Red Wing (actress)

American actress

This article is about the silent film actress. For the Narragansett historian, see Princess Red Wing. For the burlesque dancer, see Lili St. Cyr.

Red Wing

Who's Who in the Film World (1914)

Born|

Lilian Margaret St. Cyr

(1884-02-23)February 23, 1884

Winnebago Reservation, Nebraska, United States[citation needed]

Died| March 13, 1974(1974-03-13) (aged 101) or March 13, 1974(1974-03-13) (aged 90)

New York City, New York

Occupation| Actress
Years active| 1908 - 1921
Spouses|

James Young Deer

(m. 1906)​

Joe Eaglefoot

(m. 1925⁠-⁠1929)​

Red Wing (born Lilian Margaret St. Cyr; February 23, 1884[1] - March 13, 1974, Winnebago/Ho-Chunk) was an American actress of the silent era. She and her husband James Young Deer (Nanticoke) have been dubbed by some as one of the first Native American Hollywood "power couple(s)", along with Mona Darkfeather and her actor/director husband Frank E. Montgomery.[2][3][4] St. Cyr was born on the Winnebago Reservation in Nebraska.

## Early life

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As a child, Lilian was raised Roman Catholic; her first language was a Siouan language. She was sent East to attend the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania between 1894 and 1902. It enrolled students as boarders from a variety of Native American tribes in an effort to assimilate them to American mainstream life, requiring them to speak English, wear mainstream style clothes, and observe Christianity.[5]

She moved to Washington, D.C. to work as a domestic servant for Kansas Senator Chester I. Long and his wife. There she met and married James Younger Johnson, nicknamed James Young Deer, on April 9, 1906. Young Deer was a member of the Nanticoke tribe. According to St. Cyr, of mixed Delaware Indian (Lenape), European, and African-American ancestry. (A native of Washington, D.C., Young Deer served in the US Navy during the Spanish–American War.[6]

## Personal life and early roles

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After they married, the couple performed a Western act in various venues around New York City and Philadelphia.[7] In 1908, St. Cyr appeared in the Kalem Company's The White Squaw. That was followed in May 1909 by Lubin's The Falling Arrow. In the summer of 1909 the couple worked as technical advisers and extras for the films The Mended Lute and Indian Runner's Romance, both directed by D. W. Griffith.[8]

St. Cyr also appeared in the Vitagraph Studios' Red Wing's Gratitude that fall as the character "Princess Red Wing", which she adopted as a stage name. Concurrently, they worked for Bison films (New York Motion Picture Company), which relocated from New York City to Edendale in the fall of 1909.[9]

## Film

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St. Cyr is best known for her feature role in The Squaw Man (1914) by producer/director Cecil B. DeMille and co-director Oscar Apfel. The movie starred Dustin Farnum and Monroe Salisbury. DeMille's first choice had been Mona Darkfeather, but she was already under contract with the Kalem Company and had to turn down the offer.[10] St. Cyr was the second Native American woman to appear in a film. Jesse Cornplanter had the lead in the feature film Hiawatha, released in 1913, a year before The Squaw Man.

After the movie with DeMille, St. Cyr had a role with cowboy star Tom Mix in the Western In the Days of the Thundering Herd (1914) and another in Fighting Bob (1915). She was featured in a small role in the 1916 version of Ramona, about Native Americans and Spanish colonists in early California. She played the girl's mother.[11]

From 1908 to 1921, St. Cyr performed in more than 35 short Western films.[12] She retired from acting in the 1920s and returned to New York City to settle. She was buried in the Roman Catholic St. Augustine Cemetery in Thurston County, Nebraska, near the Winnebago Reservation.

## Popular culture

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"Red Wing", a popular song of 1907 by Kerry Mills and Thurland Chattaway, was said to have been performed by St. Cyr and was associated with her. However, film historians question this.[13]

## References

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1. ^ Waggoner, Linda M. (2019). Starring Red Wing!: The Incredible Career of Lillian M. St. Cyr, the First Native American Film Star. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. p. 19.
2. ^ "Profile: Lillian St. Cyr (Princess Red Wing) and James Young Deer". nsea.org. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
3. ^ Brightwell, Eric (November 20, 2010). "Red Wing and Young Deer, the First Couple of Native American Silent Film". Retrieved February 10, 2014.
4. ^ See Billy Doyle’s “Lost Players,” Classic Images, September 1993, pp. 54-55 for Darkfeather's fascinating career. She rose to prominence at the Kalem Company under her husband Frank E. Montgomery.
5. ^ "Lilian St. Cyr Student Information Card | Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center". carlisleindian.dickinson.edu. Retrieved 2023-02-17.
6. ^ Aleiss, Angela (May 2013). "Who Was the Real James Young Deer?". Bright Lights Film Journal. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
7. ^ One Reel a Week by Fred J. Balshofer and Arthur C. Miller
8. ^ Aleiss, Angela (2022). Hollywood's Native Americans: Stories of Identity and Resistance. Westport, CT/London: Praeger. p. 8.
9. ^ Aleiss, Angela (2005). Making the White Man's Indian: Native Americans and Hollywood Movies. Westport, CT/London: Praeger. p. 16.
10. ^ The San Francisco Dramatic Review, January 10, 1914, p. 11
11. ^ Aleiss, Angela (February 28, 2014). "The Lillian St. Cyr Story, Part 2: 'Squaw Man' and the Hollywood Years". Indian Country Today Media Network. Retrieved March 8, 2014.
12. ^ "Young Deer and Red Wing". newspaperrock. Retrieved 11 August 2010.
13. ^ O'Connor, Mark (July 15, 2011). "Red Wing". The O'Connor Method - A New American School of String Playing. II. New American School of String Playing. Retrieved July 8, 2013.

## External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Red Wing (actress).

* Red Wing at IMDb
* Princess Red Wing at the American Film Institute Catalog

Authority control databases

International|

* VIAF
* WorldCat

National|

* United States

Other|

* Yale LUX

*[m.]: married