Betsy J. Green

In the years before studios had big budgets for special effects, movie crews improvised to take advantage of natural disasters such as fires and floods. One day in 1913, the folks at the 'Flying A' studio in Santa Barbara "noticed the cloud of smoke towards the mountains. At first, they thought it was a building in the city, but decided to take advantage of it for a moving picture scene.

"All available players were secured. The journey brought them to the first fire, and as imaginations worked quickly, the players were sent through some exciting stuff, with the flames and smoke serving as settings . . . all of which will be made part of a photoplay, still to be constructed." – Morning Press [Santa Barbara, California], September 18, 1913

Trapped in a Forest Fire was released on December 8, 1913.

"WAY BACK WHEN" WEDNESDAY - The Spanish Flu Invaded Santa Barbara

Everything changed here on October 14, 1918 with the large headline, "'Flu' Invades Santa Barbara; Schools, Movies, Other Public Gathering Places May Close." The subhead continued, "Fifty Cases, Five Serious Ones, Already Reported in City."

Meetings were cancelled or postponed, and the schools and churches closed. "No public services will be held at the Old Mission Sunday for the first time in its 132 years of existence . . . For the first time in its history, parishioners will not assemble to hear Mass."

Some people just stayed home. Many of those who went out wore masks or scarves. Doctors, nurses, other health workers, and anyone with a cold or flu were required to wear masks. Barbers, dentists, and pharmacists were advised to wear masks. The local Red Cross jumped into action and made 1400 masks. Some people made their own masks.

The Mesa's First Family - Part 2

I mentioned last week, that Luis Gilber was a soldier. He was one of about 100 horsemen from Santa Barbara who joined the Union Army during the Civil War. In early 1864, Antonio María de la Guerra, the son of the former Presidio Comandante José de la Guerra, gathered a group of Santa Barbara men together and formed Company C of the First Battalion of the Native California Cavalry. Luis was among them. Spanish was the first language of these men, and only a few spoke English.

Luis rode down to Los Angeles with the rest of the group in 1864, but for a variety of reasons, his group was never in a battle. A year later, he was back in Santa Barbara. He and his group had been assigned work in L.A. that involved walking, not riding, and his old injury was a problem. He was given an honorable discharge in mid-1865.

Luis died in Santa Barbara on Christmas Day in 1867, only a year and a half after returning home. Luis' wife, Maria del Refugio, must have been a strong woman. Luis died in December of 1867, and in May of that same year, their newborn baby had also died. What a sad year for her. She never remarried, and died in 1910, more than 40 years after her husband's death.

The 1925 movie Her Husband's Secret was filmed at one of the oceanfront estates of Montecito. "Like father; like son," could have been the title of this film that involves a couple of secrets, as well as an amazing coincidence.

The movie opens with a prologue set in 1900 at a seaside estate featuring a married couple. The husband had a secret life that his wife was unaware of when they married. He was "a sly dog," according to one movie magazine, who could pile on the charm to win over the feminine sex.

The First Meeting of the Santa Barbara Red Cross

The women of Santa Barbara started the Santa Barbara branch of the Red Cross in March 1917 during World War I. Apparently, many citizens here were not familiar with this group, so the local paper explained,

"The Red Cross is an international organization, a universal good Samaritan constantly in the service of suffering humanity, whether that suffering is caused by earthquake or flood, fire or accident, war or pestilence . . . The approaching war with Germany is serving now to stimulate interest in the Red Cross, and there is a notable timeliness in the activity of the Santa The Santa Barbara branch Barbara chapter, so recently organized."

The Mesa's First Family - Part 1

He was a Santa Barbara cowboy, a soldier, and a family man. He had light skin, gray eyes, and black hair. He was six feet tall – pretty tall considering that he lived in the mid-1800s. He probably walked with a limp since one of his legs had been broken and had not been properly set. Most likely, he was injured when he was thrown from a horse. But he spent most of his day on a horse, so it probably didn't matter much. He is the first person to be documented living here on the Mesa.

His name was Luis Gilber. He was born in Santa Barbara and baptized at the Mission. His father was born in Spain, and his mother was born in California. Luis spoke Spanish, and would have called himself a vaquero, which means cowboy in Spanish. Because his name was Spanish, it was misspelled a half a dozen ways in the records here: Louis, Gilbar, Hilbar, Gilver, Jilver, Gilbert, etc.

In 1856, Charles E. Huse, one of the leading lawyers in Santa Barbara, visited the Mesa to scope out a location for the lighthouse. Huse kept a journal in which he mentioned visiting Luis in his home on the Mesa near the area where the lighthouse would be sited. This is the earliest written record of anyone living on the Mesa. So, Luis and his wife Maria del Refugio Olivas de Gilber and their children had a front row seat as the lighthouse was being built during the summer of 1856. (The lighthouse is believed to have been located about where La Mesa Park is today.) More about Louis Gilber, the soldier, next week. 

Modern audiences might be surprised at the amount of nudity in some silent films. This 1916 one had plenty of it. "In this production, Miss Munson [the star] appears frequently in the nude, illustrating a number of works by famous artists and sculptors for which she posed." – Motography  [Chicago, Illinois], June 10, 1916

Blaming the Flu Source

Although recent historians think that the 1918 flu pandemic started in the United States, back in 1918 it was blamed on the Europeans – Spain in particular, and also Germany.

In September 1918, the Santa Barbara newspaper wrote, "The bringing of the mysterious malady to our shore is blamed on the Germans. It is remembered that it appeared in Spain after the visit of a U-boat to one of the Spanish ports, and now it is seriously suggested that the germs of the disease were released on our Atlantic coast by Germans, who were put ashore for that purpose."

The "Oil Boom" of 1899 - Part 1

Although it's well known that the Mesa was despoiled by ugly oil derricks in the 1920s, that was not the first time oil companies took an interest in our area. In 1899, the local papers were filled with articles about drilling for oil on the Mesa's beaches!

It began when one man who the local paper called, "an enterprising resident of Santa Barbara . . . located a claim on the beach at the north end of the city, just beyond Castle Rock." [Castle Rock was located about where the harbor breakwater is today.] Other oil prospectors also jumped into the act and filed more claims.

An impassioned letter to the editor pointed a finger at Summerland whose shoreline was then punctuated with unsightly oil derricks (see photo). "The mayor should call a mass meeting of citizens at once backed by the Chamber of Commerce to pass resolutions . . . warning all men that no oil wells will be allowed on the beach within a radius of a certain number of miles from the city limits."

How did the standoff end? Next week's Mesa Memories Monday will reveal what happened. 

Movie audiences all over the world were able to enjoy films made here as shown by a Japanese poster advertising The Diamond From the Sky. This 1915 movie was one of the serials filmed in Montecito.