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(Courtesy of Jack Tillmany)

Above is a smiling Whip Wilson with his horse of many names: Silver Bullet, then Bullet, then Rocket.



(Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan)

Above - heroine Virginia Herrick and Whip Wilson during their work on SILVER RAIDERS (Monogram, 1950). Virginia remembers Wilson constantly practicing with his whip between takes.



(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above from L-to-R are Steve Clark, Wilson and Andy Clyde in ABILENE TRAIL (1951).



(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above - Whip Wilson has the grip on veteran baddie I. Stanford Jolley in CANYON RAIDERS (1951).




(Courtesy of Virginia Herrick & Dick Madigan)


Whip Wilson's 23 Westerns at Monogram


Wilson had a supporting role in a Jimmy Wakely western followed by 22 starring features.

Thanks to Les Adams for providing this filmography

Release
Date
Title Star Wilson
Role
Director Heroine Sidekick
12/22/48 SILVER TRAILS Jimmy Wakely Whip Christy Cabanne Christine Larsen Dub Taylor
1/9/49 CRASHING THRU Whip Wilson Whip Wilson/Tim Raymond Ray Taylor Christine Larsen Andy Clyde
1/24/49 SHADOWS OF THE WEST Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Ray Taylor Reno Browne Andy Clyde
8/21/49 HAUNTED TRAILS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson/Chris Graham Lambert Hillyer Reno Browne Andy Clyde
11/13/49 RIDERS OF THE DUSK Whip Wilson Marshal Whip Wilson Lambert Hillyer Reno Browne Andy Clyde
12/25/49 RANGE LAND Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lambert Hillyer Reno Browne Andy Clyde
1/29/50 FENCE RIDERS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Wallace Fox Reno Browne Andy Clyde
4/9/50 GUNSLINGERS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Wallace Fox Reno Browne Andy Clyde
7/2/50 ARIZONA TERRITORY Whip Wilson Jeff Malloy Wallace Fox Nancy Saunders Andy Clyde
8/20/50 SILVER RAIDERS Whip Wilson Larry Grant, Arizona Ranger Wallace Fox Virginia Herrick Andy Clyde
10/8/50 CHEROKEE UPRISING Whip Wilson Marshal Bob Foster Lewis D. Collins Lois Hall Andy Clyde
12/10/50 OUTLAWS OF TEXAS Whip Wilson Marshal Tom Yeager Thomas Carr Phyllis Coates Andy Clyde
2/4/51 ABILENE TRAIL Whip Wilson Dave (Kansas Kid) Hill Lewis D. Collins Noel Neill Andy Clyde
4/3/51 WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Thomas Carr Christine McIntyre Fuzzy Knight & Jim Bannon
4/8/51 CANYON RAIDERS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Phyllis Coates Fuzzy Knight & Jim Bannon
5/27/51 NEVADA BADMEN Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Phyllis Coates Fuzzy Knight & Jim Bannon
7/15/51 STAGECOACH DRIVER Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Gloria Winters Fuzzy Knight & Jim Bannon
11/7/51 LAWLESS COWBOYS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Pamela Duncan Fuzzy Knight & Jim Bannon
12/30/51 STAGE TO BLUE RIVER Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Phyllis Coates Fuzzy Knight & Lee Roberts
2/3/52 NIGHT RAIDERS Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Howard Bretherton Lois Hall Fuzzy Knight & Tommy Farrell
4/15/52 THE GUNMAN Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Phyllis Coates Rand Brooks (see footnote)
8/10/52 MONTANA INCIDENT Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Lewis D. Collins Noel Neill/Peggy Stewart Rand Brooks
11/9/52 WYOMING ROUNDUP Whip Wilson Whip Wilson Thomas Carr Phyllis Coates Tommy Farrell
Footnote: THE GUNMAN (Monogram, 1952) was among the lost/missing westerns until it was released in early 2012 by Warner Archive in their Monogram Westerns collection Volume 2 DVD set. The sidekick was Rand Brooks as Texas Marshal Whip Wilson's deputy, "Jeb Calvert". Fuzzy Knight, although billed second, has a character part, that of newspaper typesetter "Blinky".



Whip's Sidekicks


(From Old Corral collection)
In the photo left, Wilson and comedian Andy Clyde relax between takes.

The sidekick job in the first seventeen Wilson oaters was clear - Andy Clyde did the initial dozen followed by five with Fuzzy Knight and Jim Bannon.

Then confusion and inconsistency - perhaps Monogram was simply using whomever was available. For the last five, Whip's helpers were one or two of the following: Fuzzy Knight, Lee Roberts, Tommy Farrell and onetime Hopalong Cassidy saddle pal Rand Brooks.

Les Adams' filmography above has the sidekicks listed.



(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above from left to right are House Peters Jr., I. Stanford Jolley, Stanley Price, Whip Wilson and Tommy Farrell in Whip's last starring film, WYOMING ROUNDUP (Monogram, 1952).




(Courtesy of Bill McCann)

Above, Whip Wilson and Reno Browne (Reno Blair) on the cover of Western Love #2


(Courtesy of Bill McCann)
Whip Wilson & Reno Browne/Reno Blair Comics

Thx to Lansing Sexton for the following info on the comic book series of Whip Wilson and Reno Browne:

Whip Wilson's comic career began in Tim McCoy Western Movie Stories #19 dated April 1949. It continued somewhat inauspiciously with the cover of Western Love #2, dated September/October 1949 published by Feature Publications, part of the Prize Comics Group. The cover shot is a nice one of Whip and Reno Browne (his costar in six films starting with SHADOWS OF THE WEST in 1949) riding double on Bullet. The contents, as is common with cowboy romance comics, have nothing to do with the cover. According to Bob Overstreet's Comic Book Price Guide, Reno Browne may be on issue #3 alone, but it is not certain.

Several other covers featuring Whip and Reno appeared. They are the October/November 1949 issue of Real West Romances (#4) published by Crestwood Publications/Prize Publishing; the first issue, dated December 1949 of Western Life Romances published by Marvel Comics, and the first and 9th issues of Western Hearts, dated December 1949 and December 1951 respectively, published by Standard Magazines. None has contents relating to Whip.

However, in 1950 (dated April) Marvel published Whip Wilson #9 (the numbering continues from an unrelated title). At last, Whip had a comic of his own! Unfortunately, it was to last only two more issues ending with #11, dated September 1950. All three have photo covers. Issue #11 was reprinted by I. W. Reprints in 1964.

Not much of a comics career. There is, however, one interesting thing related to Whip's comics.

Reno Browne #50 appeared at the same time as Whip's comic (April 1950) published by Marvel. It also ran for only three issues, ending with #52 dated September 1950. All three issues have photo covers and feature the tagline 'Hollywood's Greatest Cowgal'. The interesting thing about this is that apart from Dale Evans, no actual movie cowgirl ever had her own comic except for Reno Browne. (There were Annie Oakley TV comics and imaginary character comics such as Black Phantom, a masked cowgirl friend of Red Mask).

Apart from the six films she made with Whip, Reno appeared in one film with Jimmy Wakely, 1949's ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE, and six films with Johnny Mack Brown starting with UNDER ARIZONA SKIES of 1946. In the JMB films she was billed as Reno Blair, apparently to avoid the Brown/Browne billing. Ted Holland's fine B Western Actor's Encyclopedia lists those thirteen films, all made for Monogram, as her only appearances, so she was hardly Hollywood's Greatest Cowgal, but she does deserve a footnote in comics history. According to Holland, she was once married to Lash LaRue.



Some notes and comments from the webmaster

Whip Wilson entered B westerns at the wrong time.  By the late 1940s and early 1950s, there had been significant changes in the cinema wants and likes of the movie-going public.  The post WWII job and building boom was on; something new called TV was arriving; there was a so-called "police action" in Korea; the Cold War was in full swing; film production costs had skyrocketed and "cheap" films were no longer possible; and little Monogram Pictures was facing financial problems and would soon become Allied Artists.

Monogram's other series westerns of this period included Jimmy Wakely and Johnny Mack Brown as well as a Canadian mountie group starring Kirby "Sky King" Grant.  The B western was nearing extinction ... and Whip Wilson and Monogram Pictures could do nothing to halt the demise.

The Motion Picture Herald and Boxoffice polls were conducted from about the mid 1930s through the mid 1950s.  With a few exceptions, the annual poll results would list the "Top Ten" (or "Top Five") cowboy film stars.  In most cases, the winners were what you would expect --- Autry, Rogers, Holt, Starrett, Hoppy, etc.  Whip Wilson never achieved a ranking in those polls.

Al "Lash" LaRue was a reasonably popular range hero of the time and his bullwhip-cracking style apparently influenced the Monogram brass in the creation of the Whip Wilson screen persona and series. After several films with singing cowboy Eddie Dean, and his own series at Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), LaRue went to work for Ron Ormond's anemic Western Adventures production unit, and the lobby card on the right is from a 1949 release.

You may want to go to the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral and then to the California Death Index. There you will find a record for: Roland C. Meyers, born 6/16/1911 in Illinois, Mother's maiden name of Prewett, and he passed away on 10/22/1964. There is a corresponding record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).


On the left is the cover of the 58 page, 5 1/4" x 8 1/4" biography of Whip Wilson which was authored by his wife Monica Meyers in 1981. Was privately published by Robert T. Shockey, St. Louis, Missouri.

I had forgotten about this book, but was rummaging through my piles of material, and there it was. It was a quick re-read, and Monica Meyers does a good job documenting their happy days as well as the trials and tribulations. Some tidbits from her book include:

Monica and Roland Charles Meyers were married on July 2, 1938. Whip had a good singing voice and he made many attempts to get into Light Opera and on the Broadway stage; there was much adoration and love for Whip's sidekick Andy Clyde and both Whip and Andy were Masons; after movie work ended in the early 1950s, Whip worked for North American Aviation in Newport Beach, California; they acquired an apartment complex near Disneyland; later they moved to Lake Tahoe and opened a motel and gift shop; the first of several heart attacks felled Whip in January, 1964; there were many hospital stays and they had to sell the motel and gift shop to be close to Whip's doctors; Monica became the manager of an apartment complex in San Rafael, California, and it was there that Whip suffered another heart attack and passed away on October 22, 1964.



Links

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Whip Wilson and Andy Clyde:

          Whip Wilson: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0934290/
          Andy Clyde: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0167395/

The Family Search website (free), California Death Index, and Social Security Death Index (SSDI) have information on Roland Charles Meyers/Whip Wilson:

Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Roland Charles Meyers (1911 - 1964) and his wife Monica (1912 - 1992) at Sunset Hill Cemetary, Glen Carbon, Madison County, Illinois: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6826246/whip-wilson



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