Browning Newspaper Notes 1939

January 27, 1939
Retrospect: Joe Kipp is the first Indian in Montana to own a car (August 3, 1910, Great Fall Leader item) It was an Overland and he drove it GF to Browning, which was 215 miles. It took 10 hours.
Frank Caldwell is visiting Fred, Bob and Charlie Starr. Mr. Caldwell is brother to Mrs. Fred Starr.
“Don’t forget to attend the HS band concert under the leadership of Robert Scriver. The band will play classical and novelty numbers. There will also be musical and vocal solos. Hillbilly Entertainers from GP, twirling exhibition and tumbling and a talk by a prominent speaker. Don’t miss this rare musical treat.”

February 3, 1939
Shirley Temple’s new leading man is Martin GoodRider, age 13, of Browning, a full-blood Montana Blackfeet Indian. The young American redskin, fresh from his tribe’s reservation plays the male hero with Shirley in “Susannah of the Mountains.” Martin is a protegee of Father Egan Mallman, a Jesuit priest. Besides acting, the young Indian warbles Irish ditties with a Cork accent and does Scotch dances.
The concert given by the BHS band last Friday under the leadership of Robert Scriver was enjoyed to the fullest extent by the large crowd attending. Many favorable comments have been heard this past week regarding the concert and this wonderful musical organization. Browning is justly proud of their HS Band.

February 10, 1939
12 Blackfeet went to be in the [Shirley Temple] movie: Albert MadPlume, Chief; Eddie Big Beaver, interpreter; Charlie Iron Breast; Dan BullPlume; Tom Many Guns; Turtle; Yellow Kidney; John Little Blaze; John Night Shoot; Victor Chief Coward; Juniper Old Person; Tom Spotted Eagle.

March 3, 1939
Death of Culbertson’s daughter: Mrs. Frances (Fanny) Culbertson Irvin. 80 yrs old.
Widow of Louis Irvin, pioneer lawyer.
(Culbertson ran a major fur company, competing with Hudson's Bay successfully because of his wife, Natawista, who was Blood. She was a gifted diplomat.)
b. Feb 14, 1858. In 1862: Natawista brought Fannie and Jack on a river trip that included Mrs. LaBarge, wife of the river boat captain and Margaret Karkness, the first white women to see GF. Frances in 1871 (13 yrs old) attended Moravian Institute at Bethlehem PA for one year, then one year at Vassar, then a year at a select girl’s school just outside St. Louis, called Maplewood where she majored in piano. Gov. Stevens came to St. Louis on business and held a reception for Fannie on the boat where he presented her with a loving cup inscribed “To the Second Pocahontas.” (It burned in a warehouse fire with other keepsakes stored there.) She spent her weekends at Chouteau’s home in St. Louis, where the black servants from New Orleans all spoke French. She spent the winter in NY with her cousin, Cornelia, who was born in China, but came to America to attend the Centennial Expo at Philadelphia in 1876. She was engaged to SS McCormick of Chicago. But instead she came to Fort Benton to teach. She married Irvin. and then lived in Browning. Irvin died June 13, 1938, at Browning. He was 82. She had a daughter, Mrs. Louise McGraw of GF; a son, Pierre A. Irvin of San Francisco, and three grandchildren: Mrs. Frances (Fanny) Steele of Browning, Louis Pierre and Stuart Irvin in the Navy, and one great-granddaughter.

March 10, 1939
There were as many marijuana cases as alcohol cases in Great Falls.

March 17, 1939
Al Racine goes to Bacon College in Oklahoma for art training.

April 28, 1939
Blackfeet Ceremonial Committee: Wades in the Water, chair; MudHead, vice-chair; William Fish, Sec. Treas; Victor Chief Coward, and Fish WolfRobe, collect committee; Louis Champine, Juniper Old Person, and Stabs by Mistake, camp committee; John Old Chief, Ceremony Man; Charles Reevis, Yellow Kidney, Rides at the Door, Edward Double Runner, Dan Bull Plume, Litrtle Blaze, Richard Sanderville, Old Chief, members.
Plans for a new modern theatre.
Band to Missoula where participated in a street parade. BHS was the only band recorded.
Alice Snell’s piano students had a recital.

June 2, 1939
“BHS band directed by Robert Scriver will participate in the welcoming ceremonies for Crown Princess Martha and Crown Prince Olav of Norway come through the Glacier Park station on Saturday evening. Scriver will have his band dressed in Blackfeet Indian costumes and the program calls for ceremonial dances by leading Blackfeet Indians. The Crown Prince and Princess of Norway will spend several days visiting Glacier Park before leaving Montana.

June 16, 1939
Premiere of “Susanna and the Mounties”

June 23, 1939
Promo of Monty Montana on “Rex”

June 30, 1939
Eddie Big Beaver played Tonto in a Lone Ranger skit. (Local)

July 7, 1939
“Northwest Passage” is being filmed. Dan and Levi Bull Plume, Eddie Double Runner, Jr. and Tom Dog Taking Gun to play Mohawks. Stockbridge Indians played by Jim Morning Gun, William Mills, Sam Cut Finger, James WeaselTail, Willliam Lewis, Raymond Rattler and John Old Chief, Jr.
New movie house opens 7/20. 25 years now that DesRosiers have run theatres.

July 14, 1939
Martin Good Rider is doing promotions, accompanied by Archie St. Goddard Jr. (“Sa-Poo” -- “The Wind”)
Belt that helps the heart being promoted.

“The Browning Indian Band has been engaged to play at the Northern Montana Fair at Great Falls next week. The band is composed of members of the Tribal Band and the HS Band and has been practising diligently for the past month. They will lead the Grand Parade Tuesday.”

August 11, 1939
Construction starts on the Indian Museum.

August 18, 1939
Jack Starkweather is running the Carberry Shop and writing a book about the Blackfeet.

September 1, 1939
The excavation for the Indian Museum is complete and the forms have been laid for the foundation.