Meeting with fans: Tom Tyler and the Wallace Brothers

Traveling with the Wallace Brothers Circus back in 1937 certainly afforded Tom Tyler to meet not only his many fans but also do charity work, often spending time with them as well as inviting them to see him perform under the big top. In one notable article from Beaver Dam Daily Citizen dated July 20, 1937, when the Wallace Brothers toured Wisconsin, Tom was able to meet with the disabled children of Beaver Dam through the courtesy of Mrs. James Healy, who was the president of the Dodge County Children’s Protective Association at the time. Experiencing happiness and cheer certainly must have been the highest point of these children’s lives, especially when it meant seeing their idol in person. Known for his extensive charity work for disabled and orphaned children, Tom knew how to connect with youngsters, providing encouragement to them when they needed it the most. As with so many stops along the tour, Tom made sure his new friends were able to attend his matinee performance with the Wallace Brothers and experience the thrill of their lives. Four years later, there would be another association between the town of Beaver Dam and Tom Tyler, one that would change movie history forever.

The actor Fred MacMurray, who is often considered to be the man whose looks inspired the Fawcett Publications Captain Marvel superhero created by C. C. Beck and Bill Parker, lived in Beaver Dam during the early years of his life. Fred’s father was a music teacher who got a job in the city of Madison, which meant moving the family from Kankakee, Illinois. By 1937, Fred was a major movie star and well on his way to becoming one of the highest paid actors of the 1930’s. By 1941, the very superhero Fred inspired was made into a film serial by Republic Pictures, “Adventures of Captain Marvel”, with Tom Tyler cast as Captain Marvel. Considered to be the first superhero film ever made, and one of the best serials at that, Tom certainly had the looks to bring the comic book superhero to life on the silver screen.

With Tom’s newly made friends in Beaver Dam, their delight in seeing him portray the famous superhero whose looks were created after one of their town’s own must have held a special place in their hearts. But then, Tom Tyler knew how to create magic for his fans. Shazam!

Reading silent films: “Trail of the Horse Thieves” 1929 starring Tom Tyler

“Trail of the Horse Thieves” is the fifth installment of the Tom Tyler lost silent film reconstruction series and now available for reading. This exciting story involves a remote valley of ranchers out west, a loan shark, and quicksand.

Please read the Terms of Use before reading the actual story.

Most importantly, enjoy my translation, and hopefully this will be an incentive to rediscover “Trail of the Horse Thieves”.

Click here to read my translation!

Review on “The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” at Classic Movie Hub

Kickstarter backer Laura Grieve has written an outstanding review of “The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” released on Undercrank Productions which has been published under the Western Roundup section at Classic Movie Hub. Laura attended the Lone Pine Film Festival in October 2024 when Tom Tyler’s niece Sandra Slepski was interviewed by fellow western fan Henry C. Parke. You can read the Blu-ray review here at Classic Movie Hub.

Be sure to check out Laura’s personal blog, "Laura's Miscellaneous Musings" which can be viewed here. 

If you decide to purchase a copy of the “Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” on Blu-ray or DVD, please leave a rating and review for it at Amazon. Tom and I are looking forward to hearing what you have to say about this top-notch silent film restoration.

Introducing a new generation of Tom Tyler fans

There is a young adult book published back in 2016 which mentions our hero Tom Tyler. "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls", written by Gary VanRiper and illustrated by Carol VanRiper, published by Adirondack Kids Press, Ltd, Camden, New York. This 67-page book is one in a series of The Adirondack Kids #16, with the story about a boy named Justin with his friends Nick, Charles and Jackie who pretend to be cowboys. In chapter two of this engaging book, Nick mentions Tom Tyler the movie star as he was from his early silent film years, along with Buddy, who was played by child actor Frankie Darro, and Beans the dog. Nick continues to explain to Justin and friends who Tom was, along with Buddy and Beans, and how Nick's grandfather showed him a silent film of Tom, most likely on DVD. The silent film in question could very well be "The Texas Tornado" from 1928 since that remains the only FBO release on the market, available from Sinister Cinema.

"The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" as a story is modeled after a standard Tom Tyler western plot: a discovered safe hidden in the woods by the Cascade Trail in the Adirondacks, a pet pal named Dax, a cat, and of course horses for the group of friends to ride along the Cascade Trail. They come up against some winged outlaws, along with other exciting mini-adventures along the way. There is even a chapter titled “What Would Tom Tyler Do?” when the group of friends come up against a sticky situation. The book is engaging enough for a young reader or adult who is interested in the story, since there are very few works of fiction which mention Tom Tyler in the story. At the end of the book there is a small section dedicated to exactly what type of birds the winged outlaws were, one of them being a raven, along with a brief description and photo of the Adirondack waterfalls, plus a section devoted to Tom Tyler himself, including photos of him along with one of the cover of “Tom Tyler Tales: The Adirondack Cowboy” from 2003, which commemorated the birth of Tom as Vincent Markowski back in Port Henry, New York in 1903.

Tom Tyler after all is the Adirondack Cowboy, and "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" can be read for free at Internet Archive if you have an account with the platform

Read "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" here:

archive.org/details/outlawsofcascade0000vanr

Tom Tyler films available on Blu-ray

Blu-ray releases of Tom Tyler’s starring roles are somewhat limited, although in the last few years more have become available, primarily through The Serial Squadron and Undercrank Productions. Below is a list of what is available for those who believe in purchasing and collecting physical media and just want to add a little something special to their Tom Tyler film viewing:

“The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” – The Man from Nevada, Law of the Plains – Undercrank Productions 

“Phantom of the Air” – VCI Entertainment 

“Fast Bullets” – The Serial Squadron 

“Adventures of Captain Marvel” – Kino Lorber 

Supporting roles Tom has in movies available on Blu-ray:

“Stagecoach” – Criterion Collection 

“Gone with the Wind” – Warner Home Video 

“The Grapes of Wrath” – 20th Century Studios 

“The Mummy’s Hand” (on “The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection” – Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 

“Buck Privates” – Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 

“The Talk of the Town” – Sony 

“They Were Expendable” – Warner Archive Collection 

“San Antonio” (Available on December 16, 2025) – Warner Archive Collection 

“Red River” – Criterion Collection 

“Blood on the Moon” – Warner Archive Collection 

“She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” – Warner Archive Collection 

“Samson and Delilah” – Paramount 

New book on Tom Tyler now available for purchase

Longtime Tom Tyler fan G. Michael Dobbs has written and published his book on Tom in September of 2025! It is titled “The Films and Life of Tom Tyler: Cowboy, Monster, Hero”. The book is 354 pages long and packed with updated information regarding Tom’s career, including a mention on the two silent films recently restored for the “Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” available on the Undercrank Productions label, "The Man from Nevada" and "Law of the Plains", both from 1929. Michael has many years of experience as a journalist and editor, which means that this new book on Tom Tyler is sure to be an engaging read.

You can purchase a copy of “The Films and Life of Tom Tyler: Cowboy, Monster, Hero” at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Hugh Loudon’s “My Hollywood” and Tom Tyler

Tom Tyler’s silent films made for FBO certainly made an impression upon fans around the world early on. Spain dedicated many forms of kiosk literature in the form of pulp fiction and film booklets on these silent films. Tom, along with Frankie Darro, their horses, and dog named Napoleon, were heavily marketed around the world along with many other silent films produced by FBO. In the United Kingdom, Tom Tyler had plenty of fans of that side of the Atlantic, enough to inspire at least one of them by the name of Hugh Loudon to include his silent films in the book “My Hollywood”. Written and published in 1991 by The Self Publishing Association Ltd. in Upton-upon-Servern in Worcestershire, Hugh cites Tom Tyler’s silent films as being an early influence upon his interest in American films.

One of Hugh's favorite cinemas where he attended the matinee was the Cecil located in Treforest, a village in Pontypridd, southern Wales. According to his memoir, one thing that genuinely fascinated him about Tom Tyler was the way the star mounted his horse, often while the horse started galloping. This is commonly known as the “flying mount”, which requires the rider to have a firm grasp on the horn of the saddle while aiming to land in the saddle without falling off onto the other side. Hugh continues to describe watching Tom’s silent films in the first chapter of his memoir, which took place between 1929 and 1931, a year or two after the film’s initial release in the United States, which was not unusual in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world at the time. The fact that Hugh was able to fondly remember Tom Tyler’s silent films in 1991 is impressive, a precious memory now faded with a generation no longer with us on earth.

Finally, Hugh devotes chapter eight of his memoir to westerns, where he mentions Tom again in the critically acclaimed “Stagecoach” from 1939. The words which describe Tom as one of the Plummer Boys aching to take on the Ringo Kid, played by John Wayne, are written with relish. Hugh even concludes the scene with how Tom walks into the saloon, his long, drawn-out walk, before collapsing dead beside the bar.

Engagingly written, it is easy to see how "My Hollywood" was written by a teacher who eventually went on to become the Director of Education in the historically rich county of Gwent in southeast Wales. Now out of print, the book can be read through Internet Archive.