The Oklahoma Kid and 'Whizzer'

Making The Oklahoma Kid (1939)…

Ace Hudkins at Hudkins' Brothers Stable

A studio prepares to film a picture requiring a number of horses.  The studio "animal man" — the fellow who handles all animal casting — contacts the Hudkins stable, just outside Los Angeles.

A pre-dawn delivery of movie horses

'We need forty head of horses at the Iverson Ranch in Chatsworth

by 7 o'clock tomorrow morning," he says.

"Forty head," agrees whichever one of the Hudkins brothers happens to answer the telephone. "How do you want them?"

"Well, let's see," 'says the studio representative, consulting his animal cast sheet. "We need two star horses, three featured, one bit and the rest mob."

"O.K.," says the Hudkins brother.  "They'll be there."

And this is how the Hudkins brothers bill the studio:  "Two stars — $25 per day each,  "Three featured — $15 per day each.  "One bit — $7.50 per day.  "Thirty-four mob: 11 at $5 per day each, 23 at $2:50 per day each."

The Hudkins brothers rate their horses by the people who ride them.  

"Whizzer" is an example.  Not long ago "Whizzer" was an ordinary mob animal which earned $5 a day for his owners whenever he worked.  Then along came James Cagney looking for a horse to ride in his latest Warner Brothers picture, "The Oklahoma Kid."

Whizzer and Cagney relaxing on location in Chatsworth

Cagney looked over the Hudkins horses.  "Whizzer" nudged him a couple of times on the shoulder as Cagney passed his stall.  "I'll take him," said Cagney, and a star was born.

end (the above story is an excerpt from a press kit for The Oklahoma Kid)


By the way if Whizzer looks different in the movie remember...  Movie Horses also visit the makeup department.

Rental Stable notes:

Clarence 'Fat' Jones and Baldy (award winning movie horse)

Three of the largest suppliers of rental horses and horse drawn vehicles for the film industry during the heyday of the B-Western were Ralph McCutcheon Stables located in Van Nuys, California, Hudkins Bros. Stables, Inc., located at 7245 Coldwater Canyon Ave., North Hollywood, California and Clarence (Fats) Jones Stable located at 11300 Sherman Way, North Hollywood, California.

To learn more about The Oklahoma Kid (1939) see http://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2012/05/best-chatsworth-movies-oklahoma-kid.html

For more information about the Chatsworth filming locations visit http://www.cowboyup.com/ and learn about my books: Rendezvous at Boulder Pass: Hollywood's Fantasyland © 2010 (ISBN: 978-0-615-21522-8) and Reel Cowboys of the Santa Susanas © 2008 (ISBN: 978-0-615-21499-3)