Arthur D. Kean

A. D. Kean as rodeo manager at "Range Days," Vancouver Exhibition, August 1923. His name is spelled out in the metal studs on his chaps. (City of Vancouver Archives item AM281-S8-: CVA 180-5074, detail)

Arthur David Kean (1882–1961), often known as "Cowboy" Kean, was a Canadian filmmaker, journalist, broadcaster, photographer, and horseman. He was the first British Columbia resident to earn his living as a filmmaker, and the first to produce a feature film, the ill-fated (and long-lost) Policing the Plains (1927).

Early life (1882–1913)

Born in Emerson, Manitoba, Kean spent most of his first thirty years in the western United States and the interior of British Columbia. In 1897, his family relocated from Houston, Texas, to southeastern British Columbia. In the province's East Kootenay region and Boundary Country, and near Chesaw in Okanogan County, Washington, he was a farmer, cowboy, teamster, butcher, horseman, and rodeo competitor. He competed in the Calgary Stampede (1912) and the Winnipeg Stampede (1913)—as well as the "Real West" event at Minoru Park in Richmond, BC (1913), where he took first place in the wild horse race on opening day. After taking photographs for some years, he began selling his rodeo images as postcards. Early in 1913, he established a photographic business in Riverside, near Rock Creek, BC. His first magazine articles appeared in Rod and Gun in Canada later that year.

Film career (1914–1927)

Kean, "The Cowboy Cameraman," with his first movie camera, in Moving Picture World, 23 Dec 1916

One of the first Canadians to make a living as a cinematographer, Kean went into that business in Vancouver in 1914. In 1916 he founded a film exchange, "Kean's Canada Films," to distribute his own work. He documented local events and industries, but became best known for his films of British Columbia regiments departing for overseas during the Great War. He also organized and managed (and filmed) several local rodeos or stampedes, including the "Range Days" events at the 1914, 1915 and 1923 Vancouver Exhibition. From 1920 to 1922-23, Kean was the cinematographer for the British Columbia Patriotic and Educational Picture Service (PEPS), one of the first government film agencies in Canada. When the service collapsed amid political scandal, he tried feature film production.

Policing the Plains, which Kean wrote, produced, directed and photographed, was a historical docudrama about the Royal Northwest Mounted Police. Filmed mainly in British Columbia and Alberta during the years 1924–1927, the production was plagued by financial and logistical problems. It finally premiered in Toronto to mixed reviews in December 1927. However, Kean was unable to secure further distribution or exhibition, and it was never screened publicly again. Kean left the film industry and settled in the Toronto area; his picture was eventually lost or destroyed. Throughout his film career, he faced great difficulty in getting his work shown or distributed, due in large part to the American movie industry's control of Canadian film distribution and exhibition chains.

Archivist and historian David Mattison assessed Kean's legacy in a 1986 article:

Kean was an extraordinary individual who single-handedly attempted to establish a new industry. Two reasons for his failure are familiar to filmmakers today: lack of provincial and federal incentives to filmmakers and their financial backers, and apathy on the part of Canadians for their own history and heroes. As Kean discovered, Made-In-The-USA is still a more powerful influence than Made-In-Canada.

Toronto and vicinity (1928–1961)

In Toronto, Kean enjoyed a third career (1928–1940 and 1948) as a writer and radio personality, turning episodes from his youth into lively adventure stories in the Toronto Star Weekly and on popular radio programs. His radio shows included series of broadcast talks like Rainbow Ranch (CFRB Toronto, 1936) and 2-K Ranch (CBL Toronto, 1948), as well as the 14-part drama series Sails and Saddles (CBL Toronto to CBC network, 1938), which he wrote, narrated and acted in. During the Second World War, Kean worked at various tool-and-die plants in the Toronto area. After the war, he enjoyed local renown as a trainer and photographer of horses. He remained active in photography until his death on 11 January 1961 at the age of 78.

Selected filmography

Kean's 1914-1927 film productions were shot on 35mm black & white nitrate film stock; most of them have not survived. Titles of the extant films listed below are linked to their archival descriptions.

• [Dominion Day, Lillooet] (1914 [or 1915]). Footage of Dominion Day races and rodeo events on the main street of Lillooet. A two-minute segment is extant and viewable online.
• The BC Animated Review (1914). Newsreel compilation showing Vancouver events. Lost.
• Wild Animal Life in British Columbia (1915). A compilation of wildlife footage, initially shot in early 1915; would later be expanded with further footage shot in 1916-19. Lost.
• British Columbia for the Empire (1916). Feature-length compilation of documentary shorts showing BC military units departing for service in the First World War. Lost.
• The North British-Columbians, "Warden's Warriors," 102'nd Batt. C.E.F., Historic Departure (1916) The unit is shown on parade at Comox, BC, and departing for Vancouver. Extant.
• Canadian Engineers at Work (1916). A recruiting film showing the training and activities of recruits in the Sixth Field Company, Royal Canadian Engineers, at their base in North Vancouver. Lost.
• Whaling: British Columbia's Least Known and Most Romantic Industry (1916–19). Documentary filmed on the BC coast. Extant; viewable online via Library and Archives Canada's YouTube page.
• Told in the Hills (1917). Docudrama filmed at rodeos in Princeton and Penticton, BC. Lost.
• The Adventures of Count E. Z. Kisser (1917). Comedy short filmed in Vancouver. Lost.
• Profits from Oysters, aka Oyster Cultivation in British Columbia (1920). PEPS short about the oyster industry, highlighting its employment of South Asian labourers; used as political propaganda in the 1920 BC provincial election. Lost.
• Fiftieth Anniversary of Fort Macleod, Alberta (1924). Twenty-minute film recording the anniversary celebrations, parade, and rodeo. Extant; viewable online.
• Policing the Plains (1927). Feature film about the history of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, based on the book of the same name by Rev. R. G. MacBeth. Filmed in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario, April 1924-September 1927. Lost.
• Fox Hunting in Canada (1949). A 16 mm short showing the activities of the Toronto-North York Hunt. Extant.

External links

• This Week in History Ep. 25 - The Cowboy Cameraman on YouTube
• This Day in History, 1924: Cowboy Kean makes the first feature in B.C. filmed by a British Columbian - Vancouver Sun article by John Mackie, 29 March 2024