texascity

PANCHO VILLA'S ARRANGEMENT WITH THE MUTUAL FILM COMPANY: "In January 1914, Pancho Villa became Hollywood's first Mexican superstar when he signed an exclusive contract with the Mutual Film Corporation. In return for $25,000, he agreed to keep other film companies from his battlefield, to fight in daylight whenever possible, and to reconstruct battles if the footage needed reshooting. "Now the subject of an HBO film starring Antonio Banderas (And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself), Villa is one of the main protagonists in Margarita de Orellana's vivid account of the American movie industry's fascination with the events of the Mexican Revolution. "Through memoir accounts, newspaper reports, and analysis of the films themselves, "Filming Pancho" reveals much about how Mexico was constructed in the American imagination and how the film images reinforced and justified American expansionism and racial and social prejudices." --From a description, on Amazon, of a documentary movie of Hollywood's treatment of the Mexican Revolution. (The DVD is available for purchase from various Amazon vendors.)

Once upon a time.......

texashistory.unt.edu/data/SUM2006/MMPL/box4_us_army/meta-...

"Pilot and co-pilot seated in biplane on an airfield....after breaking American duration and distance record by flying from Texas City to San Antonio on March 28th and back to Texas City on March 31, 1913." texashistory.unt.edu/data/SUM2006/MMPL/box4_us_army/meta-...

Quite possibly seated in a Wright B Flyer. Control stick and cross wire supports similar. Pilot and co-pilot sits side by side. Wrights were marketing their Wright B Flyer at this time. See www.wright-b-flyer.org for reblica pics

The caption on the print is incorrect. On the right side of the photo is seated early aviator J. Clifford Turpin in what is likely a Wright Model B aircraft. Turpin was an instructor at the Wright School at the time (future Brig. Gen.) Thomas DeWitt Milling was a student there in 1911. Both Turpin and Milling would lead distinguished careers in aviation. J. Clifford Turpin earlyaviators.com/eturpin.htm Thomas DeWitt Milling earlyaviators.com/emilling.htm

Thomas DeWitt Milling (July 31, 1887 - November 26, 1960) was a pioneer of military aviation and a brigadier general in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was the first rated pilot in the history of the United States Army Air Forces. He received his flight training from the Wright Brothers and was awarded Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) pilot certificate No. 30 on July 6, 1911. Although Milling was not the first U.S. Army aviator, he was the first to be rated according to FAI rules and received Military Aviator Certificate No. 1 on July 5, 1912. Milling also received the first badge awarded to an American military aviator in October 1913. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_DeWitt_Milling en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Clifford_Turpin

... a great study of the many different ways of wearing the campaign hat...

Terriffic Piece of History...Thanks!