Posted on 09/02/2003 11:01:50 AM PDT by bedolido
Pancho Villa Used Marketing Savvy to Sell Himself to the U.S. Way Before Reality TV
Long before MTV's "The Real World" set off the modern reality television craze, Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa fought battles with an American camera crew in tow, in 1914.
He hoped his $25,000 deal with the Mutual Film Company of New York would get him good publicity in the United States and money to buy arms and supplies for his Northern Army to continue his fight against nationalist Huerta forces.
The exclusive battlefield footage created the first U.S. newsreel, but like most reality shows, all was not as it seemed. Certain battles and executions were staged for the cameras. Villa's skin was lightened for scenes. His hair was styled to make him more appealing to American audiences.
How Villa used the studio and the studio used Villa is the theme of "And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself," an HBO movie staring Antonio Banderas that debuts Sept. 7.
"For a man with very little education, Pancho Villa was a public relations genius," executive producer Josh Maurer said at an early screening of the movie in El Paso.
Along with boots and artillery, Mutual Film supplied 5,000 Confederate Army uniforms for Pancho's scruffy soldiers, because the studio wanted to make them look better.
The company filmed battles at Ojinaga in January 1914, and Gomez Palacio and Torreon in March 1914. Although there were reports that Villa agreed not to fight at night and to restage battles if necessary, a document believed to be the Mutual contract with Villa doesn't mention those things.
Villa, who often transported his troops by train, reserved cars for reporters and a special car for Mutual that allowed its employees to develop and edit film.
All sides in the Mexican Revolution used the media establishing their own newspapers, censoring legitimate media reports, paying money to reporters, editors and newspapers with the expectation of positive coverage.
But Villa's bold personality and military victories played well in the United States, even as the country eyed the happenings in Mexico with suspicion and unease.
"Villa enjoyed a good relationship with the American media," said Fred Morales, an El Paso historian who specializes in the Mexican Revolution. "One time he delayed an attack on Juarez because the World Series was on."
For Mutual, publicity and propaganda meshed.
Mark Cronlund Anderson writes in his book, "Pancho Villa's Revolution by Headlines," that Mutual president Harry Aitken told the media, "I found him a very different man from the uncouth bandit he has been painted. ... He is a serious dignified man who conducts the affairs of his army in a systematic and orderly manner, which would do credit to a much older and experienced military man."
In El Paso, people would gather on the top of buildings to watch the fighting in Mexico. Metz said a cannon was perched on a road that traverses high on the southern flank of the Franklin Mountains to return fire if the hostilities spilled over the border.
Things went well for Villa until his army suffered a string of military defeats at the hands of another more moderate revolutionary leader with whom he had broken ranks. Then the U.S. media began to ignore him, Anderson writes.
Ultimately, the United States recognized Villa's opponent, Venustiano Carranza, as the legitimate president of Mexico. The Carranza general responsible for Villa's defeats, Alvaro Obregon, was later elected president and some believe had a hand in Villa's assassination in 1923.
Villa, driving with some of his men to witness the baptism of a friend's son, was ambushed and died in a hail of bullets. It was reported his last words were, "A hooray for my brothers of race," a reference to the Mexican people.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.