Seriously Moving Images

In May 1914, rodeo competitor and photographer A. D. “Cowboy” Kean (1882-1961) was establishing himself as a motion picture cameraman in Vancouver and Victoria. He made a deal to organize and manage the cowboy sports competition at the Vancouver Exhibition (now the Pacific National Exhibition or PNE) that September; he also obtained the rights to film the exhibition. The rodeo event, marketed as “Range Days,” proved immensely popular, and Kean would go on to manage similar events at the 1915 and 1923 Vancouver exhibitions.

Unfortunately, most of the footage shot by Kean has long since been lost or destroyed. The brief 35 mm film fragment shown above, the only extant footage of “Range Days,” shows the rough-riding event at the 1914 or 1915 exhibition. This sequence was included in his one of his few surviving films, The North British-Columbians, “Warden’s Warriors,” 102nd Battalion CEF, Historic Departure (1916). The latter records a BC regiment departing Comox for service in the First World War; a segment called “Scenes from the Land of the North British-Columbians” features footage of BC wildlife and a few sporting events, including this clip.

Kean filmed numerous BC regiments departing for war service, as well as wide range of BC places and industries. During the period 1919-1923, he was official filmmaker for the BC government’s Patriotic and Educational Picture Service (PEPS).

He later spent almost four years making and promoting Policing the Plains (1927), a feature-length docudrama on the history of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. On its Toronto premiere in December 1927, the film was a commercial and critical failure, and was never screened publicly again.

For more about Kean and his fascinating career, take a look at the CHEK-TV/RBCM video short in my blog entry This Week in History: A. D. Kean, “The Cowboy Cameraman”.