Red Ryder

by Frank M. Roberts

March 2016

First, let me scotch that crazy rumor: Red Ryder is not a passenger in a Communist car. It IS one of the most famous cowboy heroes who began life, not on the screen but in print. He - or 'it's - career zoomed from there.

Originally, he blazed the trails in 750 newspapers worldwide. There were 14 million readers in the U. S. of A. and, the strip was published in 10 languages. Rogers - Autry - put that in your pockets.

And, there was a 12 chapter serial, and 23 features filmed by Republic - the 'A' studio of the 'B' studios. Also, there were four color features from Eagle-Lion, and there was a radio show. And there were comic books and toys galore. Most popular? The bang-bang. Daisy's Red Ryder carbine was a 'hit' with millions of young fans.

'Ryder' boasted sales of more than 700 products from toys, and apparel and, somewhere along the line there was a connection with both bread and cereals. (The latter is understandable since he had to deal with so many 'flakes').

Returning to the screen - for one thin dime (there are no thick 10 cent pieces) matinee-goers saw Don 'Red' Barry star in the 12-chapter cliffhanger, "Adventures Of Red Ryder," released by Republic in 1940. Noah Beery played Ace, - 'deucedly' bad guy. At that time, one Tommy Cook played Little Beaver.

That serial was so successful, the studio followed it with 16 features. This time, Bill Elliott was the star, and the later infamous Bobby Blake was The Beav. (No, not that nice little teevee boy). Alice Flemming was The Dutchess who was constantly courted by grubby, butlovable, George 'Gabby' Hayes. Those two appeared only in the first two adventures.

As far as 'Wild Bill' E. was concerned, he became typecast. His popularity soared, as did the box office for his Ryder flicks. Interestingly, some height prejudice was involved. Republic's contract required any replacement for Elliott to be at least 6'2" and, have the proper moral character.

So, who filled the bill starring in the last seven features? Another cowboy favorite - Allan Lane. Young Blake continued as the sidekick. Martha Wentworth was the Duchess.

Lane was interesting. 'tis said that he demanded perfection and, 'tis said he made a great Red Ryder. He had the looks, the build and the agility for the part. Many moviegoers considered him to be the best.

Next to gallop on the scene was Jim Bannan, who did his 'galloping' in Cinecolor in the series that was produced by Eagle-Lion. The years? From 1949 to 1953. Galloping with him was Don Reynolds as Little Beaver.

I don't know if it's still going on but there was an annual July 4 celebration in Red Ryder country - rodeo in Pagosa Springs, Colo. and, there was even a Little Beaver Rodeo on the Jicarella Apache Reservation in Dulce, N. M. I wonder - was there an objection to the Li'l Beaver speech - you know - 'um, him not nice - or - ugh, him pain in patootie.'

A few Red Ryder titles: "Oregon Trail Scouts," with Martha Wentworth; "Adventures Of Red Ryder," (a serial); "Sun Valley Cyclone," "Wagon Wheels Westward," with Alice Fleming, Linda Stirling, and ace badman, Roy Barcroft, "Cowboy and the Prizefighter," in which our hero was pitted against "a bare-knuckle killer."

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I'm sure you remember, "Buckaroo Bugs," starring Warner Bros. famous-est rabbit; Stephen Slesinger and Fred Harman were the creators of the famed cowboy. Most interesting - Ryder never shot to kill - he aimed for the hand to disarm the baddies. And, a personal note. On the radio version was Ben Alexander who announced some of the programs. Later, he gained fame as Jack Webb's first sidekick. I was doing teevee shows at KWWL-TV in Waterloo, IA. when Ben came thru, doing a show with Fred Waring. I talked to both of them on a progam I was doing - two very nice men. The orchestra leader liked to talk about his blenders. The one picture in my mind, re: Ben A. was that he had an extremely ruddy complexion.