The First Father of Fiesta was a creative and fascinating “showman” named Charles Pressley.
Although his name may not be familiar to most people today, he was a household name and beloved figure in town for the first half of the 20th century in Santa Barbara.
And for good reason. His specific talent was to organize, publicize, direct and produce Old Spanish Days Fiesta … which he did for nearly 30 years.
Pressley’s story is important because he was the idea man who kept the festival fresh; he was the glue that held the organization together, and he was the lightning rod of publicity and promotion to draw attention and visitors to Old Spanish Days.
His position as managing director of Fiesta was a natural one for Pressley.
Born in Alabama in 1893, Pressley’s first love was pretty much anything and everything theatrical.
He grew up writing, performing and directing shows, starting with his “Super Mammoth Productions“ he created while just in grade school, working with the neighborhood kids.
Show Biz in His Blood
Soon after Pressley became involved with community and regional theater — working backstage or onstage, it mattered little.
He loved the magic of the stage, and being part of it in any fashion. He even wrote and published songs, such as “I’ll Meet You in Reno.”
His background then led to involvement with early silents films at Independent Moving Pictures Co. (IMP), where Pressley worked variously as a stage hand or acted in silent films.
Pressley happily hobnobbed with stars such as Margarita Fischer, Harry Pollard, Eddie Lyons and Benjamin Horning.
In 1912, when Horning left IMP to work in the “Mission Play” at the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse, he invited Pressley to join him in the cast.
This play was a dramatic spectacle about the Franciscans in California in which Horning was both director and an actor playing the role of Father Junípero Serra.
As we will see, this would later become the inspiration for Pressley’s long career in writing and producing historical pageants, especially for the “Mission Cities” of California.
Pressley turned his attention next to vaudeville and toured on the Orpheum Vaudeville Circuit.
He reportedly was the first to create the “draping” act, in which he took a long length of fabric and then artfully (and quickly!) wrapped, pleated and pinned it onto a female model, fashioning it into a stunningly beautiful dress.
He toured the country and was featured in early film shows with his draping act.
Santa Barbara 1919
At just 26 years old, Pressley had done so much in his life already that he was ready to settle down — sort of. He came to Santa Barbara in 1919 and opened a women’s apparel store.
The same year, 1919, writer Michael J. Phillips also came to town from Michigan after being named the editor of the Santa Barbara Daily News.
Now 1919 would turn out to be somewhat of a turning point in Santa Barbara. To understand how it became significant, we need to go back in time …
• • •
From about 1824 to 1864, many people in California lived in vast ranchos (primarily Mexican land grants) of 4,000 to 48,000 acres. This era is often referred to as the “Rancho Period.”
With few roads and separated for miles, people practically lived on their horses to get around or to raise cattle; so they were outstanding equestrians.
There were no hotels, stores or banks, just people living in communities of 80 to as many as 400 people on a large rancho.
The people of this time considered their era to be a very sweet, peaceful “dolce far niente“ existence in which “everyone got along.”
They also noted, “there was no real poverty” because everyone basically took care of everyone else.
Because people were so isolated from one another, any occasion — birth, death, wedding — became a reason to get together and exchange news and to party.
Particularly exciting was when a stranger was passing through the area. Since there were no hotels, he would be put up at a ranchero’s casa — at no charge!
He would be welcomed with “Mi casa es su casa!” (Essentially: Welcome new friend, my house is yours!) Californio hospitality was legendary.
Next up, the ranchero would send out his vaqueros to the neighboring ranches and all would be invited to meet the stranger, hear his news of California, or Mexico, or the Eastern United States or perhaps news from abroad!
More important, it was an opportunity to get together and PARTY.
Oh, how those Californios loved to party — and these events typically would last for several days.
These folks were extremely fond of singing and dancing. Their songs and dances might have originated in Europe or Mexico but, interestingly, most of their songs and dances were unique to California.
This would become a significant part of our story.
When the Americans came in, especially after 1870, things started to really change. Everyone was busy and bustling about.
The adobes were supplanted by splendid wooden houses, and all kinds of new businesses began to fill a bona fide downtown.
The Spanish language was replaced by English, and the sweet Spanish guitar would be replaced by the honky tonk piano in the saloons.
The old-timers bemoaned the passing of the era; their “old Spanish Days” was becoming a distant memory.
But one way to bring back the happy memories was to bring back their songs and dances!
These Californio songs and dances were particularly evocative because the words and even some of the figured dance steps specifically recalled the lifestyle back in the Rancho Period.
They re-enacted or described the mill, the hammock, the sound of the rain on the roof, the hawk, the shoemaker, and more details of the life on the ranchos.
Santa Barbara became unique among the cities in the new state, in that it preserved and continually presented these songs and dances for public celebrations throughout the 19th century.
When Lobero’s Opera House opened in 1873, for the Old Mission Centennial in 1886, and during the visit of President Benjamin Harrison in 1891, the Santa Barbara townsfolk put on Spanish dress and performed these historic numbers that were so popular during their old Spanish days.
Even more interesting was that the performers were not regulated to the older, original residents.
These old timers taught all the newcomers their songs and dances. It became a community heritage to be shared and appreciated by all!
• • •
So now we return to our story in 1919.
This was the year that the “La Primavera Association” — which included interested leading citizens and a few older distinguished families — incorporated for the purpose of presenting “… pageants and other entertainment … to encourage and assist in the collection and preservation of early historical data and material in and about California; to preserve for posterity the customs, history and literature of the early residents of California.”
Their aim was for the spring of 1920 to produce a “masque” (a pageant-play with poetry) called “La Primavera” (Spanish for springtime) to highlight the community’s history and incorporate the songs and dances of the earlier century.
The goal was to have an annual festival in April “to keep fresh and clear the fragrant memory of California’s romantic past.”
At the end, it seemed that the entire program had become too big and ambitious and was not repeated. Nonetheless it proved inspirational.
Newcomer Michael Phillips was intrigued sufficiently to start a very popular column in his newspaper, “Fifty Years and More in Santa Barbara,” in which he interviewed the older residents who described the life, times and customs of this rancho period.
People were fascinated with his stories. Other old-timers reminisced about the old days, and the newcomers were utterly captivated.
It must be remembered that the population of Santa Barbara in this new century had already tripled from 1900 to 1920! Most of the newer arrivals were from out of state and even the country, so this history described an unknown and intriguing lifestyle.
Now we move up to 1924.
Civic leaders were considering how to develop an annual festival to attract tourists, like the Rose Parade in Pasadena or Mardi Gras in New Orleans.
Moreover, the new Lobero Theatre was about to open, and that would provide the impetus for the celebration. They naturally tapped Pressley to serve on the planning committee.
As the earnest group bandied about ideas for the citywide event theme, Phillips quietly suggested “Old Spanish Days” — evoking that colorful and endearing period of the earlier century that he had been writing about through his interviews.
The effect was instantaneous. Everyone understood the theme. It would have the history and even pageantry of La Primavera! … but now they all would be participants, not just observers!
Naturally, Pressley could immediately envision the entire production: the glamour of a citywide celebration that was Spanish in nature — with Spanish dancers, Spanish musicians, and street dancing to the light of the full moon.
With a natural flair for the dramatic, Pressley kept his committee spellbound with the idea of a magical rollback of time, to a colorful living era “where the modern working person could forget his troubles, and once more glimpse and become part of a fabled past.”
The event would then be topped with a grand historical parade with all the history and color of the olden-day fiesta-parties!
“Well, Charlie, you seem to have a pretty good idea of what is needed, and you know so much about it,” said Paul Dalzell, president of Kiwanis and a committee member of the committee.
“We’ll make you chairman.”
Of course, there were no elected positions, because this organization would not be incorporated until after the first Fiesta.
Nonetheless, without one vote of dissent, the committee made Pressley chairman to pull the big picture together.
How would this “Old Spanish Days Fiesta” actually turn out?
Stay tuned for Part Two!
• • •
There will be a unique opportunity to see and hear those original songs and dances (the Greatest Hits of 1836!) for one evening only, from 7 to 7:45 p.m. Friday at the Santa Barbara County Courthouse Sunken Garden. The event is free.
The show “Flor Y Canto Californio” features a live music ensemble, singers and dance groups performing.
A historical narration by Yours Truly in between the numbers will highlight the unusual customs and traditions back in the “old Spanish days” Rancho Period.
