Trivia: A former hairdresser, Al LaRue first tried to break into movies during the war years but failed to get past the casting directors, most of whom felt that he looked too much like Humphrey Bogart to suit their tastes. Refusing to give up, LaRue had by 1945 picked up quite a few supporting bad-guy roles. He began showing up in secondary parts in the Eddie Dean westerns at PRC studios; on the strength of his voluminous fan mail, he was elevated to his own starring series in 1946. Billed as "Lash" LaRue in honor of his skill with a 15-foot bullwhip, the actor played a black-clad do-gooder named Cheyenne, while his comic sidekick was the ubiquitous Al "Fuzzy" St. John. In 1951, LaRue headlined the 15-minute TV series Lash of the West, in which he would introduce and narrate clips from his earlier films. At that time, La Rue began showing signs of a drinking problem. By the late '50s, it was compounded by other legal problems, including an accusation of theft (he was acquitted), an arrest for vagrancy, drug possession and abuse, and other small crimes and misdemeanors. He claimed to have been married 10 ten times and paying his wives and for his legal problems left him impoverished. Resurfacing in 1972, the destitute LaRue accepted the lead in a porno western, Hard on the Trail (even though he didn't participate in the sex scenes, the film would remain a source of shame and embarrassment for him). Late in life, Al "Lash" LaRue emerged as an evangelist on the rodeo and country-music circuit; he also became a popular guest speaker at western and nostalgia conventions. La Rue made his final film appearances in two sci-fi westerns Dark Power (1984) and Alien Outlaw (1985). He also made a cameo appearance in the terrible made-for-television remake of John Ford's Stagecoach (1986).

Trivia: Gawky, loose-limbed Al St. John performed from childhood with his family in vaudeville and burlesque around his home state of California, perfecting an athletic bicycle act that would stand him in good stead for the remainder of his career. Despite his parents' misgivings about "the flickers," St. John was persuaded to enter films by the success of his uncle, Mack Sennett star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. St. John became a "Keystone Kop" in that famous congregation's very first film, The Bangville Police (1913), supported Charles Chaplin and Marie Dressler in the feature comedy Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), and then followed Arbuckle to Comique, where he and the young Buster Keaton functioned as "second bananas" to the hefty star. On his own, St. John starred in Educational comedies (one, The Iron Mule [1925], directed by his now disgraced uncle under the pseudonym of William Goodrich), all along developing his patented rube personality complete with oversized overalls and porkpie hat.St. John himself later claimed that a deal with the Fox company went sour and that he suddenly found himself more or less blacklisted by the major studios. He did appear in one of Roscoe Arbuckle's comeback shorts, Buzzin' Around (1933), but by the mid-'30s he seemed all washed up. To keep food (and, it was rumored, quite a bit of spirits) on the table, St. John switched gears and began pursuing a career in independently produced B-Westerns. He played a variety of characters, both major and minor, before almost accidentally stumbling over the particular role that would sustain him for the rest of his career and make him perhaps the favorite sidekick among kids -- that of the limber, baggy-pants braggart Fuzzy Q. Jones.Poverty Row company Spectrum had originally intended for Melody of the Plains (1937) to co-star singer Fred Scott with Fuzzy Knight but he proved unavailable and the script was simply never changed. St. John became so popular in the role that, by 1940, he was playing Fuzzy in no less than three Western series simultaneously, PRC's Billy the Kid and Lone Rider programmers and Republic Pictures' Don "Red" Barry vehicles. He remained with the Billy the Kid/Billy Carson Westerns when star Bob Steele was replaced by Larry "Buster" Crabbe and was still Fuzzy Q. Jones in 1947 when Crabbe left in favor of Humphrey Bogart-lookalike Al "Lash" LaRue. In quite a few of these downright poverty-stricken potboilers, St. John provided the only glimmer of entertainment. As LaRue often remarked, "Fuzzy could stumble over a match stick and spend 15 exciting minutes looking for the match." In other words, kids didn't really go to see a Buster Crabbe or Lash LaRue Western, they went to see Fuzzy.Al St. John was unique among B-Western sidekicks in that he actually carried his films rather than the easily disposable leading men. Both Crabbe and LaRue were well aware of that and remained steadfast in their praise for the diminutive performer. When the LaRue era finally ended with a short-lived television series, Lash of the West (1953), St. John returned to the boards and continued making personal appearances until his death from a heart attack.

Trivia: The daughter of action star Jack Holt, Elizabeth Marshall Holt reportedly picked the name Jennifer after reading Don Byrne's novel Destiny Bay. Holt studied with famed Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya and understudied Teresa Wright in Life With Father (1939) on Broadway, but a leading role in Two for the Show (1940) went instead to Betty Hutton. Her brother Tim Holt secured her the femme lead in a Hopalong Cassidy Western, Stick to Your Guns (1941); much to her chagrin, however, producer Harry Sherman insisted on billing her as Jacqueline Holt in honor of her famous father.She was allowed to use the Jennifer Holt moniker while under contract to Universal (1942-1943), and as such, starred in the 1943 serial Adventures of the Flying Cadets and a host of B-Westerns featuring the likes of Johnny Mack Brown, Tex Ritter, and Russell Hayden. But although the films were above average for low-budget action fare, she was only drawing a weekly salary of 75 dollars and bolted when she discovered that she could make much more as a freelance actress.Returning to Universal at regular intervals -- but now demanding 350 dollars a picture -- Holt became a regular B-Western leading lady at bottom-of-the-barrel producer PRC where, in 1948's The Hawk of Powder River, she even got to play a nasty female outlaw. The Eddie Dean oater remained her favorite film, but the B-Western genre was in decline and she left Hollywood to star in industrial films in Chicago. She also entered the field of early children's television, earning a 1949 TV Guide award for The Adventures of Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Judy, a local morning show, and a 1951 Peabody Award for the ABC series Panhandle Pete and Jennifer.Married no less than seven times -- her second husband, William Bakewell, had been her co-star in the 1945 serial Hop Harrigan -- and retiring from performing in 1958 after a guest role on television's Perry Mason, Jennifer Holt later settled in Cuernavaca, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. She returned to the United States often, however, becoming a welcome guest speaker at various B-Western and serial fairs.

Trivia: Pleasant-looking Russell Arms parlayed success on radio into a minor screen career during World War II, first under contract to Warner Bros. then as a freelance performer in mostly Westerns. He found more lasting fame as a host/vocalist on the long-running television program Your Hit Parade, on which he appeared from 1952 to 1957. Arms' subsequent television work included guest-starring roles on such diverse shows as Rawhide and Diff'rent Strokes.

Trivia: If the heroine's father, the town doctor, or storekeeper wasn't played by Lafe McKee or John Elliott, chances are that he would be portrayed by the equally distinguished-looking, gray-haired Steve Clark, whose B-Western credits reached an impressive 250 and whose career continued well into the 1950s in such television Westerns as The Range Rider, The Cisco Kid, and The Lone Rider. But unlike McKee and Elliott, Clark was just as often to be found on the wrong side of the law and he can be spotted playing "dog heavies" well into his fifties. A well-known actor-manager prior to entering films in the early 1930s, Clark both directed and starred in The Blue Ghost (1930), a Broadway play featuring Leslie King which enjoyed a respectable run of 112 performances.

Trivia: A tough-looking, often mustachioed supporting player in B-Westerns of the 1940s, Lee Morgan could portray lawmen and thugs with equal conviction. Morgan's career lasted well into the television Western era where he added such programs as The Cisco Kid and The Gene Autry Show to his long list of credits. He should not be confused with the legendary African-American jazz musician of the same name.

Trivia: In films from 1944, actor Marshall Reed played all sorts of roles in all sorts of westerns. Occasionally the lead (especially if the budget was beneath $80,000), Reed was more often a supporting player in films like Angel and the Badman (1947) and The Way West (1967). He was also active in serials, appearing in such chapter plays of the 1940s and 1950s as Federal Agents vs. Underworld Inc, The Invisible Monster Strikes, and Blackhawk. On television, Reed played Lt. Fred Asher on The Lineup (1954-58), and later became a TV documentary producer. Colorado-born Marshall Reed should not be confused with the British actor of the same name, nor the child performer who appeared as John Curtis Willard on the 1970s TV series The Waltons.

Trivia: One of the many unheralded stuntmen of the 1930s, '40s, and '50s, Carl Mathews (born Carl Davis Mathews) doubled cowboy crooner Fred Scott at Spectrum and Ray "Crash" Corrigan at Republic. Nicknamed "Cherokee" and of Native American heritage, the burly Mathews later supported Al "Lash" LaRue at PRC, usually playing henchmen. His career lasted well into the television era.

Trivia: A distinguished gray-haired stage actor, John Elliott appeared sporadically in films from around 1920. But Elliott became truly visible after the advent of sound, when he found his niche in B-Westerns. As versatile as they come, he could play the heroine's harassed father with as much conviction as he would "boss heavies." Doctors, lawyers, assayers, prospectors, clergymen -- John Elliott played them all in a screen career that lasted until 1956, the year of his death. His final screen appearance was in Perils of the Wilderness (1956) which, coincidentally, was the second-to-last action serial produced in the United States.

Trivia: With his articulate speech patterns and his wide range of facial nuances, George Cheseboro was a cut above the usual western supporting player. He began his career with a stock company in 1907; three years later, he toured the Orient with another acting troupe. Vaudeville experience followed, and then in 1915 Cheseboro made his first motion picture. With 1918's Hands Up, Cheseboro became a popular serial star, extending his repertoire to western leads after serving in World War I. Though his star had faded by the time talkies arrived, Cheseboro prospered as a character actor in the many "B" westerns clogging the market in the 1930s, usually playing a scuzzy henchman, barroom bully or lynch-happy bystander. One of the actor's most satisfying screen moments occurred in the 1950 Roy Rogers feature Trail of Robin Hood. The climax contrives to have several popular western stars ride on the scene to rescue movie-star-turned-rancher Jack Holt from rustlers. As Allan Lane, Rex Allen, Monte Hale et. al. greet each other effusively, Cheseboro rides up to offer his help--whereupon he is roundly snubbed. A little girl steps out of the crowd to reprimand Cheseboro for spending his cinematic career on the wrong side of the law. "I know, honey," replies George Cheseboro with a warm smile. "But after being beaten up by Jack Holt in twenty pictures, he's reformed me!"