expansive ranch, which to Treadwell seems more "like a small town". These and her portraits of Villa and his men read like a dramatic script, which is not surprising considering her passion for theater.

In Treadwell's account of her first conversation with Villa, he presents himself to be a humble man who has been a victim of an unsympathetic press, resulting in a misinformed and prejudiced bias against him by those who only know him by rumor and legend. Treadwell gives him total rein, quoting him directly for sev

Sources:

Heck-Rabi, Louise. "Sophie Treadwell: Subjects and Structures in 20th Century American Drama." Diss. Wayne State University , 1976.

Treadwell, Sophie. "A Visit to Villa, A Bad Man Not So Bad." The New York Herald Tribune, 28 August 1921:

Treadwell, Sophie. Papers, 1860-1970. University of Arizona Libraries Dept. of Special Collections.

Tuck, Jim. Pancho Villa and John Reed: Two Faces of Romantic Revolution. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1984.

Tuck, Jim. The Mexican Revolution: A Nation in Flux: Part 2. [Online]

Wynn, Nancy. "Sophie Treadwell, The Career of a twentieth century American Feminist Playwright." Diss. City University of New York, 1982.



Dickey, Jerry. Sophie Treadwell: A Research and Production Sourcebook. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 1997. http://www.mexconnect.com/mex_/history/jtuck/jtrevolution12.html 





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