Verdugo Views: Her love for animals led to frustration on Cuba trip in 1910
Fannie Briggs Carr, who made a fortune in the early 1900s with a line of cosmetics, had a passion for animals.
Not only did Carr love and care for the animals that lived on her Glendale ranch, she spoke out about the suffering of animals she saw during her 1910 trip to Cuba.
Joemy Wilson, who researched Carr for a 2016 Doctor’s House Museum exhibit, shared a Los Angeles Times story from April 24, 1910, relating Carr’s experiences while she and her husband were traveling in that island country.
In Havana, Carr visited a woman named Jeannette Ryder, who was working to bring about better treatment for animals.
Ryder related her story of how she had once single-handedly stopped an illegal bullfight and had the principals arrested.
She had heard about the proposed bullfight, which was to take place in a little city not far from Havana.
Ryder “journeyed there on the appointed day and was in time to witness eight poor, broken-down horses gored by the infuriated bulls,” Carr told The Times reporter.
Ryder called upon the police to stop the fight, but only one came to her assistance.
“‘With him, she stepped out into the arena and arrested the matadors,” Carr said.
Ryder brought several of the culprits before a local judge who assured her that he was for strict enforcement of the law and then fined each one the “laughable” sum of $5 each, according to Carr.
Carr went on to relate her own experience while riding in a horse-drawn cab, “practically the only means of conveyance in the capital.”
She quickly realized that the horse was underfed.
“With the interest I have taken in the Los Angeles Humane Society, it is not hard to understand why I asked the driver about the horse, Carr said.
The cab driver told her he didn’t make enough money to keep the horse well fed.
When Carr and her husband arrived at their destination, her husband handed the driver a “good bonus to buy feed for the horse,” but, as the driver drove away, he turned and “laughingly assured us that the money would never go in that direction,” Carr said.
Cockfighting, which had been illegal until shortly before Carr’s 1910 visit, was everywhere, she continued.
“Every grocery store has its birds ready to fight, she said.
Carr and her husband lived on her 19-acre ranch, called Viznaga, then on the outskirts of Glendale (on the border with Eagle Rock).
She had several dogs and cherished them all. One, an English spaniel named Nellie, was embalmed and hermetically sealed beneath the stone terrace of the house, according to an Oct.14, 1912, L.A. Times article, which went on to detail her divorce party.
Carr had filed for divorce shortly after the Cuba trip. Many court appearances ensued before an interlocutory decree was issued and her husband moved out.
A Times photographer and reporter were on hand to record the 1912 luncheon, celebrating her newly single state. A photo accompanying the article showed Carr, surrounded by 100 guests, sitting at the head of a long table with one of her dogs at her side.
Her divorce became final in 1914. Carr remained on the ranch until her death in 1937 at age 76.
Readers Write:
The Sept. 23 Verdugo Views column about the beginnings of the Glendale Historical Society and the effort to save the Doctors House brought several emails.
George McCullough wrote that he was involved “on several different levels in the Doctors House project. Its success rested on the funds to actually physically move/relocate the house. If my memory serves me right, the Glendale Building Assn., in general, and Jim Pollard and Frank Howard Co.’s, in particular, totally underwrote the move from Belmont and the new foundation construction at Brand Park. I was a parks and recreation commissioner at the time, and I vaguely recall the city popped for some dollars,” McCullough wrote.
“Keep up the great work and articles; us old-timers appreciate it,” he added.
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Alicia Hales Greenwald provided the name of the artist who created the original artwork for the Doctors House signs and logo. He is “Michael Haasis, who lives in Burbank. He [received] the commission through my mother, Audrey Hales,” she wrote.
That information was not available when the column went to press, so thank you, Alicia.
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Jo Anne Sadler, past president of the Crescenta Valley Historical Society, wrote, “Enjoyed your article about TGHS and how it picked its inappropriate name. I have always said they are not a historical society, but a home preservation society.”
KATHERINE YAMADA can be reached at katherineyamada@gmail.com. or by mail at Verdugo Views, c/o Glendale News-Press, 202 W. First St., Second Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90012. Please include your name, address and phone number.
