Filming “San Antonio”: Hopefully Tom Tyler got the afternoon off

Sometimes the most interesting production notes of a particular movie can be found within the marketing tool known as the pressbook. In the case of the 1945 Warner Brothers western “San Antonio” starring Errol Flynn and Alexis Smith, there is one such article regarding the filming of the scene where Tom Tyler gets shot by Flynn. Tom of course had the opportunity to execute his famous long, drawn out walk before finally collapsing onto the wooden platform surrounding the building across the street. In this western, Tom has a supporting role as Lafe McWilliams, a henchman for cattle rustler Paul Kelly who is hot on the trail of cattleman Flynn, who is attempting to lay low until he can locate Stuart and turn him in to the authorities.

On the second page of the pressbook the article titled “Special Effects Department Busy on ‘San Antonio’ Set”, detailed information is given to the rip roaring shoot out scene between Tyler and Flynn, which originates as an exchange between the two men in the dance hall. According to the article, director David Butler, who, like Tom, had a career dating back to the silent film era, the scene was lined up by Butler, and with the aid of the special effects man Fred Ponedel, set off the powder and smoke, which produced the resulting effects when Flynn shoots a blank at Tom.

Ever eager and ready to learn every aspect of what his role requires, Tom stood by and observed everything. What is interesting about the entire scene is that the set was built to resemble the 1870 to 1880 years of San Antonio. When the set was built, it was done from photographs supplied by San Antonio Mayor Maury Maverick. Once completed, the set occupied an entire sound stage. 

Finally ready to complete his last scene of filming in “San Antonio” which took place in the morning, Tom remarked to present crew members that hopefully the scene would be done filming by lunchtime so he could have the afternoon off. Knowing just how efficiently Tom Tyler could execute a scene according to direction, chances are he took the hit from Flynn before dying off according to the script so that he could enjoy his afternoon off from work. 

Yes, that is the director of "San Antonio" with Tom Tyler on an ESCO arcade card from 1929!

The 33rd Lone Pine Film Festival: Tom Tyler, Cowboy King

I am happy to announce Tom Tyler will be just one of many silver screen cowboys profiled as part of the “Poverty Row: Cowboy Kings of the Alabama Hills” program held on Saturday, October 7 at the 33rd Lone Pine Film Festival in Lone Pine, California this year. The festival will be held from October 5-8 and will feature screenings, tours, food, and more. Marc Wanamaker will be profiling Tom as well as Tom Keene, Tim Holt, Jack Hoxie and many others at this hour-long program that will be held at the Museum Theatre. Marc Wanamaker is a film historian and writer, helped form the American Film Institute, and is a co-founder of the Los Angeles International Film Exposition and American Cinematheque. He is also the founder of Bison Archives, an organization which manages film industry research.

Tom Tyler certainly fits in well with this year’s film festival theme, “When Cowboys Were King”. The Lone Pine Film Festival’s website can be found here. 

Information regarding tickets and a full list of films screened and events can be found here on the official site. 

Stagecoach (1939) still one of the greatest films of all time

Who could guess that the John Ford western “Stagecoach” from 1939 would still be considered one of the greatest films of all time – not just from an objective viewpoint, but rather a subjective one? That is the approach taken by TIME magazine’s film critic Stephanie Zacharek in her article titled "How TIME’s Film Critic Chose the 100 Best Movies of the Past 10 Decades" dated July 26, 2023. As a recipient of the Newswomen's Club of New York award and 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist, Zacharek puts that subjective, critical thought into selecting the one hundred movies for this list. Surprisingly, “Citizen Kane” (1941), “The Godfather” (1972), and “Casablanca” (1942) did not make Zacharek’s list – films which often make the ubiquitous “Greatest Movies of All Time” lists compiled by other film critics.

One article which takes a definitive look at this movie, which received an Oscar nomination for Ford’s efforts as director, is written by David A. Punch, “Stagecoach: Defining the Western”.  As a canonical film, “Stagecoach” certainly revived interest in the western genre at a time in Hollywood when most westerns of the oater variety dominated the 1920’s to 1930’s. While the cinematography, direction, and screenplay are a major cut above everything done at the time, what really makes the movie stand out is the complex character development. In steps Tom Tyler, who eventually became a member of Ford’s company, appearing in “Drums Along the Mohawk” (1939), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “Red River” and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon”, to name a few. Even better, Tom also had the required background for the demanding role he played as Luke Plummer, as minor a role – and character – in “Stagecoach”. No doubt one of the most memorable scenes in the movie is where the viewer is introduced to Luke Plummer, his personality, and character development – primarily in belated silent film form, with only a few spoken lines. Tom’s performance received accolades from film critics. I wrote extensively about Tom’s performance, and the likeliest reason for it in the article located here. 

Whether subjective or objective as a movie choice, “Stagecoach” is sure of one thing: even first-time viewers will be as impressed with it as much as weathered fans of the film.

 

Cine Aventura: Tom Tyler

Definitely one of the rarer items to come from Spain, at least in booklet format, Cine Aventura: El Valiente Tom Tyler was published by Sociedad General Española De Librería in Barcelona, Spain. This is not a film booklet in the style of Biblioteca Films per se, but is rather a brief biography of the star, along with a pulp fiction story, and an illustration of Tom fighting a bandit. The western story herein takes place during the time of President Lincoln. Thus with this addition included in the booklet, it is not quite like the more popular Tras La Pantalla published by Publicaciones Cosmos, also based in Barcelona, but rather something unique which appealed to western fans.

The booklet itself is slightly smaller compared to the size of a Biblioteca Films booklet, being 3 ¾” x 5 ¼” in size. The red and white border of the booklet is decorated with a western theme, and the still of Tom Tyler, seen with Bud Osborne on the cover, is from Tom’s 1930 silent film, “Call of the Desert”. The actual date of publication likely came after 1941 and no later than 1945 due to Tom’s list of credits including “Adventures of Captain Marvel”, which was released that year. Other booklets in this series are dedicated to the following stars: Tom Mix, Buck Jones, Ken Maynard, and Hoot Gibson. At least five issues are known in this series, although it is highly likely the series had a limited number of these small booklets, as well as limited circulation.

According to the Spanish website Sociedad General Española De Librería (SGEL), the company has been in business for over 100 years, founded in 1914 in Barcelona when its origins were in managing bookstores and publishing novels, weekly periodicals, and comics during the 1920's to 1940's. Today, SGEL is a marketing and distribution company based in Madrid.

Motion Picture News and the miscaption of “Wild to Go”

Even business to business publications, also known as trade publications, can make errors when it comes to making sure that the correct captions are matched to images which appear throughout the publication. Case in point: Motion Picture News May 8, 1926 with the Tom Tyler silent film “Wild to Go” which appears on page 2267. The correct set of stills appear on page 2263 but bears the caption of:

"The Danger Quest" is a current Rayart release. These scenes were taken from the picture.

The “Wild to God” silent film page of Aventuras de Tom Tyler has been updated with this correction.

At the FBO Ranch

"Born to Battle" 1926, filmed at FBO Ranch

Heading west on Sunset Boulevard towards the East Pacific Coast Highway in California, one might guess that the modern developed land was once a popular location where movie production companies filmed in the great outdoors. The guess is of course correct, upon observing the view of the ocean, the Santa Ynez Canyon and beach, which was once raw land home to a number of filming sets four miles north of Santa Monica. At the entrance of the Santa Ynez Canyon is where the Robertson-Cole Ranch once stood: production sets and facilities for westerns, including stables for horses. This ranch encompassed the beach, part of the ocean, a river, mountain, plains, and a hamlet. Perhaps not surprisingly, this beautiful landscape was used by previous Hollywood film production companies, long before it was known as the FBO Ranch where Tom Tyler would travel each filming day to mount his horse and work for the cameras.

Historically, this same piece of land was used for silent film exteriors by director Thomas Ince of the New York Motion Picture Company. Ince bought the 460 acres of land in 1912 that makes up Santa Ynez Canyon, then leased an additional 18,000 acres into the Santa Monica Mountains, or seven miles of land, just for filming movies on. Due to the topography, the land became suitable for all types of film genres, including westerns and dramas which called for an exotic locale like “Kismet” (1920). Appropriately named Inceville, all types of buildings and stages were assembled. Restaurants, a commissary, office buildings, wardrobe, and enough dressing rooms for the 500 plus people who worked and filmed here.

In 1917, Ince sold the original 460 acres to western star William S. Hart, who named it Hartville. By 1920, Robertson-Cole bought the land from Hart and named it the Robertson-Cole Ranch. An article on the purchase of the ranch property is described in detail in The Moving Picture World, June 26, 1920. Harry R. Hough was in charge of the ranch, and in 1922, Robertson-Cole reorganized as Film Booking Offices with Joseph P. Kennedy as President of the company. Tom Tyler must have enjoyed filming in the location, the land reminding him of the hamlet in upstate New York where he was born, Port Henry, by Lake Champlain. It is not wrong to say that Tom filmed while in the Pacific Ocean, strong swimmer that he was, capable of escaping a ship off land once he finished fighting a group of bandits, as he did in “Born to Battle” (1926). In this silent film, Tom swims to the beach and lands in front of a building designed to resemble a school – in the story, a girl’s school, where a bevy of beauties see him emerge from the ocean like a merman, all dripping wet. The cliff and river on the FBO ranch provided the setting for “The Wyoming Wildcat” (1925) and “The Cowboy Musketeer” (1925), and once again the beach in “Wild to Go” (1926).

A view of Inceville, from Movie Pictorial, September 1915

Nowadays, the very town where Tom Tyler filmed his earliest silent films for FBO is called Inceville, and the neighborhood to its immediate south, Pacific Palisades, and to the northwest, Palisades Highlands. Largely an affluential region where many actors and musicians live, the once glorious film production sets that thrived here are now long gone.

Collectibles: Tom Tyler Polonia Films movie heralds

Law of the Plains, 1929, Polonia Films

Movie heralds for Tom Tyler westerns can be a rarity, however, probably the most sought after ones are printed by Polonia Films. What makes these Polish language heralds a true curiosity is that they were most likely manufactured in Spain.

It is believed that Polonia Films was owned by Z. de L. Bakanowski, who was born in 1899 and entered the film industry in 1926. According to a brief biography in Kinematograph Year Book 1946, Bakanowski based Polonia Films out of Madrid, Spain, one of the nation's publishing hubs. He also represented the Association of Polish Film Producers in Spain. An astute businessman, he was a managing director of several other companies including B.M.D. Ltd, which oversaw the exchange of films between the United Kingdom and continental Europe. Not much else is known about Bakanowski or Polonia Films although some examples of these movie heralds do appear online and periodically show up on auction sites.

Each Polonia Films movie herald is 7” x 5 ½” in size, printed on the front and back, usually in monochrome although sometimes with a different color used in the background, as shown in the movie herald for “The Man from New Mexico” (1932). While these heralds are few and far between they do make a nice addition to any Tom Tyler collection.

The Man from New Mexico, Polonia Films