The Gem Theater: Hollywood Cowboy Detectives

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.

Showing posts with label Hollywood Cowboy Detectives. Show all posts

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.

Thursday, March 5, 2015

The Mystery of The Alien Banshee

1930s western heroes battle out-of-this-world enemies

The Hollywood Cowboy Detectives ride again as Hoot Gibson, who has walked away from his western movie career, prepares a wild-west show for the circus. The Hooter invites Republic Pictures flack Sean “Curly” Woods and studio chauffeur Nick Danby for a few days of “rest and relaxation” at a Southern California ranch while he gets his act together.

Unfortunately, they find out the historic ranch house is known locally as Demon House. Built by Confederate Col. Jeb Reynolds following the Civil War, it has a history of death and evil.

Curly, Hoot and Nick are joined by legendary western star William S. Hart and 10-year-old stunt-rider Dick Jones as they battle a ghostly band of Confederate soldiers and a scaly green Banshee that appears out of an electrified, flying white cloud. The cowboys are unsure whether they are dealing with an international, supernatural or extraterrestrial enemy as they encounter the ghostly images, flying saucers and two strange beings with unearthly powers.

G-man Big Jim Webber joins the wild-west performers as the Hollywood Cowboy Detectives ride head-on into the Valley of the Banshee with gun-blazing action, amazing horsemanship and the knowledge that the survival of the civilized world hangs in the balance.

The Mystery of the Alien Banshee has just been released in Kindle format on Amazon.com. Currently, there are seven Hollywood Cowboy Detectives adventures available in Kindle format on Amazon. However, Mystery at Movie Ranch is also available as a paperback with the bonus short story, Mystery of the Murdered Badman. Mystery of the Arizona Dragon is available, as well, as a paperback with the bonus short story, Mystery of the Stuntman’s Ghost. Soon, Mystery of the Matinee Murders will be released as a paperback with the bonus short story, The Man of the Mist. Mystery of the Alien Banshee will be available as a paperback with the bonus short story, Mystery of the Kidnapped Cowboy, this spring.

All can be found on Amazon.com by searching for Hollywood Cowboy Detectives in books.

Mystery of The Alien Banshee

1930s western heroes battle out-of-this-world enemies

Unfortunately, they find out the historic ranch house is known locally as Demon House. Built by Confederate Col. Jeb Reynolds following the Civil War, it has a history of death and evil.

All can be found on Amazon.com by searching for Hollywood Cowboy Detectives in books.

Wednesday, January 7, 2015

Mystery of The Matinee Murders

Mystery of the Matinee Murders is now available at Amazon.com in Kindle format.

In Matinee Murders, Republic Studio flack Curly Woods embarks on a public relations road trip that travels the length of California with western film heroes Hoot Gibson and Crash Corrigan, Radio drama thespians Orson Welles and Ray Collins, two lovely radio actresses, a voice impersonator, an announcer and a mute sound-effects specialist. The goal is to entertain at theater Saturday matinees and children’s hospital wards while promoting Republic’s latest serial, The Painted Stallion, and a potential radio mystery presentation, The Man of the Mist. Along the way, they encounter an unknown assassin who leaves a trail of victims killed by cobra venom, a doomed psychic medium who warns of death, and an underground base camp of Nazis who are attempting to build an army of the dead. Western film star Ken Maynard joins the entertainers in an attempt to save a theater full of young fans of the Three Mesquiteers from a fate worse than death. The Hollywood Cowboy Detectives know they must use all of their western skills to defeat an enemy so evil that the future of the life on Earth hangs in the balance - all the while, the unique entertainers must do everything possible to avoid their impulses to strangle each other.

Mystery of the Matinee Murders will soon be the third paperback in the series as (Vol. 1) Mystery at Movie Ranch and (Vol. 2) Mystery of the Arizona Dragon are currently available. Vol. 1 includes the short story Mystery of the Murdered Badman and Vol. 2 includes Mystery of the Stuntman’s Ghost.

The Hollywood Cowboy Detectives series honors the great western and adventure serial stars of silent and talking motion pictures. These stories are written and illustrated in the style of the classic pulps of the 1930s.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Up Next From Hollywood Cowboy Detectives

The Mystery of the Arizona Dragon is currently available on Kindle. The paperback will, hopefully, be out by Christmas with the bonus short story, Mystery of the Dragon’s Revenge. Mystery of the Matinee Murders, along with the bonus short story, Man of the Mist, should be on Kindle at that time and in paperback after the first of the year.