A Chickasaw Family in Studio-era Hollywood: Edwin Carewe, Finis Fox and Wallace Fox

FAIN: FT-61941-14

Joanna Megan Hearne
Mizzou (Columbia, MO 65211-3020)

A Chickasaw Family in Studio-era Hollywood retrieves the history of the first Indigenous family of writer-directors in Hollywood--the Chickasaw brothers Finis Fox, Edwin Carewe (stage name for Jay Fox), and Wallace Fox. Taken together, the Fox brothers' careers writing, directing and producing films in Hollywood spanned 40 years, from Edwin Carewe's directorial debut in 1914 to Wallace Fox's last television show in 1954. Their family story expands our understanding of Indigenous contributions to American film history beyond stereotyped images on screen to consider production practices and issues of creative control. I argue that the brothers' success in appropriating dominant storytelling forms suggests a model of negotiated agency that requires us to ask both what is Chickasaw about their productions and how they selectively accommodated Hollywood's established studio system.

Associated Products

“Chickasaw Television: Wallace Fox and the Gene Autry Enterprise/Flying A Pictures television series The Range Rider,” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Chickasaw Television: Wallace Fox and the Gene Autry Enterprise/Flying A Pictures television series The Range Rider,”
Author: Joanna Hearne
Abstract: Conference paper on the television work of Chickasaw director Wallace W. Fox
Date: 10/25/2017
Conference Name: Western Literature Association Conference

“Indigenous Melodramas in the 1920s: The Case of Edwin Carewe,” (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Indigenous Melodramas in the 1920s: The Case of Edwin Carewe,”
Author: Joanna Hearne
Abstract: Conference paper on the melodramas of Chickasaw director Edwin Carewe.
Date: 10/25/2014
Conference Name: American Studies Association

“A Chickasaw Filmmaker in 1920s Hollywood: Edwin Carewe, Dolores Del Rio, and the Story of Ramona,” (Public Lecture or Presentation)
Title: “A Chickasaw Filmmaker in 1920s Hollywood: Edwin Carewe, Dolores Del Rio, and the Story of Ramona,”
Abstract: Public lecture at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR, on the restored print of the 1928 film version of Ramona, by Chickasaw director Edwin Carewe.
Author: Joanna Hearne
Date: 10/11/2014
Location: University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas

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