 | The Trail Blazers 8 Films 1943 - 1944 |
| The Trail Blazers 8 Films 1943 - 1944 |
 (From Old Corral image collection) Ken and Hoot were the duo that were Monogram's initial Trail Blazers. Bob Steele was available to join the team due to the demise of the Three Mesquiteers series at Republic ... the series needed younger blood to add some vitality and pep to the films. Above from L-to-R are Ken Maynard (now riding the white Tarzan II), Bob Steele, and Hoot Gibson. Gibson is riding Rusty, the Wonder Horse which had been earlier used by Jack Randall and Tom Keene in their series at Monogram. The original Tarzan died about 1940. When Maynard exited the Trail Blazers, Chief Thunder Cloud came in as the replacement - Thunder Cloud rode Rusty and Gibson rode a different mount.  (From Old Corral image collection) Above - cornering Bob Steele are veteran baddies Al Ferguson (left) and George Chesebro (right) in a lobby card from DEATH VALLEY RANGERS (Monogram, 1943).  (Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above, from L-to-R are Forrest Taylor, Hoot Gibson, former Universal hero Bob Baker (wearing the badge), Betty Miles, Kenneth Harlan (at the desk), Ken Maynard and I. Stanford Jolley in WILD HORSE STAMPEDE (Monogram, 1943), the initial entry in the Trail Blazers series.  (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above, from L-to-R are Betty Miles, Bob Steele, John Bridges, and Hoot Gibson in SONORA STAGECOACH (Monogram, 1944), one of the later Trail Blazers without Ken Maynard.  (From Old Corral image collection) Relaxing on the set of OUTLAW TRAIL (1944) are, from L-to-R, Hoot Gibson, Chief Thunder Cloud, Rocky Camron, Jennifer Holt, and Bob Steele. Jennifer Holt is the sister of RKO cowboy Tim Holt, and was a frequent leading lady to Johnny Mack Brown, Eddie Dean and Lash LaRue in the 1940s. |
