#Silver screen cowboys movie
#Silver screen cowboys serial
#Silver screen cowboys series

The film, about the 1893 Cherokee Strip land rush in Oklahoma. Paramount dropped him and in 1925 Hart produced his own western, Tumbleweeds. The public had grown tired of his moralistic themes and had become enamored with the younger, flashier, fast-action cowboys wearing flamboyant costumes. was born but the marriage ended in 1927.īy the early 1920s Hart’s career was on the wane. He made a few popular films and in 1921 was married to a young actress named Winifred Westover. In 1917 he accepted a lucrative offer from Adoph Zukor to join Jesse Lasky’s company which became Paramount Pictures. In 19 he was the biggest money-making star in the United States. The Old West was still a recent memory and he became friends with Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson.

His films were also known for their authentic props and costumes. He had a high moral theme with relative realism.

He was the first to attempt to portray the “good” bad man of the West. Born in 1864, he was 49 when he made his first film in 1914. The next star of the silver screen was a former Shakespearian actor named William S. In the early 1920s he planned to make a comeback but by then a new, more dashing breed of silver screen cowboys had become popular. He gets the credit for instigating both the star system and the “B” movie.īroncho Billy quit making westerns in 1915 spent more time writing. He also became the first person to receive screen credit of any kind. He created an audience demand for a leading man. He wasn’t dashing or handsome and didn’t look much like a cowboy but the public liked him.

#Silver screen cowboys series

Over the next few years he proceeded to crank out a series of 300 Broncho Billy movies. In 1909 he produced and starred Broncho Billy and the Baby.

#Silver screen cowboys movie

Modeling them after the popular dime novels.Īronson changed his name to Broncho Billy Anderson and would go on to become the first cowboy movie star. His first films were short comedies but remembering the success of The Great Train Robbery, he soon turned to westerns. Up to then the tight-fisted studios, knowing a leading man would demand more money had avoided turning anyone into a “star.” So in 1907, Aronson and a friend established the Essanay Company. He saw the missing ingredient- movies needed a star. In one scene he unceremoniously fell off his horse, an unbecoming beginning for America’s first cowboy movie star, especially after telling the director he could ride like a Comanche. It marked the birth of the genre of the western.Īn actor named Max Aronson had a bit role in the film. Women screamed and fainted while men dove for cover under the seats.

The unsophisticated audience, unaccustomed to such realism, panicked. When a bandit fired his pistol directly into the camera. It was the first motion picture with a story-plot and cost only $150 to make. Filmed in the wilds of New Jersey, it lasted just nine minutes. Porter’s, The Great Train Robbery hit the silver screen in 1903.

Riders of the Silver Screen features B westerns, serials and cartoons much as they were featured at the Palace of Andy's youth.Edwin S. It's clear the Palace had a great impact on Andy's life, which has included his show on etpbs for the past 37 years. Andy remembers seeing Tumbling Tumbleweeds at the Palace and really enjoyed the singing cowboy westerns which were becoming increasingly popular at the time.Īs the 1940’s began & WWII loomed on the horizon, Andy even got a job at the Palace theater delivering circulars & taking tickets. As the 1930’s progressed, singing cowboys such as Gene Autry & Roy Rogers became increasingly popular. The western films starred Ken Maynard, Hoot Gibson, Buck Jones & Tim McCoy.

#Silver screen cowboys serial

On Saturdays, the Palace would show a serial (including Buck Rogers, Our Gang comedies & Fighting with Kit Carson), cartoons (such as Mickey Mouse, Tom & Jerry & of course, Bugs Bunny), selected short subject films & movie news before the main feature. His name is Andy Smalls, but around East Tennessee, he's better known as Marshal Andy or the Knoxville Cowboy.īorn in 1929 in Georgetown, SC, Andy enjoyed a childhood spent visiting the Palace & Strand Theaters which were to play a huge part in his childhood & shape his life in more ways than he could ever imagine.Īndy first attended the Palace theater in the fall of 1936 seeing a Charles Starrett movie, or what we would call a B western today.