COWBOYS

[Warph]

Howdy Ol Timer!

In almost every western B movie the hero was supported by an older man and he was nearly always referred to as "Old Timer" or "ol" timer". As well as providing much needed advice the old timer was also the comic relief.

In the 1940s and 1950s, when us Ol" Timers" were somewhat younger, we frequented the matinees at the local cinema (or as it was affectionately and often, accurately known, the "fleapit"). At the matinees we watched all of those Cowboy Heroes that helped form our childhood ideas of the "Code of the West"" What great screen heroes they were, and what flashy outfits they wore! On screen they rarely missed a shot from the hip and they were faster with a six gun than the meanest gunslinger.  Their guns NEVER ran out of bullets!!

Cowboy "B" movies were the strong favorites and we were usually more interested in the "second feature" (as they are now known) than the "big" picture.

The plots in these low budget pictures were slight variations on a theme. The hero and his "sidekick" (the "goodies") drift into town and very quickly, get involved in rescuing a pretty damsel in distress from the clutches of a villain called Jake. It turns out that Jake is part of a gang, organised by the man who owns most of the town and who is the leader of the "baddies". It later transpires that the goodies are either Texas Rangers or US Marshals or are working undercover for the Railroad Company, Wells Fargo or the Cattleman"s Association. The "baddies" were usually trying to steal all or part of the local land from the "nesters", so that they can somehow make a fortune.


                           

                                             George "Gabby" Hayes

For his first few decades in show business, he appeared in everything but westerns, including travelling stock companies, vaudeville, and musical comedy. He began appearing in films in 1928, just in time to benefit from the talkie explosion. In contrast to his later unshaven, toothless screen persona, George Hayes (not yet Gabby) frequently showed up in clean-faced, well groomed articulate characterizations, sometimes as the villain. In 1933 he appeared in several of the Lone Star westerns featuring young John Wayne, alternating between heavies and comedy roles. Wayne is among the many cowboy stars who has credited Hayes with giving them valuable acting tips in their formative days.

In 1935, Hayes replaced an ailing Al St. John in a supporting role in the first Hopalong Cassidy film, co-starring with William Boyd; Hayes' character died halfway through this film, but audience response was so strong that he was later brought back into the Hoppy series as a regular. It was while sidekicking for Roy Rogers at Republic that Hayes, who by now never appeared in pictures with his store-bought teeth, earned the soubriquet "Gabby", peppering the soundtrack with such slurred epithets as "Why, you goldurned whipersnapper" and "Consarn it!" He would occasionally enjoy an A-picture assignment in films like Dark Command (1940) and Tall in the Saddle (1944), but from the moment he became "Gabby", Hayes was more or less consigned exclusively to "B"s. After making his last film appearance in 1952, Hayes turned his attentions to television, where he starred in the popular Saturday-morning Gabby Hayes Show ("Hullo out thar in televisium land!") and for a while was the corporate spokesman for Popsicles. Retiring after a round of personal appearance tours, Hayes settled down on his Nevada ranch, overseeing his many business holdings until his death at age 83.

                     

                                                John Wayne

John Wayne (born Marion Morrison) was the son of pharmacist Clyde Morrison and his wife Mary. Clyde developed a lung condition that required him to move his family from Iowa to the warmer climate of southern California, where they tried ranching in the Mojave Desert.  When the ranch failed, the family moved to Glendale, California, where Marion delivered medicines for his father, sold newspapers and had an Airedale dog named "Duke" (the source of his own nickname). He went to USC on a football scholarship 1925-7. Tom Mix got him a summer job as a prop man in exchange for football tickets. On the set he became close friends with director John Ford for whom, among others, he began doing bit parts, some billed as John Wayne. His first featured film was Men Without Women (1930).

After more than 70 low-budget westerns and adventures, mostly routine, Wayne's career was stuck in a rut until Ford cast him in Stagecoach (1939), the movie that made him a star. He appeared in nearly 250 movies, many of epic proportions. From 1942-43 he was in a radio series, "The Three Sheets to the Wind", and in 1944 he helped found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals, a right-wing political organization, later becoming its President. His conservative political stance was also reflected in The Alamo (1960), which he produced, directed and starred in. His patriotic stand was enshrined in The Green Berets (1968) which he co-directed and starred in. Over the years Wayne was beset with health problems. In September 1964 he had a cancerous left lung removed; in March 1978 there was heart valve replacement surgery; and in January 1979 his stomach was removed. He received the Best Actor nomination for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and finally got the Oscar for his role as one-eyed Rooster Cogburn in True Grit (1969). A Congressional Gold Medal was struck in his honor in 1979. He is perhaps best remembered for his parts in Ford's cavalry trilogy - Fort Apache (1948), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) and Rio Grande (1950).

[W. Gray]

Gabby Hayes was probably on TV on Saturdays after 1954 but by that time I had lost interest in him and had become interested in girls.

He had a live fifteen minute program on NBC every afternoon beginning in 1950 and ending in 1954. I don't remember the program fare but I suspect he played a few minutes of an old B cowboy movie each day beginning on Monday and ending or Friday.

I would rush home from grade school to watch him at 4:15.

What I do remember from the program was that the sponsor was Quaker Puffed Rice and Quaker Puffed Wheat, which was advertised as shot from guns. No adult could ever tell me how cereal was shot from a gun, but the face of each cereal box showed the product being blasted from a big gun.

[W. Gray]

What is not commonly known about John Wayne is that he was the first singing cowboy and appeared a couple years before either Gene Autry or Roy Rogers.

Singing Sandy was his name.

However, someone else's voice was dubbed over John Wayne's.