Being able to peruse the many global newspaper archives for film research can bring any number of surprises. Case in point: Tom Tyler’s early sound film “Galloping Thru” (1931) was exhibited in Vietnam under its French title, “Diligence Infernale”, as seen in a cinema ad in the newspaper Thời sự November 19, 1949. Chances are “Galloping Thru” was relaxing entertainment for the French troops at the time.
In the February 1933 issue of Sound and Shadow, there is an advertisement for a newly formed American film import company, Starrex Films. Headquartered in Madras (now called Chennai), India, this film distribution company specialized in American action movies, one of America’s top action stars at the time being Tom Tyler. The first title on Starrex Films list was “Honor of the Mounted” from 1932.
Sound & Shadow was a monthly trade publication based in India but had offices in Hollywood, London, and Australia.
In our next installment of the lost Tom Tyler silent film reconstruction series, "When the Law Rides" (1928) with Frankie Darro and Jane Reid has been selected. As with "Red Hot Hoofs", the basis for this reconstruction will be the film's derivative published by Biblioteca Films. Existing copies of stills, promotional materials, and movie cards will be included in this project.
Once "When the Law Rides" is translated, it will be posted here on the Aventuras de Tom Tyler Blog plus social media pages.
Originally published on August 25, 2020, one year ago, a blog entry on the following arcade/exhibit card bore no silent film title text at the lower left corner but its appearance suggested it was from one of Tom Tyler's silent films from around 1928. One can only imagine just how exciting it was to watch Tom execute this scene on silent film, slightly out of regular onscreen cowboy costume. Then again Tom would look in perfect shape, for 1928 was the year he won the Amateur Athletic Union heavyweight weightlifting championship.
Many thanks to The Times Dispatch (Richmond, VA) July 8, 1928 for providing the identifying source of this Tom Tyler silent film arcade/exhibit card.
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| from "When the Law Rides", 1928, FBO Productions |
As incredible as it may sound, Tom Tyler’s name has been confused with another early sound film western star of the same first name, Tom Keene. This has been noted in a film production blurb in Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, April 12, 1930 which mentions the name Tom Tyler but it also mentions the name of a popular silent film classical dancer, Verna Mersereau. The dead giveaway in this blurb is the producer name, Ben Wilson, and the writer’s name, W. C. Tuttle. To further narrow down the time slot, Verna Mersereau returned to the United States in 1929 after her trip around the world with the Wilbur Players in the performance “Rain” where she was the lead dancer. Having never worked under Wilson nor any westerns written by Tuttle, Tom Tyler’s name was mistaken for that of Tom Keene.
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| From Inside Facts of Stage and Screen, April 12, 1930 |
In evaluating which movie Verna may have appeared in with Tom Keene it was most likely “The Cheyenne Kid” (1933), based on Tuttle’s story, “Sir Piegan Passes”. Because Verna was in a California sanatorium with tuberculosis, Mary Mason took her place in this movie. That was not the only replacement in the making of “The Cheyenne Kid”, however. Producer Ben Wilson died in August of 1930 at the age of 54 from heart disease. In his place, David O. Selznick and David Lewis were involved in the production of this western. Bob Hill directed this B-western, and if this name sounds familiar to Tom Tyler fans, it should be; Hill directed Tyler westerns like “Mystery Range” and “Feud of the Trail”, both from 1937.
So while Tom Keene was busy making “The Cheyenne Kid”, Tom Tyler was busy making “When a Man Rides Alone” (1933), sans the name Verna Mersereau; instead, our hero got Adele Lacy for a leading lady. Not a bad tradeoff for a co-star, at that.
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Here at Aventuras de Tom Tyler, we are observing the month of June 2021 as Scleroderma Awareness Month. Even though there remains no cure for this rare disease Tom died from in 1954, some treatments remains available to help scleroderma patients ease the pain from this disease.
There is much information about scleroderma from the Scleroderma Foundation about what the disease is, its classification as an autoimmune disease, its complexity as a disease, its frequency among women compared to men, as well as possible environmental influences.
One thing I do want to repeatedly stress about Tom Tyler and scleroderma is the following: even though he died from a disease that was little understood and no treatments available, his having scleroderma should never define him; it should never define him during the last years of his career and life, and that he deserves to be remembered the way he wanted to be remembered. This is what makes a true scleroderma warrior.
Thank you to everyone interested in learning about scleroderma and of course advocating for Tom Tyler and his interesting career in film and weightlifting.
