Meet Beans the Dog

Those who are familiar with Tom Tyler's early silent film work for FBO are no strangers to the main members of the cast: Tom himself, his co-star Frankie Darro, Tom's horse Flashlight, and Beans the dog. Beans was often cast as belonging to Frankie, for what can be more natural in a wholesome western than a red-blooded American boy and his pet dog? It certainly seemed ideal casting by the FBO producers at the time, and it was a combination that worked well, drawing consistent audiences every week as soon as a new Tom Tyler film was released to the cinemas across the nation.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot li

- Rudyard Kipling

from Motion Picture News, March 11, 1927

Beans is described as being a “dog of doubtful breed but uncommon intelligence” and a “marvelously sagacious dog” in a film review of “The Cowboy Musketeer” in Motion Picture News, December 26, 1925, his earliest mention by name in a Tom Tyler silent film. Prior to “The Cowboy Musketeer”, Beans was simply referred to as “...a dog, a little tad, a pretty girl” in The Richmond Item, Richmond, IN, April 24, 1926 for the movie “Let's Go Gallagher”, and is referred to as part of a threesome “...a child, a dog and a horse” for a film review of “The Wyoming Wildcat” in Motion Picture Magazine, February 1926.

from Motion Picture News, Nov. 28, 1925

Beans was an extraordinary dog actor, for he had what it took to keep up with Tom and Frankie during the many exciting on-film chases and fight scenes, often cheering on his heros from the sidelines in the latter. Beans also had the opportunities on film that other dog actors have not. For example, how lucky could Beans have been to patiently sit and listen while Tom reads the story of King Arthur to him in “The Sonora Kid”? Or watch the hero beat up three men at once, as in “The Texas Tornado”? Beans was one winning dog actor, definitely on a par with Frankie Darro as a boy actor. But his film career did not end with Tom Tyler and Frankie Darro. After his contract with FBO, Beans continued to appear in movies. He appeared with Eddie Dowling “The Rainbow Man” (1928) and with Lew Ayres in “Heaven on Earth” (1931). In all regards it sounds like Beans had a notable career as a silent film animal actor, memorable for his many outstanding performances. One thing is for certain: Beans was as enjoyable to watch on film as Tom Tyler and Frankie Darro were.