Twisting in Air
eBook - ePub

Twisting in Air

The Sensational Rise of a Hollywood Falling Horse

  1. 224 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Twisting in Air

The Sensational Rise of a Hollywood Falling Horse

About this book

Silver Medal Winner for the 2025 Will Rogers Medallion 

Twisting in Air chronicles the gritty and glittery era when an extraordinary group of horses made Western movies come alive and explores how one of them, Cocaine, overcame a debilitating injury to become the fastest falling horse of all. Falling horses came into being in the 1940s after movie studios agreed to abide by the Hollywood Production Code's ban on cruelty to animals and stop using deadly trip wires, tilt chutes, and covered pits to topple unsuspecting horses. Filmmakers still wanted to depict horses falling in battle, however, so they went looking for a new wave of "acting" horses who could tumble to the ground on command.

Cocaine was a thoroughbred–quarter horse mix who doubled many times for John Wayne's horse Dollor and appeared in a number of Westerns directed by John Ford. Coke was one of only a couple dozen horses who mastered the demanding athleticism required to fall safely at will. Twisting in Air offers an absorbing look at the dark early history of stunt horses in movies and the development of falling horses, the stunt riders who owned, trained, and depended on them, and the behind-the-scenes circumstances in which they performed.

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Yes, you can access Twisting in Air by Carol Bradley in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & North American History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Dedication
  5. Contents
  6. List of Illustrations
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. 1. A Mortifying Gaffe
  9. 2. The Lure of the West
  10. 3. First Came Fritz
  11. 4. Then Came Tony
  12. 5. Trip Wires and More
  13. 6. Ratcheting Up the Risks
  14. 7. Making Headway against Abuse
  15. 8. Learning the Ropes
  16. 9. In Search of the Right Horse
  17. 10. A Debilitating Injury
  18. 11. Learning to Fall Again
  19. 12. Tough Riders, Tough Horses
  20. 13. Doubling for John Wayne
  21. 14. The Searchers
  22. 15. Doubling for the Stars
  23. 16. Aging and Still Falling
  24. 17. The Return of Cruelty
  25. 18. Out to Pasture
  26. Epilogue
  27. Notes on Sources
  28. About Carol Bradley