Movies Way Back When: Indians in Mission Canyon
bjgreen
November 19, 2022, 9:00 am
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By Betsy J. Green
It’s doubtful if any of the actors in this “Flying A” movie, who were purported to be Indians from a Navajo reservation, were actual Native Americans.
Certainly, there were doubts about the ethnic background of a mysterious guy who called himself Lone Star Dietz. When he wasn’t playing Indian in the movies, he was coaching football in the Pacific Northwest.
This group was performing in the “Flying A” serial, “The Diamond From the Sky” in Mission Canyon.
“Lone Star, a full-blooded American Indian, led 40 of his tribe before the camera . . . hundreds of tourists sojourning in Santa Barbara and Montecito, were permitted to enjoy the proceedings from the sidelines. A complete Indian village had been built in the canyon by Lone Star’s people, who were brought from the Navajo reservation expressly for this picture.” – Moving Picture World, April 3, 1915
Betsy’s Way Back When book — Movies & Million-Dollar Mansions — is now available in local bookstores and at Amazon.com. This is the seventh book in her series on the history of Santa Barbara. Learn more at .
Written by bjgreen
