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Harry Carey's Personal Bohlin Zebra Chaps

Currency:USD Category:Western Americana / Apparel - Spurs Start Price:12,000.00 USD Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
Harry Carey's Personal Bohlin Zebra Chaps
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Harry Carey's Personal Bohlin Zebra Chaps. A spectacular pair of one-of-a-kind chaps made for Harry Carey by Edward H. Bohlin of Hollywood for Carey's performance in the Barnett Bros. Circus, circa 1934. PROVENANCE: Accompanying these chaps is a five-page, hand-written letter from Harry Carey, Jr. to the present owner, signed and dated August 8, 2001. The letter tells the story of how the zebra chaps came to be. The letter tells of the offer made to Harry Carey by the Barnett Brothers Circus in 1934, then continues:. “… So mom and dad agreed to the offer. Then pop began to think about what he would wear in the show. He did not wear flashy clothes in his movies like Tom Mix did. But for the circus, he knew he would have to have something special. That’s when he came up with the idea for the zebra chaps. Just a few years before he had starred in a movie for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer called “Trader Horn.” While filming that movie in the wilds of what was then British East Africa, he acquired two beautiful zebra hides…. At that time, 1934, Edward H. Bohlin was in business in Hollywood. His name is legendary. Bohlin was the greatest saddlemaker and silversmith that Hollywood has ever produced. He created beautiful and unmatchable works for Western stars and other show business people. Mom asked Ed Bohlin to make Harry Carey a pair of zebra chaps and Bohlin did just that. My dad wore them the whole summer of the engagement. One afternoon performance he was introduced, and as he always did, he came into the arena galloping at full speed. He made a sharp turn. Sunny leaned way over to his right. There was an iron peg sticking out from the tent pole. That iron peg ripped through the zebra chaps and into my father’s leg so far that it tore into the muscle. I don’t know if the audience was aware of this because my father, who must have been in absolute agony, continued on with his performance. The doctor came and stitched him up, but the man who really cured him as the catcher in the trapeze act. He was a big powerful man named Hank. He asked if pop could stand the pain. He could. This man spent the rest of the afternoon putting boiling packs of hot salt and water on that leg. The zebra chaps were stitched back together, and pop made the evening performance and ever performance after that!”.