The Family Search website (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), various newspapers, the California Death Index, the Social Security Death Index (SSDI), and the death certificate provide more information on George Duryea/Tom Keene/Richard Powers. I've also included information on his brother James Albert Duryea, and parents James and Mary Duryea.
Some Keene biographies have him born in Rochester, New York, and that's a mistake. Some biographies also mention Oakland, New York. His parents passed away when Keene was a youngster, and he may have lived for a time in Oakland with family or friends.
Many Hollywood biographies list his birth location as Smoky/Smokey Hollow, New York. And in the newspaper articles below, there are mentions of Castile, Gibsonville, Big Bend, Swift Hill, Nunda, Black Creek, the Tuttle farm near Smoky Hollow, and a few other names. Mass confusion here - several of these are areas - not towns or villages - and are now in Letchworth Park which is located in Livingston and Wyoming counties in New York: http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/vernacular.html
On the 1927 ship's passenger list and World War II draft registration, Keene reported his birth location as Perry, Wyoming County, New York. Various newspapers and trade publications confirm Perry. I've highlighted Perry and Wyoming County in the info below.
Wikepedia has Perry, New York located in Wyoming County, New York: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry,_New_York
Wikepedia has Castile, New York located in Wyoming County, New York: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Castile,_New_York
Wikipedia info on Wyoming County, New York: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyoming_County,_New_York
George Duryea / Tom Keene / Richard Powers
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Find A Grave website has a photo of the grave marker for Tom Keene (1896 - 1963) at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10030208/tom-keene Trade paper and Hollywood fan magazine mentions of George Duryea / Tom Keene / Richard Powers:
New York newspaper mentions about George Duryea / Tom Keene:
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His parents, James and Mary Duryea:
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His brother, James Albert Duryea (1891 - 1934):
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Find A Grave website has Captain James A. Duryea interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Nunda, Livingston County, New York: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/126000183/james-a-duryea |
George and James Albert Duryea's aunt, Edna Chase
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Find A Grave website has Edna A. Chase (1872 - 1958) interred at Oakwood Cemetery, Nunda, Livingston County, New York. Difficult to read the marker, but her death date appears to be 1950, not 1958: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/54673331/edna-a.-chase |
More on the New York locations cited for George and James Albert Duryea
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"Gibsonville was a 19th century 'hamlet' in the Genesee Valley along the Silver Lake outlet. It was a VERY scattered farming community with no formal boundaries that included lands of three townships - Leicester, Livingston County; Perry, Wyoming County; and Castile, Wyoming County. Smokey Hollow was the local name of the river flats which was considered part of Gibsonville. Since Gibsonville 'vanished' into the early 20th century, I can see why someone born in Smokey Hollow could be considered as being from Perry. (The town of Perry is not far away and the Village of Perry is probably the most easily accessible village to Smokey Hollow/Gibsonville.) It appears that the Duryea farm was in the town of Castile. |
Tom Keene Links
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Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on: Tom Keene: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0444740/ Keene's first wife Grace Stafford (Grace Boyle): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0821282/ The Los Angeles Times website has the obituary on actress Grace Stafford who divorced Keene in 1940. She married cartoonist Walter Lantz and was the later voice of Woody Woodpecker. Gracie Lantz passed away in 1992: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1992-03-19-me-5718-story.html Daniel Neyer's "The Files of Jerry Blake" serial website has a detailed writeup on Keene (as Richard Powers) in Republic's 1950 DESPERADOES OF THE WEST serial: https://filesofjerryblake.com/2014/02/04/desperadoes-of-the-west/ The Fulton History / Old Fulton NY Postcards website is a treasure trove of old newspapers, including the New York newspaper articles which are listed above. You can run your own searches and access to their newspaper archive is free (donations accepted): http://fultonhistory.com/Fulton.html If you have a high speed cable or DSL connection, you can download or stream several Keene films from the Internet Archive website and YouTube:
The Internet Archive has OUR DAILY BREAD (United Artists, 1934), THE LAW COMMANDS (Crescent, 1937), WESTERN MAIL (Monogram, 1942), a few other films: https://archive.org/details/movies?query=%22tom+keene%22&and%5B%5D=collection%3A%22feature_films%22&and%5B%5D=collection%3A%22moviesandfilms%22
Bob Campbell and Victoria Balloon wrote a profile titled "The Three Faces of Cowboy Star Tom Keene" for the Movie Fanfare website: http://www.moviefanfare.com/?p=10589
Getty Images has a couple photos of George Duryea (aka Tom Keene), director Allan Dwan, and Renee Adoree on the set of the MGM film 'Tide Of Empire': Joe Blevins' Dead 2 Right blog has a photo of Ed Wood, Jr., Tom Tyler and Tom Keene during the filming of the CROSSROAD AVENGER: THE ADVENTURES OF THE TUCSON KID TV pilot in 1953: https://d2rights.blogspot.com/2013/07/ed-wood-wednesdays-week-1-early-years.html The Internet Broadway Database has Keene (as Richard Powers) in the short-lived 1943 Broadway play "The Barber Had Two Sons": https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/richard-powers-467006 The Playbill Vault website has the Playbill booklet for the short-lived 1943 Broadway play "The Barber Had Two Sons" which starred Blanche Yurka and Keene was using the name "Richard Powers": https://www.playbill.com/production/the-barber-had-two-sons-playhouse-theatre-vault-0000009415 The Museum of the City of New York has a photo of Richard Powers and Blanche Yurka in "The Barber Had Two Sons": https://collections.mcny.org/CS.aspx?VP3=DamView&VBID=24UP1GRXP2TNR&SMLS=1&RW=1369&RH=715 The June 16, 1940 Los Angeles Times newspaper has a photo of various dignitaries at the opening of the Cahuenga Pass Freeway. In the photo are Tom Keene, honorary Mayor of Sherman Oaks; Governor Olson; John B. Kingsley, president of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce; Los Angeles Mayor Fletcher Bowron; Gene Autry, honorary Mayor of North Hollywood; Mayor Frank C. Tillson, Burbank; and Richard Arlen, honorary Mayor of Sunland: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-actors-gene-autry/134482767/
The name change from George Duryea to Tom Keene MAY have been influenced by the Tom Keene brand of cigars:
The Columbus, Ohio Metropolitan Library has a large, lighted Tom Keene cigar advertisement from the early 1900s in their digital collections: https://digital-collections.columbuslibrary.org/digital/collection/memory/id/5324 |