Robert J. Horner
(1894-1942)
Aywon Film Corporation, et al

Robert John Horner was involved in western film production for about 10 years, from roughly the mid 1920s through the mid 1930s.  And for most of this time, he tied himself to - and probably had financial interests in - the Aywon Film Corporation (which is pronounced A-One, just like the steak sauce). Aywon was originally formed around 1920 by Nathan Hirsch (or Hirsh or Hirisch). Hirsch and Horner continued to work together, and create western cinema underachievements, until Aywon disappeared into Hollywood obscurity around 1935.

Horner's oaters of the silent era featured Art Acord, Jack Perrin, Fred Church, and more.  And when sound arrived, Horner continued to use second echelon range riders, including his earlier cowboy heroes, Jack Perrin and Buffalo Bill, Jr.  He also did several with Bill Cody and Ted Wells.

Horner was the victim of an accident or birth defect, and he was missing both legs at the hip.  The story goes that he used a small four-wheeled cart to maneuver himself around on the sets.

Based on the newspaper clippings below, Horner appears to have been in constant financial troubles and legal wranglings.

October 20, 1927 October 24, 1932

October 23, 1927

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a photo of a title card showing Franklyn Farnum and Bill Cody in BORDER GUNS (Aywon, 1934), one of a trio of films that Cody did for Horner.

(From Old Corral image collection) Above lobby card is from one of the earliest of the western talkies, THE APACHE KID'S ESCAPE (Robert J. Horner, 1930), and the photo inset shows Jack Perrin and his horse Starlight. Perrin had to sue Horner to get his contracted salary for this film and several others. (Courtesy of Ed Tabor) TEX TAKES A HOLIDAY (Argosy, 1932) was shot in "Multicolor", an early two-strip color process. The star was Wallace MacDonald (with light blue shirt and moustache above), and he had a brief fling in front of the camera before becoming a B film producer at Columbia Pictures. He also worked for Multicolor. The player with the handful of knives is Steve Clemente, who was an knife-throwing expert. TEX TAKES A HOLIDAY (Argosy, 1932) is one of the lost/missing westerns. (Courtesy of Ed Tabor) Above are Wallace MacDonald with heroine Virginia Brown Faire.

The Variety review of TEX TAKES A HOLIDAY was not kind to the film and color process. Excerpts from the review note: "In black and white this might have eased through as a second-grade western, but in color, it is very weak.  It is wholly spoiled by about as poor an exhibition of bad color work as has been brought forward yet. On top of this, much of it seems to be slightly out of register, giving an out-of-focus effect. It will not be in the running even in the minor houses." On a positive note, give Horner credit for trying color (in 1932).  On the negative side, why did Horner even attempt to use an early color process on a dirt-cheap western in 1932?  Answer probably follows below. Les Adams did some scouting through his copies of Film Daily: The 1932 Film Daily has Wallace MacDonald, hero of TEX TAKES A HOLIDAY, as the sales manager for Multicolor, Ltd. (700 Romaine St.). Robert J. Horner shared the following with Multicolor Productions - location, address and telephone number - Cinephone Studios, 4376 Sunset Drive, OLympia 8701. So did Burton King. And Harry S. Webb and Flora E. Douglas and Cliff Broughton Productions. And Thrillo-dramas and United Producers, Ltd and Action Pictures.

The Productions of Robert J. Horner Sound films only Westerns only Special thanks to Les Adams for providing this filmography

Footnotes from Les Adams: SOUTH OF SONORA with Buffalo Bill, Jr. probably belongs to Horner. The only thing I have on it is the cast and Jacques Jaccard as the director, but it is shown in Film Daily as a West Coast production. And it's possible that something called THE TIA JUANA KID with Pat Carlyle and Bobby Nelson (circa 1935, if it ever got released) came out of Horner's camp.