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!

More reviews of “The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection”

Screenshot from "Law of the Plains"

The reviews for “The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” from Undercrank Productions keep coming in! Lea Stans of the website Silent-ology sings the praises of Tom Tyler as being “Hero of the Bs” – that is, hero of the B-westerns, which he was during the first two decades of his acting career, with a dose of supporting roles in other films and of course the two superheros, Captain Marvel AKA Shazam and The Phantom. Her review can be read here.

A more recent review by Phil Hall at the website Cinema Crazed provides the following: “Considering that neither “The Law of the Plains” nor “The Man from Nevada” have been seen in over 90 years, their return is one of the most welcome happenings in this year’s home entertainment releases.” Phil’s review can be read here.

Finally, if you are a Kickstarter backer of the Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection, or purchased a DVD or Blu-ray copy online recently, please leave a review at Amazon here to encourage more people interested in Tom Tyler, his westerns, westerns in general, or just to help support spread the news of the newly restored “The Man from Nevada” and “Law of the Plains”, both from 1929.

After all, it was not that long ago when “The Man from Nevada” was considered to be a lost silent film.

Tom Tyler and his birth family

In observance of Tom Tyler’s 119th birthday, August 9, 2022, I’d like to share some birth (and death) information about his family and where his birth ranking is among his other four siblings. First, some information about his parents.

Frank Markowski was born on August 15, 1873 in Lithuania; his wife Helen Mantivila was born three days after, on August 18 of the same year. Rare is it for a married couple to share such close birthdates, perhaps even rarer if they share the same exact birthdate. Together, they had five children which they raised upon settling in Port Henry, New York. One interesting thing to note is that Frank and Helen’s first child, Frank Michael, was born in Lithuania prior to the small family immigrating to America.

The five Markowski children were born in the following order:

Frank Michael Tyler (born September 21, 1900; died July 21, 1975)

Tom Tyler (Vincent Markowski) (born August 9, 1903; died May 1, 1954)

Molly Redge (born December 24, 1906; died October 28, 1987)

Joseph John Marko (born November 18, 1907; died May 6, 1972)

Katherine Slepski (born February 17, 1911; died August 1, 1972)

Katherine being the youngest, was also the closest to Tom, eventually becoming his caregiver during the last years of his life due to scleroderma’s effects on his body. Sadly, Tom’s father Frank died in 1935 at the age of 61, before getting a chance to see his second-born son become the first superhero on film, Captain Marvel. Eight years later, his mother Helen died, at the age of 70. The family plot is located at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, Michigan.

Aventuras de Tom Tyler blog celebrates its five-year anniversary!

It is hard to believe that the last five years since the inception of this blog flew by – not to mention having the material and creativity to keep it going. The first post written was Welcome to the Trigger Tom Blog!  and was certainly the appropriate opening to information about Tom not seen in his biography by Mike Chapman. Keeping an ongoing, unique niche blog dedicated to Tom Tyler (apparently the only one of its kind to exist ever since the earliest days of the Internet) with engaging and interesting information about Tom has at times been challenging but fulfilling in its own way, bringing little elements of his background to life.

As Aventuras de Tom Tyler enters the New Year of 2022, the search for Tom’s lost silent films and Monogram Pictures westerns continues – and any updates will be made here on this blog.

On a final note for this blog entry – three years from 2022 will mark Tom Tyler’s 100th Anniversary of his debut as a leading man in silent film. Specifically, September 1925 when “Let’s Go Gallagher” was released for exhibition across the nation. “Let’s Go Gallagher” remains the Holy Grail of lost Tom Tyler silent films – here’s hoping that it will be rediscovered in 2022.

Remembering Tom Tyler: 67 years ago (a week from) today

As we move in to the 67th year since Tom Tyler’s passing, the social media pages for Aventuras de Tom Tyler will be commemorating him during the last week of April 2021 through movies and tv shows from his film career, up to the end. You are invited to join us; please share posts of these movies and tv shows, and for those of you who first saw Tom Tyler appearing on popular television westerns like “The Lone Ranger”, “The Gene Autry Show”, and “Steve Donovan, Western Marshal”, keep in mind that a rare disease like scleroderma does not define its victim. Tom shall always be remembered the way he wanted to be remembered.

Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AventurasDeTomTyler/

Our Twitter page: https://twitter.com/AventurasDeTom

Get social with Tom Tyler

Within the last five years, Tom Tyler’s popularity has grown on social media, particularly Facebook. It may seem peculiar that even though the first dedicated page to Tom Tyler is this website’s official social media pages for Twitter and Facebook, there is a group that dates back to October 2015, almost a year after the first version of Aventuras de Tom Tyler (then called Trigger Tom)  hit the Internet. Here is a rundown on the most popular pages and groups besides Aventuras de Tom Tyler on Facebook to Like, Follow, or Join:

Tom Tyler, Screen Hero!

This is the most popular Facebook group dedicated to Tom Tyler, created by fellow fan and supporter Tony A. Corbett of North Carolina. Started on October 28, 2015 this group is an excellent place to network with other Tom Tyler fans as well as up to date news. Tony also owns and manages the Facebook group, Memories of the West, where posts on Tom Tyler are often made.

The Adventures of Captain Marvel 1941

This Facebook page has been around since 2017 and is dedicated to the Republic Pictures film serial. There are many photos of Tom here as well as the rest of the cast like Frank Coghlan Jr., William Benedict and Louise Currie.

Let’s Talk Captain Marvel - Twitter

This is one of those “Let’s Talk” pages on Twitter, dedicated to the DC Comics Shazam! Captain Marvel. Naturally Tom Tyler as the World’s Mightiest Mortal is included as a topic of discussion here.

Captain Marvel Talk - Facebook

This is the Facebook counterpart for ‘Let’s Talk Captain Marvel” on Twitter and just as active. Another great place to discuss Tom Tyler as Captain Marvel.

The Phantom - Facebook

This Facebook page is dedicated to the Lee Falk creation, The Phantom, originally portrayed by Tom Tyler on the silver screen for Columbia Pictures in 1943. Material on Tom as The Phantom periodically is posted here.

The Phantom - Twitter

Run by the same person who manages the Facebook page, there is always plenty of awesome photos of the superhero and Tom Tyler as The Phantom too.

The Serial Squadron

Last but not least there is The Serial Squadron on Facebook which devotes enough attention to Tom for all his work in serials such as “Adventures of Captain Marvel”, “The Phantom”, “Phantom of the West” and others to be included here.

The official social media pages for Aventuras de Tom Tyler:

Twitter: December 2016: twitter.com/AventurasDeTom

Facebook: December 2016:  www.facebook.com/AventurasDeTomTyler