Chief Henry Red Eagle
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Henry Perley (1885 – November 15, 1972) was an Algonquin actor, entertainer, wilderness guide, and author. He is commonly known by his pseudonym, Chief Henry Red Eagle. Perley became the youngest licensed guide in the state of Maine at the age of 14. He attended Greenville High School, and during that time earned money by making snowshoes and working in lumber yards. He was not only the first full-blooded Indian to graduate from Greenville High School, but was also class president and graduated valedictorian of his class of 1902."Chief Henry Red Eagle Outstanding Maine Citizen"
Editorial. ''Lewiston Evening Journal'' ewiston, MEJanuary 17, 1977: 8A. Accessed April 8, 2015.
Perley's family roots can be traced back to the
Maliseet The Wəlastəkwewiyik, or Maliseet (, also spelled Malecite), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the indigenous people of the Wolastoq ( Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory ...
Reservation in Tobique, New Brunswick, Canada. His parents, Gabriel and Philomen Tomah Perley, were known as Canadian Malecites, who migrated due to lack of game in the 1870s. Henry was the oldest of four siblings.Calvert, Mary R. (1986) ''The Kennebec Wilderness Awakens''. Twin City Printery. He met his wife Wanna Eagle, a professional diver and swimmer, while working at Coney Island's Dreamland. Wanna returned to Greenville, Maine with Perley, where she established the Eagle Haven recovery swim camp on Sugar Island for polio victims.Parker, Everett L. (2004) ''The Moosehead Lake Region: 1900–1950''. Arcadia Publishing. Perley died at the age of 87 in Greenville, Maine on November 15, 1972, and is buried in the Greenville Cemetery.


Performance career

Upon graduation, he worked at the L.A. Harris Drugstore for several years before joining traveling shows throughout the United States and Great Britain in the 1910s."The Center for Moosehead History Celebrates the Earliest Residents"
The Moosehead Historical Society & Museums. Accessed April 3, 2015.
Perley made his first appearance in traveling shows with the Kickapoo Indian Medicine Show, where he performed in full tribal regalia. He then followed an Indian troupe to Great Britain where he performed in 1911 and 1912. After returning to the United States, he joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and the Barnum and Bailey Circus. Perley often played the role of Indians stereotyped as savages during the early 1900s. During his time working with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and Barnum and Bailey's Circus, Perley attracted much attention from Hollywood talent scouts looking to bring "authenticity" to their productions. He appeared in numerous silent films with actors and actresses such as
Mary Pickford Gladys Marie Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American stage and screen actress and producer with a career that spanned five decades. A pioneer in the US film industry, she co-founde ...
, the Gish Sisters,
Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred ...
, and
Richard Dix Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong ...
. The recognition Perley gained from appearing in the silent films landed him parts in six different Broadway plays, including Cole Porter's 1916 musical comedy ''
See America First ''See America First'' is a comic opera with a book by T. Lawrason Riggs and music and lyrics by Cole Porter. The first work by Porter to be produced on Broadway theatre, Broadway, it was a critical and commercial flop. Background Porter and Riggs ...
''. He also appeared in Lynn Riggs and Cole Porter's ''Lo, The Poor Indian''. Before retiring from performing, he appeared as part of an Indian show at the Chicago World's Fair.


Writing career

Perley began his writing career under the pseudonym "Henry Red Eagle" in 1910, when he began writing short stories for pulp magazines such as '' Argosy'', ''Top-Notch Stories'', and ''All-Story Weekly''. In the 1930s Perley moved back to the Moosehead Lake Region, where he worked as a wilderness guide and worked seasonally as a counselor at Camp Morgan, in Washington NH. He became well-established as a renowned storyteller who advocated for environmental conservation. He eventually retired from his position at the camp in 1966. During this time he wrote for more local publications such as ''In the Maine Woods'' and the ''Moosehead Gazette''. Perley's stories encompassed themes of lumbering and adventures of wilderness guides. Focusing on the New England, he often highlighted the Native American presence in these areas to counteract the myth that they had disappeared from the northeast of the United States. In 1997, twenty five years after Perley's death, his niece and granddaughter published a volume of some of his works entitled ''Aboriginally Yours''.Parini, Jay. (2003) ''The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature''. Oxford University Press.


Partial filmography

*''
Tongues of Flame ''Tongues of Flame'' is a 1924 American silent melodrama film produced by Famous Players–Lasky and distributed through Paramount Pictures. It is based on a novel by Peter Clark MacFarlane and was directed by Joseph Henabery. The film starred ...
'' (1924)


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henry Perley Native American writers Algonquin people 1885 births 1972 deaths