Once upon a time, one Los Angeles lady had the sweetest little household
Tuesday Textures | Once upon a time… a whimsical lady in Los Angeles shared her days with not one, but two very special companions: her pet dog and deer.
The surviving 1935 footage is barely a minute long, yet somehow manages to feel like a tiny fairy tale caught on newsreel film. She takes the pair for a walk, piles them into an open-top car for the ride home, serves them a meal together and — because apparently this household had absolutely committed to the bit — tucks the deer into bed with a sheet and pillow.
The footage is cataloged as being filmed in Los Angeles, California, on November 13, 1935. The National Archives identifies Universal Newsreel Volume 7, Release 406 as Universal’s release from that same date, placing this wonderfully odd slice of everyday life right inside the era’s theatrical newsreel culture.
Before television news became the norm, these short newsreels played in movie theaters and mixed major world events with lighter human-interest curiosities. A woman chauffeuring a deer and dog around Los Angeles — then putting the deer to bed like a child — is exactly the sort of little visual oddity that could sit beside far more serious headlines and still steal the show.
What makes this one especially charming nearly a century later is how completely casual everyone seems about it. No grand explanation. No elaborate setup. Just a lady, her dog, her deer and a domestic routine that looks like it wandered in from another universe.
For our Tuesday Textures spin, INYIM paired the archival footage with Azealia Banks’ “Luxury” — because naturally a deer being tucked into bed deserved something a little more glamorous.
Tuesday Textures: A Woman, Her Dog and Pet Deer in 1935 Los Angeles
Watch INYIM’s edit of the 1935 Los Angeles newsreel footage below, scored to Azealia Banks’ “Luxury.”
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Source footage: Universal Newsreel Volume 7, Release 406 / U.S. National Archives. Archival clip date and location: November 13, 1935, Los Angeles, California. Music in INYIM edit: Azealia Banks, “Luxury.”
