The Gem Theater: Mystery of The Kidnapped Cowboy

Introduction

Downtown Wichita Falls, Texas, in the mid 1940’s was a bustling metropolis for a boy of 7 just away from the farm and ranch community where he was born. My father, a cook and cowboy by trade, had just started as one of the first cooks for the Casa Manana restaurant in 1947. He moved us to an apartment on Ohio Street, right across from the Gem Theater, between 7^th and 8^th Streets. It’s here that we would stay for the next three years. The Gem Theater became a magic palace for a young mind. But it had to share that distinction with the rest of the magic that was Wichita Falls. I attended San Jacinto and Carrigan elementary schools, as well as Reagan Junior High, and belonged to the Boys Club on 6th Street. Please join, and share your stories and pictures through a Guest Blog, of early Wichita Falls - or your home town. Contact me at fadingshadows40@gmail.com or leave a comment. We could use old pictures of movie houses, drive-in theaters, and other nostalgic pictures related to our youths.

Monday, September 21, 2015

Mystery of The Kidnapped Cowboy

The eighth pulp-style adventure in the Hollywood Cowboy Detectives series has been released on Amazon.com. The Kindle edition of Mystery of the Kidnapped Cowboy is currently available from Amazon for 99 cents.

It’s winter in 1938 and Republic Pictures has sent studio flack Sean “Curly” Woods to Iverson Ranch where The Lone Ranger Rides Again is being filmed. The star of that 15-chapter serial, Bob Livingston, is unhappy that the studio replaced him with John Wayne on his long-running series, The Three Mesquiteers. And his unhappiness has led to disruptive behavior. Curly’s assignment is to rein in the disgruntled star so the production can stay on budget, while keeping all negative news away from the press.

“Piece of cake,” Woods said. But then he finds Livingston’s hotel room trashed, blood on the floor and a ransom note that states if the police become involved, the star of The Lone Ranger Rides Again will bite the dust.

Veteran western-film villain Glenn Strange joins Woods and studio chauffeur Nick Danby in investigating the kidnapping of the star at Iverson Ranch. An old friend of Curly has taken a job at the ranch only to become a victim of a pitchfork-wielding villain. As time is running out for Livingston, the Hollywood Cowboy Detectives ride the range of the San Fernando Valley while tracking the kidnappers.

Once again, the cowboy investigators discover gun-blazing action is the only way to bring justice to the old west of the 1930s.

The author, Darryle Purcell, who is a former political cartoonist, illustrates all adventures of the Hollywood Cowboy Detectives in the style of the pulps of the 1930s. Currently available from Amazon are Mystery at Movie Ranch, Mystery of the Murdered Badman, Mystery of the Arizona Dragon, Mystery of the Stuntman’s Ghost, Mystery of the Matinee Murders, Mystery of the Man of the Mist, Mystery of the Alien Banshee and Mystery of the Kidnapped Cowboy. Paperback editions of the Hollywood Cowboy Detectives are also available from Amazon.

Coming soon – Tom Mix joins the action in Mystery of the Howling Angels.