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Hoot - early 1920s
 

Hoot - mid 1930s


Hoot Gibson addendum, notes and tidbits.

I do have newspaper obituaries on Hoot. He had been under treatment for cancer for about five years, and had a series of abdominal surgeries beginning in 1960. His most recent surgery was January 8, 1962, and afterwards, he returned to his Las Vegas home. During the Summer, his condition worsened and he passed away on August 23, 1962 at the Motion Picture Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.

Funeral services were held on August 27, 1962, at Pierce Bros. Hollywood and burial at Inglewood Park Cemetery. Mourners included Ken Maynard, Roy Rogers, Monte Montana, Bob Steele, Tex Ritter, Bob Nolan (of the Songs of the Pioneers), Iron Eyes Cody, Wallace Ford, Buster Keaton, Jackie Coogan, Philo McCullough, Jack Mulhall, Reginald Denny, and Hoot's former wife Sally Eilers. Eddie Dean sang "Empty Saddles". Hoot's survivors included his widow Dorothy Dunstan Gibson; Lois Flanders. his daughter from a previous marriage; his sister, Mrs. Jessie Gasaway; and his brother, Leon Gibson.

If anyone wants a copy of obituaries or his death certificate, shoot the Old Corral webmaster an e-mail.

Over the years, I've received occasional e-mails advising that Gibson was born and/or raised in Herman, Nebraska (not Tekamah, Nebraska). However, Hoot's World War I and World War II draft registrations and the Nebraska State Historical Society have Tekamah, Nebraska as his birthplace. Herman and Tekamah are close to each other, about 8 miles apart.

Long time ago, I communicated with the Pendleton Roundup regarding movie cowboys that performed at their event and in particular, I was searching for info on Ken Maynard. Excerpts follow from a couple e-mails from them: "I just looked up the contestant list and I couldn't even find his name (Ken Maynard) on that. Hoot Gibson won the Round-Up All Around in 1912. Yakima Canutt won the All Around in 1919 and 1920 as well as 1917 and 1923."

Gibson was one of the few western movie performers who didn't do much TV work. However, he did appear in the March, 1955 I MARRIED JOAN episode titled "The Cowboy". If anyone wants, I have a newspaper TV section from Ed Tabor with a large (poor quality) image of comedian Joan Davis and Gibson during the filming of that show.

In 1979, Hoot Gibson was posthumously inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Another major award for western movie performers was the "Golden Boot" which was sponsored by the Motion Picture and Television Fund Foundation. Golden Boot events were held for twenty five years and the last was in 2007. Hoot was never recognized with a Golden Boot award.


Hoot Gibson Links.

Don't forget to visit the Old Corral section on Monogram's Trail Blazers ... and you'll find more photos, posters and lobby cards with Gibson.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Hoot Gibson: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316995

The Internet Archive has some of Gibson's westerns which you can view or download: https://archive.org/details/moviesandfilms?and[]=%22hoot%20gibson%22#collection-date-archived

YouTube has a nearly seven minute long commercial for raising and selling Aristo Blue Chinchillas and the backdrop is Hoot and his Hoot Gibson Show TV program: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itNWXPEzS6Y

The Santa Clarita Valley History in Pictures website has several webpages on Gibson and his rodeo:
     Hoot Gibson in "The Mounted Stranger", 1930, Magic Lantern Slide: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2038.htm
     Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo Ticket, May 1, 1932: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2035.htm
     Hoot Gibson at Baker Ranch Rodeo, 1928: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/cs2801.htm
     Hoot Gibson at Baker Ranch Rodeo, 1928: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/cs2802.htm
     Hoot Gibson Ranch Rodeo Ticket, April 28, 1935: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2096.htm
     Hoot Gibson Arcade Card for "King of the Rodeo", 1929: http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw2126.htm

The Santa Clarita Valley History in Pictures website also has articles and photos of wife Sally Eilers, Hoot's plane crash at the 1933 National Air Races in Los Angeles, more: https://scvhistory.com/scvhistory/lw3013.htm

The Nebraska State Historical website has several photos, posters, lobby cards, etc. on Gibson: https://historynebraska.catalogaccess.com/search?search=%22hoot+gibson%22&page=1&size=10&withImages=false

The Nebraska State Historical Society has a (very brief) biography on Gibson: https://history.nebraska.gov/publications/hoot-gibson

In 1979, Hoot Gibson was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/performers/1624/

The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce has their Walk of Fame. Go to their website and do a search for Hoot Gibson who has a star at at 1765 Vine Street: http://www.walkoffame.com

Hoot Gibson flew in the 1933 National Air Race in Los Angeles (which included pilots such as Amelia Earhart and Roscoe Turner). Hoot piloted a J-5 Swallow and raced against Ken Maynard who had his own J6-7 Stearman biplane. Gibson crashed after a steep turn going around one of the race pylons. He survived the crash, but the plane was destroyed. Photo of the crashed plane at: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/los-angeles-ca-photo-shows-a-view-of-hoot-gibsons-plane-news-photo/515982448

In 1946, Hoot and some partners opened the D-4-C Ranch near Las Vegas. The ranch had bungalows, an airfield, restaurant, gambling, dude ranch amenities, and catered to guests who came to Vegas for a quickie divorce. Quickly say "D4C". Now say "Divorcee". Got the drift? You'll find a photo of the ranch entrance along with examples of D-4-C Ranch poker chips at:
https://www.grnewsletters.com/archive/spinettis/Hoot-Gibsons-D-4-C-Ranch-274389105.html
http://www.silver-state-treasures.com/lasvegs/d4cranch.htm

Hoot may have worked in a mid 1940s film/short titled LIFE IN LAS VEGAS, but no one has ever seen it. If made, it may have been a travelogue or a promotional film for Nevada or Las Vegas or Hoot's D-4-C Ranch. The Rockabilly Hall of Fame website has a B&W image on the film and it shows Gibson along with Bill Woods and a youngster named Buddy. The image notes that LIFE IN LAS VEGAS was from 1945 and it's a "Technicolor Movie for Monogram Pictures". However, the combination of (high priced) Technicolor and (low budget) Monogram doesn't ring true. If anyone has info on this film, please shoot the Old Corral webmeister an e-mail. Go to this webpage and scroll about a third of the way down: http://www.rockabillyhall.com/Scrapbook31.html (When I checked this website in mid 2022, it appears to be no longer working.)


Hoot's parents - Hiram J. Gibson and Ida Belle Richards,
and step-mother, Carrie Ella 'Ellie' Carter.


(Courtesy of Dennis Davis)

Many thanks to Dennis Davis for the above family photo. He and ye Old Corral webmeister connected back in 2003. Dennis writes: "My mother recently passed away and was the family historian with many pictures which I've been reviewing for family CD's. One of the pictures was Hoot Gibson's parents. Hoot's mother (Ellie Carter) was my grandfather's (Albert H. Carter) sister."

Current information indicates that "Ellie" was Hoot's step-mother, and her full name was Carrie Ella Carter. See info below.

(Dennis Davis - your old e-mail address is no longer working. Shoot the Old Corral webmaster an e-mail please.)


Hiram J. Gibson was Hoot's father and his occupations in the 1900 through 1930 census were "Salesman", "Well driller" "Manager - Grocery Store" and "Caretaker - Ranch".

Marriage, census records, and family trees indicate that Hoot's mother was Ida Belle Richards (born Indiana circa 1871). She and Hiram divorced and she re-married several times. When the 1910 census was taken, Hoot was living with her and new husband F. M. Lewis in Los Angeles.

In 1911, Hiram married Carrie Ella Carter (born Iowa circa 1882) in Iowa, and she was Hoot's step-mother (and that's her in the above photo). Interestingly, they married a second time in 1912 in Nebraska.

Family Search (free) and Ancestry.com (subscription) have more on Hoot's parents and step-mother:

The California Death Index, ProQuest obituaries, the Newspaper Archive (subscription), trade publications and other sources have death information on Hoot's father, mother and step-mother:


On the trail of Hoot Gibson.


Postcard of Hoot's home at 814 North Bedford Drive, Beverly Hills, California which he bought in the 1920s. He - along with a butler and maid - were there when the 1930 census was taken. When he and actress Sally Eilers married in June, 1930, Hoot had moved to a new residence at 1324 Miller Drive, Los Angeles.


The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), California Death Index, and the death certificate provide more on Hoot Gibson:

Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Hoot Gibson who is interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4341/hoot-gibson

The Google Newspaper archive has obituaries / death notices on Hoot:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1876&dat=19620824&id=zX8sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Fc0EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1901,3184138&hl=en
https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19620823&id=yA0fAAAAIBAJ&sjid=FpoEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2848,3034446&hl=en


Daughter Lois (1923 - 2012).

Lois served as a WAC (Women's Army Corps) during World War II. She and husband Patrick Flanders resided in Los Angeles, but moved to Carson City, Nevada in 1989. Patrick passed away in 2008 and Lois died in 2012.

1940 census summary and census takers worksheet - 17 year old Lois Gibson (born California) is a ward. She is living with silent screen actress Josie Sedgwick and other Sedgwick family members at the Sedgwick home in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California. Josie had a couple siblings in the movie business - her sister was silent serial heroine Eileen Sedgwick and her brother was Edward Sedgwick, who directed about twenty of Hoot's silent westerns at Universal: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K97H-39F

88 year old Lois G. Flanders passed away on February 4, 2012 at her home in Carson City, Nevada:
     https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV5Z-WM9D
     https://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/2012/feb/08/obituary-lois-g-flanders/

Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Lois G. Flanders (1923 - 2012) at Lone Mountain Cemetery, Carson City, Nevada: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158340930/lois-g.-flanders


Hoot's four wives.

1. Hoot's first marriage was to rodeo performer Rose Wenger (1892 - 1977). They tied the knot on September 6, 1913 in Pendleton, Oregon just prior to both performing in the annual Pendleton Round-up and rodeo. They divorced in 1920. Rose Wenger Gibson went to Hollywood with hubby Hoot, and circa 1915, she took over the 'Hazards of Helen' role from Helen Holmes. When that occurred, she became "Helen Gibson". Below are newspaper and trade publication highlights on Hoot and Rose:

Above - Rose Wenger Gibson circa 1917 when she was "Helen Gibson" and doing films for Kalem.

Find A Grave website notes that Rose Wenger / Helen Gibson passed away on October 10, 1977 in Roseburg, Douglas County, Oregon: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/81609163/helen-gibson

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Helen Gibson (real name: Rose Wenger; 1892 - 1977): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0316993


2. wife number two was Helen Johnson and they were married from 1922 - 1929. Hoot's only child, daughter Lois Gibson, was born in 1923:


3. wife number three was actress Sally Eilers (1908 - 1978) and they were married from 1930 - 1933. Her full name was Dorothea Sally Eilers:

Find A Grave website has a photo of the marker for Sally Eilers who is interred at Forest Lawn (Glendale), Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3515/sally-eilers

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Sally Eilers (full name: Dorothea Sally Eilers; 1908 - 1978): http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0251755


4. Hoot's fourth - and last marriage - was to Dorothy Irene Dunstan and they were together from 1942 through his death in 1962. She was born in 1920 and was nearly thirty years younger than Hoot:




(Courtesy of Boyd Magers)
Left are Hoot and his third wife Sally Eilers (1908 - 1978) in a scene from CLEARING THE RANGE (Allied, 1931).

Sally - whose full name was Dorothea Sally Eilers - worked in three of Gibson's Universals: THE LONG, LONG TRAIL (Universal, 1929), ROARING RANCH (Universal, 1930) and TRIGGER TRICKS (Universal, 1930).

Their marriage lasted 3+ years, from June, 1930 through September, 1933.


Left - Dorothy Irene Dunstan was born February 16, 1920 and hailed from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

She and Hoot were married on July 3, 1942 in Las Vegas, and they were together through Hoot's financial difficulties, medical problems, and his 1962 death at the Motion Picture Home and Hospital, Woodland Hills, California.

After Hoot's passing, Dorothy re-located to California.

94 year old Dorothy Irene Gibson passed away December 2, 2014 at West Hills Hospital, West Hills, California.

This photo is probably circa 1944 as Hoot is wearing his Trail Blazers hat and uniform.


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