Tag Archives: Steeds of Renown

Steeds of Renown … Reborn?

29 Jul


Funny how Time slips Away / Elvis Presley

How quickly we forget.

You were a Star once.
A HUGE Star.

World Famous.
Then  … incredibly, just a few short years after you hung up your spurs …
Everything disappeared.
You were erased.
By time.

Why?
It’s understandable maybe?
Because most early Western Stars were dead
 before most of us were born.
And many of their movies are ‘Lost’.
 
Even now only a handful of Western Film buffs 
try to keep their memories alive.
And the Wonders that they brought back then.

I don’t count myself among those that do that.
They’re several notches above this tenderfoot.
I’m bringing this all up because back in 2014 I had an idea:
I’d post series of images of Western Stars performing
a very popular Publicity shot from the early era of Westerns:
The Cowboy Star rearing up on his Steed.

I called this Steeds of Renown.
I even made some banners. 

And a few posts.
Then … I ran into a problem (as I usually do).
My original plan to just post some images got ambushed.
I found that I couldn’t just throw up some pics of these guys
without providing some kind of bio or profile on them.
It didn’t seem right.
Sooo very quickly my little dust devil of an idea turned into a tornado!
On Buck Jones alone I did about 18 posts!

WOW!
Waaaaaay more than anything I had intended.

Eventually the whole thing bogged down and collapsed into a heap of road apples.
And I got distracted by other things.

But now! Since I find myself doing nothing at all …
(I got them old covid blues)
… I’ll try to pick up the trail where I left off.

And who knows? I might even finish this thing.
Some day.
But I doubt it. 

 

 

Tags: , , , ,

Buck Jones Filmography / Posters 1920 to 1930

17 Sep

i won’t back down / cash

Buck Jones Filmography / Posters
1920 to 1930

Buck was now making 7, 8 or 9 movies a year – production was swift in those days. Buck had achieved Top Bill/Stardom – his name is often larger and posted before the movie title. He was the draw. – but not necessarily as a Western Star. A good portion of the 42 films he is received credits for in the 1920’s were non-Westerns. In a lot of these films, Buck he was Billed as “Charles Jones” – and on at least a couple of occasions as “Charles ‘Buck’ Jones”. I’ve posted a couple of these non-Western here (“Big Dan”/1923) just because the posters are so darn nice.

1920 Two Moons

Two Moons (1920)

Big Dan - Buck Jones

Big Dan (1923)

The Circus Cowboy - 1924

The Circus Cowboy (1924)

Western Luck (1924)

Western Luck (1924)

Against All Odds (1924)

Against All Odds (1924)

The Man Who Played Square (1924)

The Man Who Played Square (1924)

Not revealed as a Western … but I do see a cowboy galloping there … ?

The Trail Rider (1925)

The Trail Rider (1925)

The Timber Wolf (1925)

The Timber Wolf (1925)

Durand of the Badlands (1925)

Durand of the Badlands (1925)

Lazybones (1925)

Lazybones (1925)

The Flying Horse (1925)

The Flying Horse (1925)

Desert Valley (1925)

Desert Valley (1925)

Hills of Peril (1927)

Hills of Peril (1927)

Good as Gold (1927)

Good as Gold (1927)

Chain Lightning (1927)

Chain Lightning (1927)

Black Jack (1927)

Black Jack (1927)

Blood will Tell (1927)

Blood will Tell (1927)

The Branded Sombrero (1928)

The Branded Sombrero (1928)

The Big Hop (1928)

The Big Hop (1928)

colt bar

Some nice stuff eh!
Way to go Buck!

Buck Jones Filmography 1920’s

1928 The Big Hop Buck Bronson
1928 The Branded Sombrero Starr Hallett
1927 Blood Will Tell Buck Peters
1927 Black Jack Phil Dolan
1927 Chain Lightning Steve Lannon
1927 Good As Gold Buck Brady
1927 Hills of Peril Laramie (as Charles ‘Buck’ Jones)
1927 Whispering Sage Buck Kildare
1927 The War Horse Buck Thomas
1926 Desert Valley Fitzsmith
1926 30 Below Zero Don Hathaway Jr.
1926 The Flying Horseman Mark Winton
1926 The Gentle Cyclone Absolem Wales
1926 A Man Four-Square Craig Norton
1926 The Fighting Buckaroo Larry Crawford
1926 The Cowboy and the Countess Jerry Whipple
1925 The Desert’s Price Wils McCann
1925 Lazybones Steve Tuttle, aka Lazybones (as Charles ‘Buck’ Jones)
1925 Durand of the Bad Lands Dick Durand
1925 Timber Wolf Bruce Standing
1925 Hearts and Spurs Hal Emory
1925 Gold and the Girl Dan Prentiss
1925 The Trail Rider Tex Hartwell
1925 Dick Turpin Crowd Extra (uncredited)
1925 The Arizona Romeo Tom Long
1924 The Man Who Played Square Matt Black
1924 Winner Take All Perry Blair
1924 The Desert Outlaw Sam Langdon
1924 Against All Odds Chick Newton
1924 Western Luck Larry Campbell (as Charles Jones)
1924 The Circus Cowboy Buck Saxon (as Charles Jones)
1924 The Vagabond Trail Donnegan (as Charles Jones)
1924 Not a Drum Was Heard Jack Mills (as Charles Jones)
1923 Cupid’s Fireman Andy McGee (as Charles Jones)
1923 Big Dan Dan O’Hara
1923 Hell’s Hole Tod Musgrave (as Charles Jones)
1923 Second Hand Love Andy Hanks (as Charles Jones)
1923 Skid-Proof Jack Darwin (as Charles Jones)
1923 The Eleventh Hour Brick McDonald (as Charles Jones)
1923 Snowdrift Carter Brent (as Charles Jones)
1923 The Footlight Ranger Bill Moreland (as Charles Jones)
1922 The Boss of Camp Four Chet Fanning (as Charles Jones)
1922 Bells of San Juan Roderick Norton (as Charles Jones)
1922 The Fast Mail Stanley Carson (as Charles Jones)
1922 West of Chicago Conroy Daly (as Charles Jones)
1922 Trooper O’Neill Trooper O’Neill (as Charles Jones)
1922 Roughshod ‘Steel’ Brannon (as Charles Jones)
1922 Western Speed Red Kane (as Charles Jones)
1922 Pardon My Nerve! Racey Dawson (as Charles Jones)
1921 Riding with Death ‘Dynamite’ Steve Dorsey (as Charles ‘Buck’ Jones)
1921 Bar Nothing Duke Smith
1921 To a Finish Jim Blake
1921 Straight from the Shoulder The Mediator
1921 Get Your Man Jock MacTier
1921 The One-Man Trail Tom Merrill
1921 The Big Punch Buck
1920 Two Moons Bill Blunt
1920 Just Pals Bim
1920 Sunset Sprague Sunset Sprague
1920 Firebrand Trevison Firebrand Trevison
1920 Square Shooter Chick Crandall
1920 The Spirit of Good Minor Role (as Buck Gebhart)
1920 Forbidden Trails Quinton ‘Squint’ Taylor
1920 The Last Straw Tom Beck
1920 The Cyclone Minor Role (as Buck Gebhart)

Next:

Buck Jones Filmography / Posters
1930 to 1940

Tags: ,

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 5

16 Sep

A Simple Song of Freedom / Buckwheat 1971

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 5

Despite Jones impressive list of 168 Credits, most of his early work was as a Stuntman/Stunt Rider/Support Actor/Stunt double for Tom Mix, William Farnum, William S. Hart and others. No shame in that, but it did take a while for Buck to achieve Stardom. He paid his dues.

Photos/Pics of Jones are often confused with Photos/Pics of Tom Mix. They could almost have pass as brothers – so Jones probably made a pretty good Double for Mix. Even in photos sometimes the only way to tell them apart is that Tom Mix had a fairly large nose. Yup.

The Golden Age of Western Posters

The 50’s is often referred to the Golden Age of Westerns – as they achieved their height of popularity at that time. But I also I refer to the 20’s, 30’s and 40.s as the Golden Age of Western Posters – with many exceptional pieces of poster art being done during this time/era. 

Buck Jones Filmography / Posters
1910 to 1920

Between 1910 and 1920 Buck is credited with appearances in 27 Movies, Shorts or Documentaries – though some are unconfirmed. Most seem to have had no posters? or they are lost.

Existing Images:

Selfish Yates Hart

Buck was a “Member of the Posse” (uncredited)

Riders of the Purple Sage 1918

Riders of the Purple Sage (1918) – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)

Buck later changed his name from Buck Gebhart to Buck Jones.
Due to the First World War, German names were likely not too popular.

Riders of the Purple Sage 1918 2

Riders of the Purple Sage (1918) – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)

Riders of the Purple Sage 1918 3

Riders of the Purple Sage Cowboy (1918) – (as Buck Gebhart)

colt bar

The Rainbow Trail 1918

The Rainbow Trail (1918) – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)

Pretty skimpy. I couldn’t find many Buck Jones Poster images for this era. There could be plenty around ? but I didn’t locate them. But there’s some great stuff coming up.

colt bar

Buck Jones Filmography 1900 to 1920

1919 The Feud – Minor Role (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 The Cowboy and the Rajah – (Short)
1919 Cupid’s Roundup (Short) – (unconfirmed)
1919 The Speed Maniac – Minor Role (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 Brother Bill – (Short) as Roy Dexter
1919 Rough-Riding Romance – (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 When Pals Fall Out – (Short) Bill (uncredited)
1919 The Wilderness Trail – Indian (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 Shackles of Fate – (Short)
1919 The Puncher and the Pup – (Short)
1919 The Coming of the Law Henchman – (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 The Uphill Climb (Short) Rockcliffe Stone
1919 Pitfalls of a Big City – Minor Role (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 Vengeance and the Girl – (Short)
1919 Fighting for Gold – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)
1919 The Sheriff’s Son – Cowboy
1919 Hell’s Fury Gordon – (Short) (unconfirmed)
1919 The Two Doyles – (Short) Outlaw Henchman
1919 The Desert Rat – (Short) Standing Bear
1918 The Rainbow Trail – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)
1918 Riders of the Purple Sage – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)
1918 Selfish Yates – Member of the Posse (uncredited)
1918 True Blue – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)
1918 Western Blood – Cowboy (as Buck Gebhart)
1917 A Rough Shod Fighter
1914 The Outlaw Reforms – (Short) Bill (as Charles Gebhart)
1914 Life on the 101 Ranch, Bliss Oklahoma – (Short) Sergeant

 

Next:

Buck Jones Filmography / Posters
1920 to 1930

Tags: ,

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 4

12 Sep

My Heroes have always been Cowboys / Willie Nelson

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 4

BUCK JONES 19

BUCK JONES 20

BUCK JONES 21

BUCK JONES 22

BUCK JONES 23

BUCK JONES 24

BUCK JONES 25

BUCK JONES 26

BUCK JONES 27

Next:
Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 5

Tags: ,

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown Part 3

11 Sep

Post # 600 / My Favorite Westerns 
Like the old prospector said: “I really never counted on living this long.”


The Last Roundup / Roy Rogers and the Sons of the Pioneers

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 3

A movie star for over 20 years – dying early at age 53.
Over 160 movies.

I couldn’t count the number of photos I found of Buck Jones. Must be hundreds. (If I had a nickel for every Buck … ) Too many to post here. They would cover pages. And most of them are excellent. Likewise, though I’m not certain how many – or where you’ll get them – many of his movies are still around. There are also several excellent bios and recollections of his work on Western websites and blogs. Buck is not unknown or forgotten in the Western fan fraternity.

Below:
I was finally able to locate another photo of Buck and Silver Buck rearing.
This time you can see Buck’s face though – but the photo is of poor quality.

BUCK JONES 10

Below are just some of the outstanding Publicity photos of Buck.

BUCK JONES 11

BUCK JONES 13

BUCK JONES 14

BUCK JONES 15

BUCK JONES 16

BUCK JONES 18

BUCK JONES 17

As you can see – excellent Publicity Images.
More to come.

Next:
Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown / Part 4

 

Tags: ,

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown Part 2

10 Sep


The Last of the Silver Screen Cowboys / Rex Allen Jr.
from the movie Rustlers’ Rhapsody (1985)

Buck and Silver Buck

I’ve seen Buck Jones‘ beautiful horse alternately identified as Silver or Silver Buck. I believe Silver Buck is his correct name.
Any way you call him – a beautiful mount.

BUCK JONES 1

BUCK JONES 5

BUCK JONES 4

BUCK JONES 2

BUCK JONES 7

BUCK JONES 6

BUCK JONES 8

BUCK JONES 9

Next:

Buck Jones / Steeds of Renown
Part 3

Tags: , ,

Steeds of Renown …

8 Sep

MFW Steeds of Renown 7

MFW Steeds of Renown 6

Tags:

Steeds of Renown / Buck Jones Part 1

7 Sep

Buck Jones / Iconic Images / Steeds of Renown
Part 1

“In my pictures we never let up on the action. They’ve got as much movement as the silents. In the last one I rode a horse through a plate-glass window, and that’s the sort of thing pictures need.” – Buck Jones.

(MFW: Haven’t heard how Silver felt about that)

BUCK JONES and SILVER

Buck and Silver

An interesting publicity photo – as the first in my series of Iconic Images of Western Stars rearing on their Steeds. Why interesting? Because you can’t see Buck’s face! He might as well be wearing sunglasses and a beard. Makes me wonder why they even released it? But it’s the only photo I could find of Buck rearing up on Silver. If you know of another, please send it over.

You no doubt noticed that Buck’s horse is called Silver – same name as the Lone Ranger’s famous horse. However, Silver was a fairly common name for white horses before the ‘Ranger showed up.

 Buck Jones – A Short Bio

BUCK JONES and SILVER 2

Actor / Producer / Director / Writer 

Actor (168 movies) / Producer (23 credits) / Director (3 credits) / Writer (3 credits) / Self (8 credits)

Buck Jones (December 12, 1891 – November 30, 1942)
Birthname: Charles Frederick Gebhart
born on the outskirts of Vincennes, Indiana

From Wikipedia

  • In 1907, Jones joined the US Army a month after his sixteenth birthday. (His mother had signed a consent form that gave his age as eighteen)
    Was Assigned to the Philippines – October, 1907, served in combat and was wounded during the Moro Rebellion. Honorably discharged at Fort McDowell, California.
  • Had an affection for race cars. Worked extensively as a test driver for the Marmon Motor Car Company.
  • October 1910, re-enlisted in the US Army. Second honorable discharge from the Army in October 1913.
  • Began working as a cowboy on the 101 Ranch near Bliss, Oklahoma.
  • He was hired by Universal Pictures for $5 per day as a bit player and stuntman.
  • Later worked for Canyon Pictures, then Fox Film Corporation, eventually earning $40 per week as a stuntman. With Fox his salary increased to $150 per week.
  • Became a backup to Tom Mix. Led to his first starring role, The Last Straw (1920)
  • By 1925 Jones had more than 160 film credits to his name and joined Hoot Gibson, Tom Mix, and Ken Maynard as the top cowboy actors of the day.
  • 1928 started his own company, independently produced film The Big Hop (a non-Western) which failed.
  • Then organized a touring Wild West show – also failed due to the faltering economy of late 1929.
  • Talking pictures replacing silent films – and Westerns briefly fell out of favor.
  • Signed with then-humble Columbia Pictures for Westerns for $300 a week, a fraction of his top salary in the silent film days.
  • Re-establishing him as a major movie name. During the 1930s he starred in Western features and serials for Columbia and Universal Pictures.
  • His star fell again in the late 1930’s when singing cowboys became the rage.
  • He rejoined Columbia in 1940, starring in the serial White Eagle . The new serial was a hit. Jones was reestablished.
  • His final series of Western features, co-produced by Jones featured The Rough Riders trio: Buck Jones, Tim McCoy, and Raymond Hatton.
  • 1937, Jones starred in Hoofbeats, a 15-minute radio program.
  • Tragic Death: Buck Jones was one of the 492 victims of the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts. 

MFW: Buck Jones: An interesting and admirable man. An authentic cowboy who knew how to role with the punches – kept re-inventing himself with each shortfall – until his tragic end.

BUCK JONES 3

BUCK JONES star

Next:

Buck Jones / Iconic Images / Steeds of Renown
Part 2

 

 

 

 

Tags: ,

Iconic Images/Steeds of Renown

5 Sep

Stuck again …

BUCK JONES and SILVER

A while back I got a bright idea to do a post on one of the most famous and Iconic Images of Early Westerns Film – the publicity shot of our Western Hero rearing up on his/her trusty Steed. Most every Star did one of these shots all the way from early Westerns right up to Roy Rogers, Zorro, The Cisco Kid and The Lone Ranger. I figure this would be an interesting and fun post. So I set about rounding up as many such images as I find and …. pretty soon I had a lot. A lot.

Bob Baker and Apache

And as I started to put this together, things got even more complicated. How could I just throw a pic of Buck Jones on the blog, for instance, without saying something about him? Especially since he’s not all that well known these days – unless you’re a real Western Movie buff. I just couldn’t do that. Buck Jones – or Bob Baker – Ken Maynard and others were all big Western Stars in their day – and interesting guys. They deserve more than just a passing pic in the wind.. Sooo I started to to put a couple of bios together. HAH! Soon I had so much material – and a lot of it was really good –  that this project went from being a mere pic post into an encyclopedia. A monster had emerged.

So this is where I am.

Not where I planned to B.

John Wayne

But it could be a bit of fun …

Tags: ,

The Lone Ranger and Tonto – Silver and Scout

22 Jun

The Lone Ranger and Tonto / Silver and Scout

I’m sure most people think that The Lone Ranger came out of the 50’s. Wrong! The Lone Ranger started on radio back before 1933 and ran over 900 shows up until 1956. 23 years! It translated to TV from 1949 to 1957.

So … my “Thrilling days of yesterday” go back to the early 50’s when I used to listen to The Lone Ranger on the radio. We didn’t always have a TV because Dad feared (rightly) that we wouldn’t read much.  But I loved the radio shows and listened to Hopalong Cassidy, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, The Shadow, Superman – and a few other radio programs as well. Grand stuff.

The Lone Ranger page 1

The Lone Ranger Page 2

The Lone Ranger and Silver

The Lone Ranger Theme / William Tell Overture by Rossini 

The Lone Ranger pistol bar

Tonto and Scout 2

Silver Bullets

Silver

that long ago

Tags: , ,

Steeds of Renown _______ The Western Quiz

12 Jun

The End of an Era

The Lone Ranger and Tonto

If there’s any one thing that separates the modern Western from Westerns of the past, it’s the loss of Romance.
Nothing illustrates this loss more than the almost non-existent relationship between the modern Western Hero and his Horse/Steed.
In the modern Western a horse is just a prop – a vehicle  – a necessary, but no-named beast. Slap on your saddle and ride off – not likely into the sunset.

It’s sad I tell ya.

WIth that in mind I’d like to pay homage to those lost Days of Yesteryear …
with this quiz:

The Steeds of Renown / A quiz:

The quiz matchups range from ridiculously easy – to insanely difficult.
And some are just plain ridiculous.

Click link below to do this quiz:

http://q40655.questionwritertracker.com/NDTPQM83/

Steeds of Renown Quiz

Cat Ballou - Lee Marvin and Steed

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz . . . . . . . . . .

I hope that was a bit of fun for you. 

Your Score: 

Less than 10 correct = Stand down wind Please.

13 Correct = Fetch yer saddle. 

16 correct = Let’s ride!

19 correct = Welcome at my campfire.

22 or more correct = There’s a bottle in the saddlebag … 

Tags: , ,

%d bloggers like this: