Life — January 26, 1928 — page 26: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

mean much unless you take in the bridle paths of Beverly For the benefit of those who Ne around Hollywood don’t Hills. don’t know, I might say that Beverly Hills an’ Hollywood are practically the same, bein’ “‘side by side.” The principal difference between ’em is that you pay a cover charge for livin’ in Beverly Hills. The bridle paths are dirt trails that run through the center of the principal thoroughfares of Beverly; there's quite a few miles of ‘em. On each side of the twenty-feet-wide paths there’s a waist-high, nicely trimmed an’ flower-bloomin’ hedge. A lot of folks think the hedges were put in by the Park Commissioners to beautify Beverly. But that’s wrong. They were put in by the Beverly Board of Health to keep most of the riders — who can't ride a horse — from gettin’ mixed up with the driv- ers on that part of the road left for automobiles, thereby a-cuttin’ down of a lot of ambulance calls. Since Mrs. Mix an’ me moved to Beverly—home of a lot of movin’ picture stars—I reckon me an’ Tony have been invited to more horseback- ridin’ parties than any two horses in the Beverly Hills an’ Hollywood ridin’ academies. We attended sev- eral, hopin’ to get a few pointers. We did. One English ridin’ academy in- structor, who roams around on what he argues is a saddle, offered to in- struct my little girl Tommy how to ride, priced at five dollars per the hour, evidently considerin’ it a shame Bridle Paths of Hollywood By Tom Mix for her to be brought up a-ridin’ in the same old-fashioned an’ useless style her father was a-usin’, If I ever tried to rig Tony up with one of them saddles that instructor rides in, Tony would probably think it was some new kind of a hot-water bottle for a sore back an’ refuse to go to work, believin’ himself sick. IX that connection, Tony tells me him an’ the rest of the horses re- gard Henry Ford in about the same way the slaves regarded Abraham Lincoln. Tony says the horses stand flat-footed on the belief that Henry an’ his tin Lizzies have relieved them from the slavery of toil. That is as it should be. A horse was intended as man’s faithful companion an’ not as an animal of drudgery. When you come down to cases, I reckon Tony’s three-toed ancestors considered them- selves as good as the ring-tails they saw a-chasin’ each other up an’ down the trees, who give us our start. I don’t know how I ever got alongwith- out Tony an’ I don’t know how Tony would have got as far as he has with- out me. Get on a horse in the morn- in’ packin’ a peeve an’ in half an hour your horse has picked up the same mean disposition. On the other hand, start out the day free an’ happy an’ the horse is just as tickled about the joy of livin’ as you are. But to get back to the bridle paths. Who revived horseback ridin’ out here I don’t know but I sus- pect the tailors — judgin’ by what they charge for ridin’ suits. The other day I saw a well-known tailor a-ridin’ on one of the paths. This same bird once made me a pair of ridin’ breeches, an’ after sufferin’ in ‘em twice, all the harm I wished this thread-an’-needle gent was that he was a-ridin’ along in a suit of his own makin’, If ninety per cent of the riders had to turn out in ordinary clothes, there would be no ridin’. It’s the chance to wear snappy-lookin’ outfits that appeals, although there are a few real horsemen an’ horsewomen who ride the paths through honest love of horses an’ the enjoyment of the ride. THE daddy of the Beverly Hills paths is Hobart Bosworth, an’ inci- dental, a mighty fine horseman. Bos- worth loves horses an’ rides sun-up an’ sun-down in all kinds of weather. Of course, every one knows so excel- lent an actor as Mr. Bosworth an’ passin’ autoists always speak to him, an’ in turn, Bosworth has a genial nod for everybody. It’s got so now that if Hobart don’t see ‘em, the gray horse he always rides nods for him. Bosworth tells me the horse has got so that he’s startin’ to nod to passin’ flappers on his own ac- count. Me an’ Tony an’ the ridin’ parties don’t get along so well. When Tony an’ me go horseback ridin’, we want to go horseback ridin’ an’ not to talkfests on how to play bridge, a subject that Tony, somehow, don't seem to be interested in. Most of these parties ride along about a mile, pull I've a sto comp in’ fe as m nigh coulc after the they turn N on own from acad rent! whe: for | rent wan hour the : mak R fash jud; won an’ it’s comicbooks.com