Belmont Scare

The phone rang in 1966. It was famous actor Robert Mitchem's wife Dorothy. She wanted me to fly to California and do research for a painting of her husband's stallion. She explained how Robert bought everything he could possibly want so she had to find a Christmas gift he had not thought of.

The day came and I flew to Santa Barbara. The plane landed parallel to the Pacific Ocean. It was a smaller airport than I expected, but a lot of Hollywood people lived in the area. It was perfectly manicured, palm trees and old Spanish architecture. Dorothy picked me up in a large black car, a Mercedes. She drove over the mountain pass to the north, a crooked mountain road, on to the famous Santa Ynez Valley where Bob Barker, Bo Derick and many Hollywood people lived.

Dorothy was kind. We stopped at a restaurant, I think it was the Red Barn, and ordered a thick specialty sandwich.  It cost about $6. Dorothy pulled out $20 for a tip which was more than the cost of the sandwiches, then hesitated, saying, "Well no use overdoing it." Then left $5. Her and Robert were very complimentary of Ronald Reagan who was running for California governor. They wanted him to win.

This is the Belmont Scare, Christmas painting, a AAA horse that Robert Mitchem bought from Dale Robertson. I think he was a son of Spanish Fort. He was a glossy black with a lot of flash. I think Robert started with this stallion then later bought Don Guerro who was a World Champion runner. Maybe Robert lost interest in this horse when Don Guerro came to his farm. He ran about 20 brood mares and always had a love for fine horses--fast horses.

Jim Hitt handled the Mitchem stallions at Solvang, CA.  Jim had a crusty old fellow, who cussed a lot, cleaning stalls. His last name was Ackerman. Sure enough he was a brother (not in good standing) to Jasper Ackerman who bought Texas Longhorn bulls from me. Jasper was president of the Cowboy Hall of Fame and had a large ranch about 10 miles south of us in Colorado.

Solvang was a Danish tourist destination. Lots of restaurants specialized in old world Danish buffet items full of sweets. I would expect Danish folks would be fairly large if they ate Solvang food. I recall it was really sweet--unusual types of pastries.

Robert always wrote a nice letter expressing appreciation of the likeness on the paintings. I thought a portrait should be such that a good horseman could recognize the horse, rather than just paint in the colors and make every stallion perfect conformation. I put a Solvang background, to detail, the view back toward Santa Barbara and that crooked mountain pass.