Along with the usual smattering of crooks, conmen, inept leaders, awful accidents, mayhem, mirth and murder, we’re going to take an exceptionally long look at one of our world-famous movie stars.  Nearly a century ago, Harry Carey starred in a movie so dangerous to make, most of the cast members were injured, stricken, sickened, killed and eaten by crocodiles.  (If any of you are wearing exotic crocodile boots on this morning’s trail ride through local history, you might want to rethink your wardrobe choice. You never know. Your footwear could be someone’s cousin …)  We’ve all sorts of interesting vistas ahead, filled all sorts of lore and gee-whiz information. Fetching cowgirls up front, banjo players in the back. WAY in the back …  WAY, WAY BACK WHEN   100 SANTA CLARITIANS. 100 GUNS. — There were less than 100 people in the valley on Oct. 8, 1858. But folks came from miles away to meet the Butterfield Overland stage coach when it rolled through town. Actually, there wasn’t even a town. The stage, which was the first transcontinental to make the trek and had started weeks earlier in St. Louis, stopped near present-day Eternal Valley and was greeted by a 100-gun salute.  RE: THAT 100-GUN SALUTE — I always wondered about history’s little phrase. If there were less than 100 people in the SCV, and some of them being kids or ladies, were some shooting off bullets into the air holding two or three guns in each hand and then some?  A NICKEL’S WORTH — He would be perhaps the most influential citizen in the history of Acton. Fresh from Kansas, on Oct. 11, 1887, Rudolph Eugene Nickel arrived in the little town northeast of us. A few years later, he would later start the first major newspaper in the valley — The Acton Rooster. He would also own stores and a posh hotel that would be a landmark until 1945. That’s when the local and evil Acton postmaster burned it to the ground.  OUR VERY OWN JUDGE ROY BEAN — One of the roughest, toughest and resilient sons of a gun in the valley’s past was born on Oct. 12, 1833. W.W. Jenkins, aka, The Baron of San Francisco, aka, The Baron of Castaic, aka, The Hanging Judge, would be one of the two patriarchs (Bill Chormicle was the other) who battled for nearly 30 years in the great Castaic Range War in which somewhere between 20 and 40 men were killed.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US OLD NEWHALLERS! — On Oct. 13, 1876, the town of Newhall was founded where the present-day Saugus Cafe is located. The whole town, lock, stock, barrel and board, was moved about a mile and change down the road to present-day Railroad and 6th Street. Why? Some say it was the wind. Some say it had something to do with the railroad’s grade. Some say no water.  OCTOBER 12, 1924  A CASE OF MULTI-USE ZONING — On this date, the Ben Wilson Production Co. leased part of Frank LaSalle’s ranch off of Wiley Canyon. Frank continued to graze cattle, but the movie folk came in, building lights, stages and outbuildings.  A CENTURY-OLD OBSERVATION ON SCV MARRIAGE — Signal reporter and future editor/owner, A.B. “Dad” Thatcher noted in his column: “They say nobody loves a fat man, but I sure notice a lot of them are married.” Hate to be a stickler, Dad, but love and marriage ain’t necessarily the same thing.  SAVED NOT BY THE BELL BUT THE BUCKET. — Well. And clouds. Trucks filled with firefighters jammed together like cattle roared to Saugus to fight a big blaze. They had some unexpected help — a big and early autumn rainfall.  OCTOBER 12, 1934  THE SIGNAL’S EDITORIAL KICK-IN-ONE’S-OWN-BUTT STANCE — On this date, The Mighty Signal urged that those who carelessly flung a cigarette or left a campfire improperly extinguished should be subject to a most draconian preventative measure. Quoth us: “Why not perfect a serum which could be injected into the legs of persons known to be careless with fire in our forests? At each recurrence of a thoughtless act, a violent reaction would administer a sound kick to their rear extremities.”  ONE OF CINEMA’S MOST DEADLY FILMS — Harry Carey was famous for being one of the few stars to successfully bridge the silents and the “talkies.” For years, Carey had a huge ranch of several thousand acres up San Francisquito Canyon. Today, his humble home is a local park. On this date, community leaders put together a program to show his latest flick, “Trader Horn.” The production was actually fraught with more danger than the film. A typhoon hit the shoot in South Africa, killing several members of the cast and crew.  MORE ON TRADER HORN — Carey’s adventure will be forever in the cinema record books. It was the first non-documentary film to be shot on location. Carey’s co-star, Edwina Booth (born Josephine Constance Woodruff) contracted a Dark Continent disease so injurious, she never recovered and it ended her acting career. A native of Utah, she was discovered sunbathing on a Southern California beach. A director handed her a business card and a few days later, she was making her first movie, “Manhattan Cocktail.” When Booth boarded a steamer, she had a fever of 104. It got worse when the director told her to sunbathe on the deck, where she got violently ill from sunburn. Then, in Africa, poor thing fell victim to more diseases and fever. She also fell out of a tree and almost killed herself. Because this was pre-moral code days of movies, Booth shot most of the scenes partially naked, which caused her to be cut by sharp elephant grass, which made her a target of vile African insects (good band name). She suffered bouts of malaria, and, Schistosomiasis, aka, Snail Disease. That’s when parasitic flatworms make your intestinal tract their home.  Harry Carey’s wife, Olive, spent most of the trip trying to nurse her back to health.   MORE ON POOR MS. BOOTH — Except for some baking soda, quinine and bandages, there was no medical help or supplies for the entire crew. The director of “Trader Horn,” W.S. Van Dyke, refused to ask the studio to send medicine, a nurse or doctor to the faraway set in Africa, afraid that their arrival would just add cost to the already over-budget flick. While she died in 1991 at the age of 86, she was sickly all her life. Booth later sued MGM for $1 million and settled out of court in 1931 for an estimated $35,000 — worth about $600,000 in today’s money. “Trader Horn?” It would later earn an Oscar nomination for Best Picture.  MORE TRADER HORN TRAVAILS — The film’s director, Van Dyke, also contracted malaria. Besides the entire crew nearly dying from that huge typhoon, one hapless grip fell off a boat as cast and crew watched in horror as he was eaten alive by a crocodile. Most of the animal attack scenes were later filmed in Tecate, Mexico, to avoid animal cruelty charges in the states. The second crew starved lions to motivate them to attack, and eat, monkeys, deer and a hyena. The film was a worldwide boffo hit, bringing in a staggering $4 million-plus at the box office. Years later, it would be the subject of the porno sexploitation parody, “Trader Hornee.”   DIX & MABEL — Speaking of movies, Richard Dix was up at Vasquez Rocks, making “West of the Pecos.” Agua Dulce beauty Mabel Rozenberg had the thrill of her life. She got to have her picture taken with the handsome screen star.   AS I RECALL FROM MY CHILDHOOD YEARS, IN POLISH, CABBAGE IS CALLED, KAPUSTA — For those of you interested, on this date, 90 years ago, fresh Utah cabbage was on sale at 3 cents a pound at the local Piggly Wiggly.  OCTOBER 12, 1944  RENT’S GONE UP LIKE A ZILLION PERCENT — On this date, the first 50 houses from the Bermite tract went on the auction block. The housing project (in old Newhall along Walnut and Chestnut streets) had been built during World War II to accommodate the severe housing shortage locally and give the munitions workers at Bermite a place to live. They rented out for about $30 a month.  AMMO OVER SOLEDAD — Speaking of Bermite, president Pat Lizza had to have a big heart-to-heart with the staff. Seems as the war was winding down, more and more workers were not showing up for their shifts. Bermite was late delivering several big contracts of armaments. Bermite was one of the largest munitions factories in the world. It was right next to the Metrolink station on Soledad (or, as my daughter used to call it, “Salad Dad …”).  OCTOBER 12, 1954  IRONING THINGS OUT? — We mentioned last week that the first week of October was the 1954 founding date of Saugus High School. Well. The one in our sister city of Saugus, Massachusetts. Several locals took the train 3,000 miles east to help celebrate the school’s opening and ride in the town parade. Saugus (Massachusetts) is famous for being the site of the first iron works in America. That was back in 1646. It was called, “Hammersmith” back then. Hammersmith/Saugus Iron Works wasn’t too successful. It closed in 1870. The quaint little city of 28,000 today was the birthplace of the SCV’s mucky-muck, Henry Mayo Newhall, who, at one time, owned most of the valley.  IF ONLY THE SCV LOCALS HAD A SIMILAR SPINE — Our woke and PC Hart District board of trustees could learn a little from Saugus High back east. Their mascot is the Sachem, an Amerindian term meaning “chief” or “leader.” It’s in the town’s city seal. The citizens there have successfully fought off recent attempts by the mincing pearl-clutchers to change the mascot’s name.  OCTOBER 12, 1964  THE TIPSTER — It was quite the exciting year for actress Nathalie Kay “Tippi” Hedren. The blonde bombshell a few months earlier had her Alfred Hitchcock film, “Marnie,” released. Just a year earlier, she starred in the cult Hitchcock horror classic, “The Birds.” Then, in September, she was married to actor Noel Marshall. Marshall also produced “The Exorcist.” The two would later purchase Africa USA, the big game preserve way up Soledad Canyon.  OCTOBER 12, 1974  GOVERNMENT FUNDING VIA SMUT — Local congressman Ed Reinecke led a campaign to remove pornography from Santa Clarita. He spearheaded a police action, removing more than $1 million in SCV and San Fernando Valley smut. You can’t make this stuff up. The confiscated material? It was sold at a government auction.  OCTOBER 12, 1984  YOU MEAN, LIKE, FROM ARMENIA? — This is hardly of earth-shattering historical importance, but it’s a great tale from former Signal gossip columnist and editor, Ruth Newhall. Ruth shared in her column 40 years ago that a certain large Newhall company involved in development was having trouble with their evening cleaning crew. Seems one of the janitors, despite numerous requests, kept missing places he was supposed to clean. Finally, one of the secretaries who spoke Spanish left him a detailed note — in Spanish — of what his duties exactly were. The next morning, holding the note, the guy came up to the secretary and asked: “What does this mean? I’m Armenian.”  • • •   Well. Before we duck into yonder time portal with the neon sign advertising, “Santa Clarita, Here & Now,” I’ve a pretty easy safety tip a la Harry Carey — stay away from typhoons. There. That shouldn’t be too difficult. What say — see you back at The Mighty Signal hitching post next week with another exciting Time Ranger adventure? Until then — “¡Vayan con Dios, amigos!”   Santa Clarita’s John Boston is the most prolific humor writer and satirist in world history. End of this month? Halloween? His new multimedia site and online store, johnlovesamerica.com launches.  The post The Time Ranger | Everything & Then Some About ‘Trader Horn’   appeared first on Santa Clarita Valley Signal.