Ken Maynard
Ken Maynard ( born July 21, 1895 in Vevay, Indiana, † March 23, 1973 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles ) was an American stuntman and actor. He appeared in over 90 Western, where he was on the horse made a name for himself through stunts. As one of the first Western - Stars he built vocal performances in his films and therefore is considered a pioneer of the Singing Cowboys, who conquered in the 1930s Hollywood. However, his dream of a career as a singer, he was unable to realize.
Life
Youth and silent film era
Ken Maynard was born on 21 July 1895 as one of five siblings in Vevay, Indiana. His younger brother, Kermit (1897-1971) should later make a name as an actor in over 200 B- Western and guest appearances in the Gene Autry Show.
Both Maynard brothers were very athletic and restless. At the age of twelve years, the adventurous Ken joined a traveling around the country western show, but was brought back by his father by force. At 16 he was finally able to persuade his father and worked in the circus and as a rodeo rider. During his time with various Western shows, among other things, at Kit Carson and Pawnee Bill, he acquired outstanding skills as a stunt rider in and basic knowledge on guitar, fiddle and harmonica.
After serving briefly in World War I, he returned with moving shows around the country and in 1920 was World's Champion Trick Rider. This meant that he was committed to the well-known circus Ringling Brothers, which eventually Hollywood became aware of him. In 1925 he played his first role in the film Janice Meredith played for the Cosmopolitan studio. After brief engagements with the Fox Studios and the Davis Division Distribution Company, he landed in 1929 for the first time at Universal Studios. Over time he had risen to the horse to one of the most sought after cowboy actor in silent film Western due to its capabilities. He was also known for his horse Tarzan, which was among the first animal stars of the film genre.
The sound film and the Singing Cowboys
At this time, the first sound films were filmed. After Maynard had with producer Carl Laemmle visited in 1929 the premiere of the western In Old Arizona ( 1929), in which, among other things, the main actor Warner Baxter sings the song My Tonia, Maynard Laemmle persuaded them also incorporate vocal performances in their Western. The Universal Studio had already been experimenting for some time with the new medium, so that the film The Wagon Master was brought in two versions in the cinema, both as a full - Silent Film, on the other, with partial tone. In this version Maynard sang two songs and played this on the fiddle. Once this has been well received by the audience, followed by other films of this kind, until finally in 1930 came up with Mountain Justice, his first movie with full sound in the cinema. Maynard was a model for a large number Singing Cowboys, the guaranteed large audiences until the 1950s.
However, Maynard was very hot headed and argumentative, so he was released in 1930 by Universal. He then moved to the smaller Tiffany Studio, for which he turned eleven Western in which he did not sing. However, he came to pass in April 1930 into a music studio in Hollywood to make some recordings. Overall, it took eight titles on of which were published at that time, however, only two, Cowboy 's Lament and The Lone Star Trail.
1933 Maynard was taken back by Universal under contract and turned there some films whose emphasis, as always, was on action, but also contained vocals. During this time, Maynard's alcohol problems and the associated mood swings became clear. After a heated argument with Carl Laemmle Maynard left the studio in 1934 and finally moved to Mascot, where he was with a salary of $ 10,000 the highest-paid Western actors of the time.
" In Old Santa Fe " (1934 )
However, Maynard's long -cherished dream of a larger singing career was not fulfilled here. Its too high, nasal voice, which he calls " authentic" held himself for not suited to his male- sturdy canvas image. This was recognized Nat Levine, who is responsible for Mascot, and decided to make him a better singer on the side. The studio opted for the popular radio star Gene Autry, the first as Jimmie Rodgers imitator and later as Oklahoma 's Yodeling Cowboy had made a good name. Maynard's first film for Mascot was In Old Santa Fe, in the Autry and later his sidekick Smiley Burnette darboten a completely detached from the action singing performance. Maynard sang in this film, but was dubbed at the instigation of Levine.
Autry was the much better singer. The historian Charlie Seeman remembers: " ' In Old Santa Fe' which ostensibly a Ken Maynard movie; hey what the star. But Gene Autry comes cruising through, singing a song, and you can feel everybody's attention shift from Maynard to Autry. "So it was that he and other displaced soon Maynard, had a negative impact on the already battered psyche. After the director Joseph Kane attacked during the filming of the movie Mystery Mountain and only the courageous intervention of Autry prevented worse, he was released by Mascot.
Career-ending
After this incident, Maynard had in the studio responsible, although a bad reputation, but the audience loved him. So he could find work at various studios in the subsequent period, including at Columbia and Monogram, and published in 1935 even a songbook with cowboy classics and two original compositions. He also made some very successful tours with a circus. His last starring role in the film he had in 1940 in Lightning Strikes West, singing, however, had played no role in his films. Subsequently, circus - engagement and smaller movie roles alternated, 1945, his film career finally over. Maynard had increasingly struggling in the following years with alcohol problems who destroyed both his riding skills as well as his finances. He lived a long time in a caravan, dependent on social welfare and the contributions of an anonymous donor, whose identity was never determined if they also persistently hold the rumors that it was to Gene Autry. A few weeks before his death, Maynard was taken to a home for aging actor in Woodland Hills, a district of Los Angeles, where he died on 23 March 1973.
Legacy
Ken Maynard is often cited wrongly as the first Singing Cowboy in film history. This title is due, however - depending on the perspective - either Warner Baxter as the first actor who has sung in a Western ( so-called " cowboys who sang" ) or Gene Autry as the first "Singing Cowboy" in the proper sense. However, Maynard can be viewed together with Nat Levine at the forefront of Western musical without doubt conquered by In Old Santa Fe Hollywood. Douglas B. Green, former editor of the Journal of Country Music, and the author of several books on the Singing Cowboys rated Maynard's role with the following words: "Hey what at the right place at the right time with the right idea, but, unfortunately, hey what not the right man. " in contrast to the pleasing arrangements of later stars like Tex Ritter and Roy Rogers was Maynard's vocals in the style of early recordings of Carl T. Sprague too awkward for the taste of the cinema audience, his voice whiny.
Due to its authenticity are the few recordings he made in 1930, now of great interest to historians and lovers of early American music. The Lone Star Trail was published in 1952 on the seminal Anthology of American Folk Muisc ( 1997 by the Smithsonian Institution reissued ) again. In the course of associated with the Western Music revival interest in the origins there were in the 1990s, further releases on various compilations.
Regardless of his singing career, however, Maynard is considered because of its ground-breaking for its time rider stunts that have played the lead role in his films always one of the best Western actor of the early years. For his contributions to the genre he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.