David 'Dave' 'Tex' O'Brien Sometimes called: David Barclay Real name: David Poole Fronabarger 1912 - 1969

(Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above, Dave O'Brien in his mountie uniform as 'Constable (sometimes Sergeant) Kelly', the helper to Jim Newill in the Renfrew of the Royal Mounted flicks. (Above pressbook ad courtesy of Les Adams) (Courtesy of Ed Tabor)

Texan Dave O'Brien was a multi-talented performer who began work as a 'hoofer' in early 1930s musicals and then moved on to bit parts, supporting roles and stuntwork.

One of these early roles was in 42ND STREET (Warners, 1933). Watch as Bebe Daniels (reclining on a piano) finishes singing "You're Getting To Be A Habit With Me" about half way through the movie. Then the male and female dancers line up and run through another number. Look quick and you'll spot Dave in the front row. Later, four guys are dancing with Bebe to the same tune and O'Brien is one of the dancers.

As the decade progressed, Dave was able to grab more screen time playing baddies, the maligned brother of the heroine, etc.  Working his way up the Hollywood B film ladder, he quite often wound up as the second lead, such as in the Renfrew of the Mounted series as well as the short-lived Dorothy Page "singing cowgirl" westerns which were released through Grand National Pictures.

He was the star of THE BLACK COIN (Stage & Screen, 1936) chapterplay, and had one of the screen's most laughable roles, portraying the poor guy who succumbs to drugs in the awful REEFER MADNESS (1936).

In the early 1940s, O'Brien was frequently employed in Monogram's East Side Kids series, appearing in a half dozen releases --- EAST SIDE KIDS (1940), BOYS OF THE CITY (1940), THAT GANG OF MINE (1940), FLYING WILD (1941), SPOOKS RUN WILD (1941), and 'NEATH BROOKLYN BRIDGE (1942). During this period, O'Brien did several low budget movies with fading horror movie star Bela Lugosi --- THE DEVIL BAT (PRC, 1940), the fore mentioned East Side Kids' SPOOKS RUN WILD (Monogram, 1941) and BOWERY AT MIDNIGHT (Monogram, 1942).  And he still found time to work in westerns such as the 'Billy the Kid' series at PRC which starred Bob Steele and Buster Crabbe.

His luck changed when he landed the lead in the CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (Columbia, 1942) serial.  That was followed with a starring role in the Texas Rangers trio westerns at PRC.  He appeared in all twenty-two of the Rangers' films which were released from 1942-1945 --- the first fourteen had Jim Newill as his partner, and the final eight had Tex Ritter. Tall stringbean Guy Wilkerson was the third member of the team. He and O'Brien had worked together earlier --- Wilkerson was sidekick "Ichabod Mudd" in CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT.  There's more about the Texas Rangers series, Jim/James Newill, and Tex Ritter on the Old Corral.

O'Brien became a major force in the Pete Smith comedy/novelty shorts at MGM, doing writing, directing, and starring in many. And with O'Brien frequently portraying helpless/hapless handymen and husbands, he did scores of slips, trips, flops and falls. One of the better shorts was MOVIE PESTS in which Dave is a bumbling, fumbling and inconsiderate patron of a movie theater ... and one of the gags involves having his foot out in the aisle. When the Pete Smith series ended in 1955, the final entry was THE FALL GUY, a compilation of O'Brien's best stunts.

He did occasional film roles into the 1950s, and one of his more memorable performances was as "Ralph, the stage manager" in the Howard Keel/Kathryn Grayson musical KISS ME KATE (MGM, 1953).

In the mid 1950s, he was writing for the Red Skelton TV show, and the writing team won an Emmy award in 1961 for their comedy sketches on the 1960-1961 season of Skelton shows. That Emmy award is credited to: Sherwood Schwartz, Dave O'Brien, Al Schwartz, Martin Ragaway and Red Skelton. Be sure to read Sherwood Schwartz's remembrances of Dave O'Brien and the Red Skelton TV show (link at the top of this page).

O'Brien met B film actress Dorothy Short around the time they both appeared in REEFER MADNESS.  They married in the mid 1930s, had two children, and worked together in later films, including the CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT chapterplay and Pete Smith shorts.  Their marriage ended in the early 1950s, and one of the reasons for the breakup was that O'Brien's priorities had become his yacht and sailing.

And for those who remember, the answer is "yes" --- O'Brien did have thinning hair and wore a toupee.  And that hairpiece became part of the storyline in at least one of the Pete Smith comedies.  Need a hint --- remember the Smith short where a bumblebee crawls under O'Brien's toupee?

I vaguely recall a Texas Rangers film or two where O'Brien had unintentional difficulties with his toupee flopping around during some frantic fisticuffs.  However, I screened several of the films as I was writing this, and couldn't locate any hair mishaps.  Perhaps a web visitor can recall if this occurred, and if so, the film title(s).

O'Brien carried his Pete Smith gags into early TV.  In August, 2000, got an e-mail from Warren 'Buzz' De Blois who had found the videotape and info on the unsold pilot called MEET THE O'BRIENS.  The plot synopsis reads:

MEET THE O'BRIENS: Unsold pilot, produced in 1954. Dave, an accident-prone young man and his wife, share a house with her parents. After wrecking his in-law's car, Dave goes to pick up the insurance money, but on the way home he gets conned into buying a car from a nice little old lady from Pasadena. Starring Dave O'Brien, Jeff Donnell.

Loving the sea and sailing his yacht, the White Cloud, O'Brien passed away from a heart attack in 1969 during a yacht race near Catalina.

O'Brien's film and TV career spanned 35+ years, and much of his early labor was for various B grade production outfits.  Les Adams has O'Brien identified in over 200 sound films: 74 westerns, 7 serials, 56 other films and 64 shorts.

Though many of us recall the Texas Rangers films, Dave O'Brien is probably best remembered as the star of the CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT cliffhanger and for his work in the Pete Smith series.

You may want to visit the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral, and then click on the California Death Records database.  There you will find a record for: David O'Brien, born 5/31/1912 (no state of birth identified), Mother's maiden name of Earnest, and passed away on 11/8/1969.  In that California Death record for O'Brien, click on the Social Security number and you will go to the Social Security Death Index for: David Barclay, born 31 May 1912, passed away August, 1972 (that year is an error).

Bobby Copeland provides some additional info and trivia on Dave O'Brien, along with Jim Newill, and movie bad guy Jack Ingram ... and what would ultimately become the Jack Ingram movie location ranch:

Prior to Jack Ingram owning the land, it was purchased by two other movie cowboys as a scheme to avoid being drafted by the Army during World War II. The land was also once part of the Charlie Chaplin estate. Apparently, Jim Newill and Dave O'Brien heard about some provision by the government that provided deferment to those owning ranches and raising animals. They decided to buy the land and raise goats. They did not have the property long, until they were called for physicals --- both were classified 4-F. They immediately started looking for a buyer, and sold the ranch to Jack Ingram (in 1944), who had worked with Newill and O'Brien in some of their Texas Rangers features at PRC. Ingram, in an economy move, bought an old bulldozer and enlisted the help of several other movie badman friends to clear the site.  Not familiar with the Ingram Movie Ranch --- click HERE.

O'Brien's real name was David Poole Fronabarger. He used the name David Barclay when he became a writer.

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Ken Maynard has the drop on, from L-to-R standing, Carl Mathews (dark hat) and Sherry Tansey (light blue shirt), and kneeling is Dave O'Brien.  Lobby card from PHANTOM RANCHER (Colony, 1940). Above from L-to-R are Dave 'Tex' O'Brien (on King), Jim Newill (on Alamo) and Guy Wilkerson, the original members of PRC's Texas Rangers. Above, O'Brien with a six-gun on Guy Wilkerson, the tall drink-of-water who portrayed 'Panhandle Perkins' in the Rangers series. Note the "Dave (Tex) O'Brien" top billing.  When Tex Ritter replaced Jim Newill for the last eight films of the Texas Rangers series, he got the top billing and O'Brien dropped to second billed. Above from L-to-R are the final members of PRC's Texas Rangers' trio: Dave O'Brien, Tex Ritter and Guy Wilkerson.  Ritter replaced Jim Newill in the last 8 films of the series.