When I was yet a schoolboy over at Stonewall, my night job was running the projectors at the local movie house. The Main. People sometimes would stop me and ask me about their favorite movie star. It was usually a horse. You see, every Friday night a new weekend slate of movies started. A serial, a Warner Brother’s cartoon, and a fresh class A Newsreel from Path A News. My dad was sort of a news junkie, so he bought Class A Newsreels. The latest. The others were the same just four or five days older.

The Friday-Saturday Serials were usually Batman, Wild Bill Elliott, Roy Rogers and etc. The hero would (always) be slaughtered by the bad guy (such as the Joker) and tensions ran high as the topic of how the good guy (Batman) might somehow escape. But nowadays, there Is little interest in that. Old grown-up fans of such top-fare entertainment oft amuse themselves trying to remember of the “Real” heroes of that movie age. The Horses. And why not? They were pure of heart, smart and pretty and always looking after their human star.

William S. Hart, an old forgotten western star, and his red and white pinto, Fritz, first appeared on the silver screen in 1914. Fritz was our first wonder horse. He knew how to dive through large saloon window. Fans loved Fritz. Then came along Tom Mix and his wonder horse, Tony. My wife’s Uncle Jack Ellis, who was a real cowboy and a Hollywood actor, worked for Mix several years. Uncle Jack took care of finding and hiring extras for Mix’s episodes — staging large chase scenes and, if you looked really close, Uncle Jack would be amongst them — obeying his inner-actor compulsions to be on stage.

I first met Uncle Jack at his funeral. I guess that’s why I remember him as well-dressed in his Hollywood cowboy suit and quiet and dignified. I wished that he was still alive, I would have asked if he knew Tony. Tony the wonder horse was the real draw. This horse could untie knots, jump chasms, run-down fast-moving trains and open gates. Like me, Tony sometimes forgot to close them. He always knew when his master (Tom) was in trouble and always rescued him. This famous horse was even invited to the White House by President Hardin in 1921 and allowed to bring Tom.

Tom Mix loved his personal appearances which allowed his fans to love on him. He bought himself an expensive Cord-812 Phaeton and a nice trailer so Tony could ride along. Tom drove himself and Tony, and did I mention that when they drove the lonely roads of 1940 Mix took his money with him? Yep. In a big shinny suitcase right in back of the big expensive Phaeton. Tom was doing 80-mph when he drove off into a gorge on (SHW 79) where the missing bridge had been. On impact, the big money box flew forward killing our star Mix and scaring Tony nearly to death. Our hero horse survived.

Our horse Tony lived to perform some more but as you may know there is a Tom Mix Museum up at Dewey, Oklahoma and our unfortunate Tony is there. Stuffed. Poor horse. Which brings us to Trigger. Roy Rogers called him the smartest horse in the movies. He called himself the King of the Cowboys. So I went (with my Dad) to Sulphur to meet Trigger. In doing so I got to shake hands with Roy and greet Dale. They were filming “Home in Oklahoma” which I later saw at Ada’s McSwain Theatre. Roy and company had several other horses there — “Trigger doubles” and when I asked to see the real Trigger I was taken to him. Surprised they bothered as I was only about 12, but Roy was pretty nice about it. Sadly, like Tony, Trigger was unceremoniously stuffed too. Last seen in Branson. Probably in storage now. Sort of odd, Dale gave Roy a Christian burial. Trigger — the taxidermist.

Others? Of course. Hopalong Cassidy had Topper, Gene Autry had Champion. Gene named his jeep Nellie Belle. But it was just a jeep. Didn’t do tricks and stuff. Lone Ranger had Silver. The Durango Kid had a horse named Bullet. Roy Rogers had a dog called Bullet and some kid on the show started calling him Raider but the dog in question reportedly didn’t like it. Sadly, Johnny Mack Brown and Randolph Scott didn’t have a dog. Nor did John Wayne. I love hearing from my readers. Have a good week and be sure and go to church Sunday.

Wayne Bullard, DPh

cwaynebullard@gmail.com

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