An actor's education

Believe it or not, Tom Tyler received his first acting lessons through a correspondence course back during his teenage years. According to two articles in Boy's Cinema, September 26, 1931 and Motion Picture Classics, July 1928, Tom saved his money through odd jobs for acting lessons, and sent in a coupon from a magazine ad which promised authentic acting courses through the Johnson Screen Training School. Upon successful completion of the course, a letter of recommendation from the correspondence school was sent to him, guaranteeing him work as an actor. Being young and hopeful, once Tom reached Hollywood after leaving home in Michigan, he soon discovered it was not that easy to get work on this letter. Chances are very likely that more than one film studio saw these letters being shoved onto their desks from young hopefuls who desired stardom in early Hollywood. 

Tom kept trudging on from studio to studio and eventually got some bit roles (in addition to some side modeling jobs) which formed the first step to climbing up to stardom: a contract with FBO in 1925, his first starring role, “Let's Go Gallagher.” Of course, he also had to take horseback riding lessons in order to get that contract, and Tom was smart enough to say “Yes” and make it work. Perhaps however innocent and hopeful Tom's first intentions were in learning how to act, in addition with his ability to step outside his comfort zone with a good dose of courage, he was able to achieve his dreams in a very short amount of time, between leaving home in Michigan in his late teens, to getting a starring role contract at the age of 22. Now that is what I call success!

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