In Search Of ... Robert J. Horner

On Saturday night, May 4, 1935, there was a car accident near San Diego which claimed the lives of four of the five people riding in the vehicle.  Child star Jackie Coogan was injured, but lived. Coogan's father, John H. Coogan, was the driver and died at the scene.  The others who were killed were 19 year old Trent 'Junior' Durkin, Charles (or Clarence) Jones (the manager of the Coogan Ranch), and Robert J. Horner. 

Newspaper clippings provide some info on Horner and include mention that he was an "actor ... 25 years of age ... a young screen and radio writer".

Apparently, two lawsuits were filed --- one was by Durkin's mother and a second by Horner's mother.

Some things of note from the clippings below, as well as the newspaper articles on the preceding pages about Horner's financial and legal problems:

• None of the newspaper clippings have a "Jr.", "II" or "III" associated with Robert J. Horner.  Was the person who was killed producer Horner or his son?
• his mother's name, Anna V. Horner, is specifically mentioned in one of the accident articles.  The California Death Records at http://userdb.rootsweb.com/ca/death/search.cgi does include records on Anna V. Horner (1886-1973) and Anna Viola Horner (1874-1952).
• The California Death Records database does list 21 people with some variation of the name "Robert Horner".  However, the person we are searching for is not listed --- that's because the California Death Records begins with 1940 data.
• The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is of no help since this Robert J. Horner died prior to the enforcement of Social Security numbers, etc.
• One of the articles mentions Horner's age as 25.  That may or may not be correct.  If it is, his birth year would be 1910.  Our Robert J. Horner's film credits begin around 1927.  Was a 17 or 18 year old able to produce westerns --- possibly so, since he was churning these out on his own, and not working for a major studio like MGM or Universal.
• The most interesting factoid is that Robert J. Horner's film credits come to an end in mid 1935, about the same time as the car accident.  Suggestion to ponder --- the young man that was killed was our Robert J. Horner, fly-by-night film producer.  Wrong assumption --- Les Adams found the tradepaper announcement below dated September 26, 1939 about Horner planning some Spanish language films.  This confirms that Horner's son was the person killed in the car accident.

May 10, 1935

June 22, 1935

(Courtesy of Les Adams)
Robert J. Horner - still working
as of September 26, 1939.