James Young Deer (April 1, 1876 – April 6, 1946), also known as J. Younger Johnson or Jim Young Deer, was bornJames Young Johnson in Washington, D.C.[1] Although he was identified in the early Hollywood trade paperMoving Picture World as of theWinnebago Tribe of Nebraska, his ancestry is of theNanticoke people of Delaware.[2]
He became an earlyfilmactor,director,writer, andproducer. He is believed to be the first Native American filmmaker/producer in Hollywood. Together with his wife and partnerLillian St. Cyr, (Winnebago), the couple were labeled an "influential force" in the production of one-reelWesterns during the first part of thesilent film era. Their films, along with several others of the silent era, were notable for portraying Native Americans in a positive light.[3]
Questions were raised about Young Deer's purported Winnebago background when film historians were unable to verify much about his origins. He was not listed on the Winnebago tribal rolls in the early 20th century.[4]
Young Deer was born in the "Old Southwest" District of Washington, D.C. to George Durham Johnson and Emma Margaret Young. Census records indicated both his parents were classified as "mulatto," usually meaningmixed-race African American/European American. He would have been classified the same way. Sometimes the term included ethnic Native American as part of the mixture.[5] Young Deer (i.e., James Johnson) entered the U.S. Navy on October 8, 1898, for three years during theSpanish–American War, but he was apparently disillusioned with the Navy's "great prejudices."[2]
Newspapers boasted about how he performed as a cowboy with theBarnum and Bailey Circus andMiller Brothers' 101 Ranch Wild West Show, riding as a son of the Wild West.[6]
After meetingLillian St. Cyr, who was living and working in Washington, D.C. for a Kansas senator, Young Deer and she married on April 9, 1906. She became an actress of thesilent film era, known later by her stage name ofRed Wing. Born on theWinnebago Reservation near Omaha, she was a member of theWinnebago Tribe of Nebraska through her parents Mitchell St. Cyr and Julia Decora. St. Cyr was best known for her lead role in 1914'sThe Squaw Man.[7]
Young Deer began acting in 1909 in New York City in several one-reel Westerns that year. Among the film companies for which he worked wereKalem,Lubin,Vitagraph, andBiograph. He worked at one of the first independent film companies, the New York Motion Picture Company, under the Bison trademark.[6]
In 1910, Young Deer was hired to direct forPathé Frères. The French-based studio in Jersey City was faced with criticism that their movies were not realistic in their portrayals of the Old West. They sent Young Deer to Edendale in Los Angeles to make Indian-themed films. His wife Red Wing acted in many of his films. Young Deer eventually ran the company's West Coast Studio operations in Edendale.[6]
Young Deer acted in, wrote, or directed approximately 150 silent movies at Pathé's West Coast Studio.
By 1910, one-fifth of American films were Westerns, and companies worked to establish national dominance in the genre.[8] In these early years, American Indians were "generally portrayed in a positive way," and directors often hired Native Americans as actors. Movie historianWilliam K. Everson wrote, "[D]uring this period the Indian became accepted as a symbol of integrity, stoicism, and reliability ..."[6]
Young Deer's films have been noted as early Westerns "without the cliches of hostile Indian warriors or wagon train attacks." although Several studios at the time, especiallyKalem, also portrayed Indians in a unique and favorable light compared with later works.[9] The combined talent of Young Deer and St. Cyr was due to several factors. She was educated at the Carlisle Indian School and had some knowledge of Winnebago and general elements of Indian culture. During the early 1900s, the film industry was adaptable and experimental.
Young Deer encountered legal troubles in California in 1913, when a 15-year-old girl alleged he assaulted her.[10] Young Deer went overseas, working first in Great Britain. In 1914 he worked in London, shooting thrillers forBritish and Colonial Films that includedThe Queen of the London Counterfeiters andThe Black Cross Gang. A few writers have said that duringWorld War I, he created documentaries inFrance. This assertion has not been substantiated.[4]
After Young Deer returned from Great Britain in 1914, he had a hard time finding work, as Westerns were less popular for a time. He was said to operate an acting school inSan Francisco. In the 1930s, after talkies came to dominate film, he worked occasionally as a second-unit director on independently produced low-budgetB movies andserials.[4]
In July 1930, he traveled to Arizona to marry Helen Gilchrist. She died in 1937. Young Deer died inNew York City on April 6, 1946. He received a military burial at theLong Island National Cemetery as James Young Johnson, veteran of theSpanish–American War.[2]
Many of his early films are now lost. However, in 2008 theLibrary of Congress addedWhite Fawn's Devotion, one of Young Deer's few surviving pictures, to itsNational Film Registry.
One of his later films,Tragedies of the Osage Hills (1926), was the first feature about theOsage murders, which had been reported in national media. Whites were killing Osage people in efforts to get control of their headrights to oil riches.Tragedies of the Osage Hills is presumably a lost film.[11] His film precededMartin Scorsese'sKillers of the Flower Moon (2023) by about a century.
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