"The Moose Rodeo"
by Pablo Capra
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| Sam "Buffalo" Smith, c/o Los Angeles Times, 1923-09-06 |
On September 8-9, 1923, the Moose Lodge threw their own two-day rodeo. The best cowboys returned to compete for prizes, and there was an all-night dance in the beach pavilion with music by The Moose Orchestra.
Joe Romero was again hired to barbecue, and cooked buffalo meat provided by Arizona cowboy Sam “Buffalo” Smith, the only owner of a buffalo herd in the Southwest.
One rodeo performer, Dorothy Cooper, is mysterious because she was said to be Archie’s daughter.
Archie only had one daughter that I’m aware of, Edythe Cooper (1908-1982), who would have been 14 at the time. His estranged wife Emilie (1891-1977) had finally divorced him in 1922, suing for alimony and accusing him of cheating with a woman named “Miss Belle.”
Dorothy was billed as “the champion girl rider in the Southwest,” with reports that “Miss Cooper’s riding has long startled rodeo fans wherever she has appeared.” Her title was challenged by Myrtle Gibbins of Shelby, MT, a last-minute entry in the women’s stunt-riding event, but it’s not known who won. As late as 1940, a “champion jumper” named Dorothy Cooper was competing at the Riviera Country Club in the Pacific Palisades.
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| Dorothy Cooper, c/o Los Angeles Times, 1937 and 1939 |
Besides the usual events, the Moose Rodeo featured some odder entertainments like a fat men’s race and a midnight badger fight.
Anyone who has ever seen Secretary [Dave] Hurley’s famous badger in action will appreciate what a momentous occasion this will be.
—“Loyal Order of Moose,” Los Angeles Times, 1923-08-12
There was also a swimsuit contest/parade hosted by Mack Sennett (1880-1960), known for his short films of “Bathing Beauties,” and a contest for “The Queen of the Moose.” The Queen was feted with a “triumphal procession,” and tickets were auctioned to ride in her chariot.
Attendance was in the thousands, and “[shattered] all records for a Moose festivity.”
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This is an excerpt from the book Topanga Beach: A History, 1820s-1920s. Author Pablo Capra is a former Lower Topanga resident, and continues to preserve the history of that neighborhood on his website, www.brasstackspress.com, and as a board member of the Topanga Historical Society, www.topangahistoricalsociety.org.
