Tom Tyler, the dog, and the fence

Tom on a Ross Verlag postcard

One particular image of Tom Tyler appearing on a variety of movie cards from different manufacturers between the late 1920’s to early 1930’s depicts him standing by a fence, hands on his hips, feet crossed, with a small dog seated at his left. Few movie cards bearing this image appeared in full color, usually hand painted then reproduced for mass distribution; most of them were either in black and white or sepia tone. This particular photo of Tom dates back to 1925 when he made his second starring-role for FBO in “The Wyoming Wildcat”.

It is unknown if this particular shot of Tom Tyler appears on any ESCO arcade or exhibit cards; the image was licensed to the popular German postcard manufacturer, Ross Verlag. This company issued multiple series of both American and European film stars on these postcards between 1919 and 1944. The earliest images from the 1920’s were in sepia, with later ones dating into the 1940’s in black and white. Only selected images were hand tinted and issued that way, and this particular photo of Tom was one of them. The same image also in sepia appeared on three different German tobacco cards from the following manufacturers: Mercedes A. Batschari, Manoli Gold, Hansom Jasmatzi. Smaller movie cards licensed the same image, and it was not long before these cards became popular collectibles among young patrons of Tom’s silent films. It is worth pointing out that most of these movie cards seem to have originated in Europe, although 8” x 10” stills of Tom in this pose have come from The United States.

Tom Tyler on a Dutch gum card

As a marketing tool for “The Wyoming Wildcat” and Tom Tyler in general, the image of him standing against that fence with the dog, whose name is Beans and considered one of Tom’s pals along with Frankie Darro, popped up from time to time over the decades in books on early Hollywood, ephemera shows, and the rare batch of movie cards or stills at an antique shop. This image of Tom Tyler certainly remains one of the most popular from his silent film years, and in movie card format, desirable to be sought after.