By Brad Kellogg
(SBA) - Lillian St. Cyr was Angel De Cora’s cousin and younger by fourteen years. St. Cyr’s parents were well respected within the tribe but both died and left her orphaned at the age of four. Julia St. Cyr, her elder sister who had sponsored their cousin De Cora to Hampton, planned the arrangements for her little sister to attend boarding school. When Lillian was old enough, she was granted a spot at Hampton, as her older sibling was an admired Hampton graduate.
1 One of the movie posters advertising St. Cyr as Red Wing, in the silent film The Squaw Man
(Photos courtesy of IMBd “International Movie Data Base)
During an excursion into New York, St. Cyr met and became friends with Anna Long, the daughter of Chester Long, U.S. Senator from Kansas and was invited to summer with them in Washington D.C. and act as their housekeeper. They showed her a world far different from what she knew, took her to plays and concerts and even gave her music lessons. With her natural smile and vivacious personality, she was liked by all and soon started participating in the theater. She was acting in a four-part play called “The Squaw Man” under the pseudonym of “Red Wing”, which happened to be attended by soon to be legendary producer Cecil B. DeMille and a man named Samuel Goldwyn. Goldwyn would eventually become one of the founders of Metro-Goldwyn Mayer, (M.G.M.) the movie production company and Casino Empire. DeMille and Goldwyn wanted to get into the fledgling silent movie business and decided to start with a production based on the play they had seen St. Cyr perform in. They shot it in an authentic location in the California and kept the title “The Squaw Man” with St. Cyr in what would become the first silent movie with a Native American woman in a starring role.
With the success of that first movie, Red Wing was cast in several others, including co-starring with Tom Mix in “The Days of the Thundering Herd”. Red Wing would perform in over 70 films in the next several years such as “Silver Moon’s Rescue”, “The Bear Hunters” and “An Indian’s Honor.” She met and married a young man named James Johnson, who preferred to be known as Young Deer. They played together in several movies and then formed a production company of their own they named West Coast Studios. Their studio churned out any number of low budget and unremarkable films until it was hired by a larger company to produce a hit serial called “The Perils of Pauline.”
Lillian St. Cyr and her husband Young Deer in Perils of Pauline
(Photos courtesy of IMBd “International Movie Data Base)
The future looked bright for the couple. In time however, St. Cyr came to see that her husband had a darker side. In the course of making films, he always insisted on scenes being as realistic as possible. During the making of “General Scott’s PROTÉGÉ” a rider was supposed to fall off a horse just before the horse fell over a cliff. With no regard for the horse, Young Deer had the animal hobbled and forced over the edge of cliff to its death for the camera. The Humane Society forced charges and fines were paid. He had also developed a taste for the night life and young actresses. The pair grew apart and separated in 1915 although it is unclear if they ever divorced.
St. Cyr and Young Deer pose with the cast of one of their movies.
(Photos courtesy of IMBd “International Movie Data Base)
St. Cyr continued to make silent movies with other producers for a couple of years but was unable to make the transition to “talkies.” She moved back to Winnebago in 1917 and performed briefly in vaudeville acts. In whatever form acting took, it was in her blood. She traveled across the country appearing in wild west shows, plays, and giving lectures about Native American culture until she retired in New York City. There she lived a quiet life making native dresses, war bonnets and beadwork, much of which was sent back to Winnebago to be sold to tourists. St. Cyr did make one trip back to California in 1951. She stood between two elderly gentlemen, Cecil B. DeMille and Samuel Goldwyn, and proudly watched as a plaque was installed near her old studio. It marked the “Birthplace of Motion Pictures,” and read “Where Princess Redwing performed her part with exquisite fidelity and great depth of feeling.”
St. Cyr died in 1974 at the age of 90. Her remains were cremated and returned to Winnebago, where she is interred at St. Augustine Cemetery.
A scene from The Squaw Man 1914
(Photos courtesy of IMBd “International Movie Data Base)
Angel De Cora and Lillian St. Cyr were only two of the women of the Winnebago tribe who were able to shake off the chains of the reservation. De Cora became a champion of the Native American culture, a creative teacher and artist. Lillian St. Cyr, from an orphan at the age of four, to a star of the silver screen. Efforts are currently underway for a star in her honor on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Adventures of a Cow Puncher, in which St. Cyr starred in 1910.
(Photos courtesy of IMBd “International Movie Data Base)
Author’s note: If you should happen to research Lillian St. Cyr, you may also find Lili St. Cyr, who was a topless burlesque dancer. They are not the same person.
ED NOTE: Brad Kellogg has spent most of his life in Wakefield, Nebraska, before retiring to Wisconsin. A passionate historian, he is an active member of several historical societies and a speaker and living history performer for Humanities Nebraska. Brad wrote human-interest stories for Living Here Magazine for four years and authored the book The Aisles of the Forgotten Graveyard. His work has also appeared in the Ponca Journal Leader, the Wakefield Republican, and Check the Oil, a magazine for automotive enthusiasts. Currently, he is under contract with Reedy Press to write Amazing Wisconsin, which is in progress.
