Walter Baker met Aloha Wanderwell in 1933, while he was working at a Laramie gas station. Wanderwell was a world-famous traveler who had been in Laramie on tour. She was visiting theatres across the U.S. showing films of her travels in Africa and China. After a short courtship, the two were married and Baker was soon accompanying Wanderwell on her world tour.
The couple made a series of films of their international travels. Then, in the midst of World War II, with travel curtailed, their attention focused closer to home. They produced a Wyoming documentary. The silent film featured beautiful scenery and aspects of everyday Wyoming life. They roamed the state, capturing images of historic sites, coal mines, flocks of sheep, cowboys and rodeos.
The highlight of the film was a spectacular roundup featuring a plane herding stampeding wild horses.
You can see the Baker’s film, Explorers of the Purple Sage, in the digital collection of the Walter Nicholas Baker papers at UW’s American Heritage Center.