News Release

May 2, 2007


Photo Albums Discovery Sheds New Light on Pioneering Filmmaker Nell Shipman
 

Two albums full of photos, clippings and other documents are shedding

The Lone Star Ranche Albums

Annabelle "Belle" Downey Hill

Nell Shipman

Joy Matlock

new light on the pioneering filmmaker Nell Shipman, according to Shipman historian and Boise State University professor Tom Trusky.

The albums — which include treasures such as 16 never-before-seen photos of Shipman and her crew — give film historians a chance to answer questions about Shipman’s time at the Lone Star Ranche in Priest Lake, Idaho, where she filmed the 1924 movie “Wolf’s Brush.” Shipman, who has been described as “the godmother of no-nonsense heroines,” made movies in northern Idaho, many of which featured her beloved menagerie of animals.

Trusky received the albums from Marybeth Matlock of Olympia, Wash., who contacted him after receiving the albums from her 96-year-old mother-in-law, Joy Matlock, also of Olympia. The albums were created by Gertrude Downey Hein and focus on Hein’s sister, Annabelle “Belle” Downey Hill Angstadt and her Lone Star Ranche.

Angstadt led an adventurous life (she left St. Louis, Mo., after her wealthy young husband’s family paid her off, moved to Idaho, shot an overly attentive lover and then married a local bar bouncer) and was Shipman’s friend and acted in “Wolf’s Brush.” Later, when Shipman’s film company went bankrupt, the assets were stored by the Lone Star Ranche in an effort to preserve them.

The albums include the assets of the Shipman Co., Trusky says. “In this list are never-before-known details of her films, plus heartbreaking specifics like ‘54 dog collars,’ ” Trusky says, referring to Shipman’s treasured animals, many of which had to be shipped to the San Diego Zoo.

The photos reveal views of Lone Star Ranche, which was located halfway up the east side of Priest Lake. The ranch has been defunct for many years, and Trusky and others have spent considerable time locating the site of the early lake resort.

Trusky will use the newfound information in Volume III of the Nell Shipman DVD Collection, now in production. The Nell Shipman Collection features her movies and documentaries about her. The albums have been donated to the Shipman Archives in the Matlock Collection of Albertsons Library on the Boise State campus.

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Contact: Tom Trusky, Department of English, (208) 426-1999, ttrusky@boisestate.edu 
Media Contact: Julie Hahn, University Communications, (208) 426-5540, juliehahn@boisestate.edu

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Last reviewed on Wednesday, May 02, 2007