JOHN MACK BROWN
September 1st, 1904 -- November 14th, 1974

Above: A terrific color photograph of Johnny Mack Brown. I don't know its exact date, but it looks like it was taken in the early 1940's, judging by Johnny's general appearance.

John Mack Brown was one of the most likeable and convincing of all the great movie cowboys. He just seemed to be exactly what his characters were supposed to be--a good-natured, rough-and-tumble cowboy doin’ his job. According to co-workers, Johnny was just as gentlemanly and kindly in “real” life as he was in “reel” life. His deep, smooth voice with his Alabama accent could immediately put you at your ease and made you trust him, and his tall husky frame assured you that he was fully capable of handling whatever hazards could arise. While Johnny is best known for his long career in B-westerns, he nevertheless honed his cowboy skills in no less than five Western cliffhangers.

Johnny was born in Dothan, Alabama and attended the state university. He was quite the athlete, and is still famous in football circles for his college work on the gridiron, especially for his part in the 1926 Rose Bowl, where he scored two touchdowns. Upon graduation he was offered positions by several major football teams, but he declined them all and signed on as a movie actor instead. Due to his good looks and football fame, Johnny became an instant star and began his film career as a romantic lead in silent MGM big-budgeters like OUR DANCING DAUGHTERS (co-starring Joan Crawford) and DIVINE WOMAN (co-starring Greta Garbo). However, with the advent of sound, his Southern accent was deemed unsuitable for a dramatic leading man, and MGM dropped him after he did two or three sound films for them. One of these was King Vidor's BILLY THE KID, in which Johnny played the title role, and THE LAST FLIGHT, in which Brown co-starred with Richard Barthelmess. It was BILLY THE KID that was to prove the deciding factor in determining Johnny's subsequent career.

BILLY THE KID achieved some success, enough to make low-budget Mascot Pictures (later to become the nucleus of the great Republic Pictures) realize Brown’s potential as a Western hero and hire him to play another famous Western figure: frontier scout Kit Carson. As the star of the twelve-chapter FIGHTING WITH KIT CARSON (Mascot, 1933), Johnny Mack battled the Mystery Riders, an evil band of frontier outlaws secretly led by the supposedly friendly Cyrus Kraft (Noah Beery Sr., another silent star fallen on hard times). Coincidentally, Noah's son Noah Jr. played Johnny's Indian sidekick. Despite the presence of Brown and the Beerys, along with other Western pros like Al Bridge and Lafe McKee, the general verdict of serial fans is that FIGHTING WITH KIT CARSON was rather mediocre. Perhaps the most absurd aspect of the serial was the fact that the supposedly menacing Mystery Riders sang (yes, sang) while carrying out their raids. But better things were around the corner for Johnny.

Above: Kit Carson (John Mack Brown, right) is shown in the oval photo insert in this lobby card for FIGHTING WITH KIT CARSON (Mascot, 1933).

Following some starring B-westerns for A.W. Hackel's independent studio Supreme (several of which were extremely good, especially BRANDED A COWARD and CROOKED TRAIL), Brown was signed by Universal Pictures, thanks mostly to the exposure gained from the Supreme westerns and the Kit Carson serial. His first job for Universal was the starring part in THE RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, a twelve chapter serial released in 1935. Brown played Jack Wood, an ex-marshal who pins on his badge one more time to defend the gold-rich town of Nugget from the titular rustlers. Raymond Hatton and former silent star Walter Miller turned in great performances as Johnny's sidekicks, a scout named Laramie and a gambler named Deacon, respectively, and Harry Woods was equally good as Rocky, the leader of the rustlers. Filled with Indian attacks, gun battles, and fistfights, RUSTLERS OF RED DOG was a great Western serial, and a great start to Brown's career at Universal.

Above: A publicity portrait of Johnny from THE RUSTLERS OF RED DOG (Universal, 1935) his second starring serial. Note the unique black buckskins. Brown would wear the same outfit in his next three serials, as well.

Brown's next serial was WILD WEST DAYS (Universal, 1937). Supposedly based on W. R. Burnett's novel SAINT JOHNSON, which had been filmed as LAW AND ORDER with Walter Huston in the thirties ( Johnny himself would star in a B-western remake of LAW AND ORDER in 1940, and it was remade again in the fifties by future President Ronald Reagan), the serial bore zero resemblance to the book. As hero Kentucky Wade, Brown battled the Secret Seven, an evil gang of rustlers headed by veteran character actor Russell Simpson, who were after Larry Munro's (Frank McGlynn Jr.) land for their own sinister purposes. As in RUSTLERS OF RED DOG, Johnny was supported by some trusty sidekicks: the singing cowboy Dude (George Shelley), Mexican Mike Morales (Frank Yaconelli) and Trigger Benson, played by--you'll never believe this--perennial Western heavy Bob Kortman! Francis MacDonald and William Royle were among the members of the Secret Seven, and American Indian actor Charles Stevens clashed with Brown for the first of many times as half-breed henchman Buckskin Frank.

Above: Kentucky Wade (John Mack Brown, center) and his sidekick Trigger (Bob Kortman, far left)) tend to wounded pal Dude (George Shelley) in this lobby card for WILD WEST DAYS (Universal, 1937).

Above: Johnny Mack Brown prepares for action in another lobby card for WILD WEST DAYS (Universal, 1937).

Johnny continued to ride the Western trail with his next serial, FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1938). This time around, he played a Pony Express ride named Tex Houston, who became involved in the struggle for a priceless gold mine. Tom Grant (John Archer) and his sister Mary (Eleanor Hansen) were the rightful owners of the mine, but it was coveted by crooked businessman Bart Eaton (James Blaine) and slick saloon owner Ace Daggett (Charles Middleton), and both villains tried every trick in the book to get their hands on it. Buffalo Bill Cody (Jack Rutherford) and friendly Indian Chief Thundercloud aided Johnny in his battle against Middleton, Blaine, and the supporting villains, chief among whom was the wonderfully shifty Charles Stevens, this time cast as "Breed". However, Johnny managed to triumph over all these foes in the end.

Above: Johnny Mack Brown and Eleanor Hansen get directions from a friendly Indian in FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1938). James Blaine is in the background.

Above: Johnny Mack Brown prepares to let Roy Barcroft have it in FLAMING FRONTIERS (Universal, 1939).

For his final serial, THE OREGON TRAIL (Universal, 1939) Johnny Mack played Jeff Scott, a frontier scout who, with his sidekick Deadwood (Fuzzy Knight) took on the task of guiding a wagon train along the perilous trail of the title. Jeff and Deadwood were forced to deal with badmen, Indians, and a crooked wagonmaster (Jack C. Smith), all of whom were in the employ of evil fur profiteer Sam Morgan (James Blaine). Morgan was bent on keeping settlers out of the Oregon Territory in order to keep up his unscrupulous fur dealings with the Indians, but Scott got the settlers through and also got the goods on Morgan in the final chapter. Louise Stanley was the heroine, Roy Barcroft appeared as General Custer (!) and Charles Stevens once again went up against Johnny (and lost) as Morgan’s henchman Breed--quite probably the same character from FLAMING FRONTIERS.

Above: James Blaine pins the marshal's badge on Johnny in THE OREGON TRAIL (Universal, 1939), while Fuzzy Knight (wearing buckskins) watches. Something tells me Blaine is going to regret that appointment before too long.

Johnny Mack Brown's quartet of Universal serials were so successful that the studio decided to star him in his own series of B-westerns, starting with DESPERATE TRAILS (Universal, 1939). He remained one of the biggest B-western “box office draws” throughout the forties and into the early fifties, first at Universal and then (starting in 1943) at Monogram Pictures with Raymond Hatton (Laramie from RUSTLERS OF RED DOG) as his sidekick. Having put on some weight by this time, Johnny retired from the silver screen to enjoy his happy family life. He worked as manager of a Hollywood restaraunt for some years, and popped up again (for old times’ sake) in a few films in the 1960s, playing character parts in movies like APACHE UPRISING and THE BOUNTY KILLER. Johnny died in 1974, mourned by family, friends, and fans alike.

In fall of 2004 Johnny Mack Brown finally recieved a posthumous Golden Boot Award, the “Oscar” of Western film. It was an honor long overdue, but those of us who love his work in serials and B-westerns needed no award to tell us that Mr. Brown was one of the all-time best, as a man, as a cowboy, and as a hero to look up to.

Above: A great portrait of Johnny in his serial days at Universal.