The Wagon Master (1929)

directed by Harry Joe Brown
featuring Ken Maynard, Edith Roberts, Tom Santschi, Whitehorse, Jack Hanlon

Popular western star Ken Maynard crooned a couple of prairie tunes in this his first (part-)talkie, making Ken the screen's first singing cowboy. He plays a guide hired to escort a group of miners to a presumably prosperous site. Along the way, the group is accosted by a whip-toting villain (veteran bad man Tom Santschi), but Maynard is ready with both vocal chords (although his off-key warbling is no help) and walloping fists. Like most major studios, First National soon curtailed their western division in favor of stage ... Read More

Popular western star Ken Maynard crooned a couple of prairie tunes in this his first (part-)talkie, making Ken the screen's first singing cowboy. He plays a guide hired to escort a group of miners to a presumably prosperous site. Along the way, the group is accosted by a whip-toting villain (veteran bad man Tom Santschi), but Maynard is ready with both vocal chords (although his off-key warbling is no help) and walloping fists. Like most major studios, First National soon curtailed their western division in favor of stage-bound society melodramas, and Maynard had to fend for himself on poverty row. He prevailed and enjoyed a career that lasted through the mid-1940s. Hans J. Wollstein, Rovi Read Less