Introducing a new generation of Tom Tyler fans

There is a young adult book published back in 2016 which mentions our hero Tom Tyler. "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls", written by Gary VanRiper and illustrated by Carol VanRiper, published by Adirondack Kids Press, Ltd, Camden, New York. This 67-page book is one in a series of The Adirondack Kids #16, with the story about a boy named Justin with his friends Nick, Charles and Jackie who pretend to be cowboys. In chapter two of this engaging book, Nick mentions Tom Tyler the movie star as he was from his early silent film years, along with Buddy, who was played by child actor Frankie Darro, and Beans the dog. Nick continues to explain to Justin and friends who Tom was, along with Buddy and Beans, and how Nick's grandfather showed him a silent film of Tom, most likely on DVD. The silent film in question could very well be "The Texas Tornado" from 1928 since that remains the only FBO release on the market, available from Sinister Cinema.

"The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" as a story is modeled after a standard Tom Tyler western plot: a discovered safe hidden in the woods by the Cascade Trail in the Adirondacks, a pet pal named Dax, a cat, and of course horses for the group of friends to ride along the Cascade Trail. They come up against some winged outlaws, along with other exciting mini-adventures along the way. There is even a chapter titled “What Would Tom Tyler Do?” when the group of friends come up against a sticky situation. The book is engaging enough for a young reader or adult who is interested in the story, since there are very few works of fiction which mention Tom Tyler in the story. At the end of the book there is a small section dedicated to exactly what type of birds the winged outlaws were, one of them being a raven, along with a brief description and photo of the Adirondack waterfalls, plus a section devoted to Tom Tyler himself, including photos of him along with one of the cover of “Tom Tyler Tales: The Adirondack Cowboy” from 2003, which commemorated the birth of Tom as Vincent Markowski back in Port Henry, New York in 1903.

Tom Tyler after all is the Adirondack Cowboy, and "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" can be read for free at Internet Archive if you have an account with the platform

Read "The Outlaws of Cascade Falls" here:

archive.org/details/outlawsofcascade0000vanr

Tom Tyler films available on Blu-ray

Blu-ray releases of Tom Tyler’s starring roles are somewhat limited, although in the last few years more have become available, primarily through The Serial Squadron and Undercrank Productions. Below is a list of what is available for those who believe in purchasing and collecting physical media and just want to add a little something special to their Tom Tyler film viewing:

“The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” – The Man from Nevada, Law of the Plains – Undercrank Productions 

“Phantom of the Air” – VCI Entertainment 

“Fast Bullets” – The Serial Squadron 

“Adventures of Captain Marvel” – Kino Lorber 

Supporting roles Tom has in movies available on Blu-ray:

“Stagecoach” – Criterion Collection 

“Gone with the Wind” – Warner Home Video 

“The Grapes of Wrath” – 20th Century Studios 

“The Mummy’s Hand” (on “The Mummy: Complete Legacy Collection” – Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 

“Buck Privates” – Universal Pictures Home Entertainment 

“The Talk of the Town” – Sony 

“They Were Expendable” – Warner Archive Collection 

“San Antonio” (Available on December 16, 2025) – Warner Archive Collection 

“Red River” – Criterion Collection 

“Blood on the Moon” – Warner Archive Collection 

“She Wore a Yellow Ribbon” – Warner Archive Collection 

“Samson and Delilah” – Paramount 

New book on Tom Tyler now available for purchase

Longtime Tom Tyler fan G. Michael Dobbs has written and published his book on Tom in September of 2025! It is titled “The Films and Life of Tom Tyler: Cowboy, Monster, Hero”. The book is 354 pages long and packed with updated information regarding Tom’s career, including a mention on the two silent films recently restored for the “Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection” available on the Undercrank Productions label, "The Man from Nevada" and "Law of the Plains", both from 1929. Michael has many years of experience as a journalist and editor, which means that this new book on Tom Tyler is sure to be an engaging read.

You can purchase a copy of “The Films and Life of Tom Tyler: Cowboy, Monster, Hero” at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. 

Hugh Loudon’s “My Hollywood” and Tom Tyler

Tom Tyler’s silent films made for FBO certainly made an impression upon fans around the world early on. Spain dedicated many forms of kiosk literature in the form of pulp fiction and film booklets on these silent films. Tom, along with Frankie Darro, their horses, and dog named Napoleon, were heavily marketed around the world along with many other silent films produced by FBO. In the United Kingdom, Tom Tyler had plenty of fans of that side of the Atlantic, enough to inspire at least one of them by the name of Hugh Loudon to include his silent films in the book “My Hollywood”. Written and published in 1991 by The Self Publishing Association Ltd. in Upton-upon-Servern in Worcestershire, Hugh cites Tom Tyler’s silent films as being an early influence upon his interest in American films.

One of Hugh's favorite cinemas where he attended the matinee was the Cecil located in Treforest, a village in Pontypridd, southern Wales. According to his memoir, one thing that genuinely fascinated him about Tom Tyler was the way the star mounted his horse, often while the horse started galloping. This is commonly known as the “flying mount”, which requires the rider to have a firm grasp on the horn of the saddle while aiming to land in the saddle without falling off onto the other side. Hugh continues to describe watching Tom’s silent films in the first chapter of his memoir, which took place between 1929 and 1931, a year or two after the film’s initial release in the United States, which was not unusual in the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the world at the time. The fact that Hugh was able to fondly remember Tom Tyler’s silent films in 1991 is impressive, a precious memory now faded with a generation no longer with us on earth.

Finally, Hugh devotes chapter eight of his memoir to westerns, where he mentions Tom again in the critically acclaimed “Stagecoach” from 1939. The words which describe Tom as one of the Plummer Boys aching to take on the Ringo Kid, played by John Wayne, are written with relish. Hugh even concludes the scene with how Tom walks into the saloon, his long, drawn-out walk, before collapsing dead beside the bar.

Engagingly written, it is easy to see how "My Hollywood" was written by a teacher who eventually went on to become the Director of Education in the historically rich county of Gwent in southeast Wales. Now out of print, the book can be read through Internet Archive.

Upcoming special project for “Trail of the Horse Thieves” (1929)

Coming up in 2026, our fifth installment of the lost Tom Tyler silent film reconstruction series, "Trail of the Horse Thieves" from 1929 with Bee Amann has been selected. As usual, 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 "Trail of the Horse Thieves" is translated, it will be posted here on the Aventuras de Tom Tyler Blog plus social media pages.

Fan reviews of The Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection

Tom Tyler fan and owner of the western blog Rough Edges James Reasoner has written two glowing reviews on the newly released silent films “Law of the Plains” and “The Man from Nevada” which are on the Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection, released on the Undercrank Productions label in 2025.

You can read the reviews here:

Rough Edges – Law of the Plains

Rough Edges – The Man from Nevada

Finally, if you own a blog or silent film or western themed site and are interested in reviewing the Blu-ray/DVD release of the Tom Tyler Silent Film Collection, please let us know, we are happy to send you a copy of the Blu-ray or DVD as desired. If you do not own a site and still want to write a review, the Amazon product page is always a great place to publish your review.

Enjoy reading these reviews!

Carol Shandrew: Supporting actress, scriptwriter, and…professor?

From The Sacramento Bee,
Aug. 6, 1935

Carol Shandrew is one of the few actresses who had the briefest of acting careers in Hollywood, but what is really notable is the fact that her two known acting credits are confined to Tom Tyler westerns: “Ridin’ Thru” (1934), and “Tracy Rides” (1935). Carol was mentioned briefly in the June 28, 2018 article “Ridin' Thru classic Tom Tyler B-western” for her somewhat distinct and unusual credit as one of the three writers for this story, the other two being Rose Gordon and Carl Krusada. There has been some debate as to whether she actually contributed to the story, or if her name only appeared as a credit due to some other reason, such as a production studio quota.

Information about her is scant, but what is known about her is that Carol Bell Shandrew was born in Arbon, Idaho on October 11, 1912 to Henry E. and May L. Shandrew, one of twelve children in a Latter-Day Saint family. At some point, her family moved from Idaho to Logan, Utah. Carol married at the age of seventeen to Alfred E. Harrison in 1929, which was not an uncommon age to get married back then. She attended college, the University of Utah and initially entertained the idea of becoming a scriptwriter in Hollywood. Making that dream happen, however, would not take place, if at all, until the mid-1930’s when she managed to snag her first uncredited role as a ranch guest in “Ridin’ Thru”, a Reliable Pictures B-western directed by Harry S. Webb, which starred Tom Tyler. It remains unknown as to how she managed to get this role, although her pretty blonde looks and tall height certainly may have helped. Being new to Hollywood, “Ridin’ Thru”  is also where viewers of the film will see her name credited under Story, followed by Rose Gordon credited for Continuity, and Cark Krusada credited for Dialogue. Carol gets some more screen time in “Tracy Rides” (1935), another Reliable Pictures B-western starring Tom, where she plays Judy Green, daughter of a sheepherder. Curiously enough, this is where Carol Shandrew’s film career seems to end…or does it?

By 1934 her marriage to Alfred ended in divorce. A wedding notice to Cyrus C. Pinneo in The Sacramento Union dated August 22, 1935 states that Carol was previously employed at RKO although it does not state what her role was. RKO was formed from the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Film Booking Offices of America, the studio to which Tom Tyler was under contract with from 1925 to 1929. Making a second attempt for a successful marriage, however, only ended up in a second divorce. Still wanting to make a marriage work, Carol wedded Sidney John Parr in June 1938.

"Ridin' Thru" 1934

According to a news blurb in The Sacramento Union dated May 1, 1941, Carol is mentioned as being a budding scriptwriter and radio star, although information on the latter has been difficult to trace. By 1945, Carol divorced Sidney, then married one last time to Ira Schoolman. Soon after they married, Ira joined the Army. Returning home from military service, Carol and Ira ran a jewelry sales and repair business starting in Los Angeles, S & W Repair Services. Carol only had one daughter by Ira named Kathryn, with no other children from her previous marriages. For some reason, Carol divorced Ira in 1953. Finally figuring out what she wanted to do with her life – and having a natural talent for academics, especially science, she enrolled at University of Redlands in Redlands, California in the early 1950’s, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Science. The study of Physical Science includes: Astronomy, Inorganic Chemistry, Physics, and Earth Sciences. Yet at the same time, Carol still had some remaining interest in the world of acting, for she took part in the play "Two Blind Mice", written by Samuel Spewack, while she was at Redlands working on her degree. Deciding to further her education in graduate school, she continued studying in the same field for her Master’s degree at Sacramento State College, or the modern-day California State University, Sacramento. During the last few years of her life, Carol was an assistant instructor in Physical Science at this university, possibly making plans to continue obtaining a PhD in the subject.

Carol Schoolman suddenly fell ill on July 17, 1957 when she died at the age of 44 died in Sacramento, California, the day before she was getting ready to officially graduate and accept her Master’s degree on the stage, according to her obituary in The Sacramento Bee dated July 19, 1957. It is worth keeping in mind that back in the 1950’s, it was a rarity for a woman to attend graduate school and earn a degree in the field of science.

Had Carol remained healthy, there is the strong possibility she would have gone on to get her PhD in Physical Science and be a full-time Professor. Nowadays when we hear the word actress and a PhD in science, we often think of Mayim Bialik, who earned her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. In a world of educated Hollywood actors and actresses who usually major in Communications or Theatre, Carol Shandrew was a woman well ahead of her time, with her ambitions and achievements, even though she had one of the briefest careers in Hollywood as an actress.