EARLY in 1942, Brother Robert was finally signed by a producer, Harry Sherman, to do his first picture and went on location to Lone Pine, near Death Valley National Park, to film "Border Patrol," a United Artists release in William Boyd's Hopalong Cassidy series.
"Border Patrol," which also featured Duncan Renaldo and George Reeves, wasn't released until April, 1943, one month after the opening of his second picture with Boyd, "Hoppy Serves a Writ." Bob was finally getting a chance to show his stuff on a horse in these action-oriented, low- budget United Artists Westerns.
Bob had been told to wait on the comer of Cahuenga and Hollywood Boulevard for the stretch limo to take him to the Lone Pine location. Veterar actor Pierce Lyden was also waiting to be picked up on the same comer.
(Years later, remembering that meeting and first picture together, Bob penned his autograph on a photo dedicated to Pierce as the man "who witnessed my deflowering." Lyden and I worked on many Westerns and in series in later years and remain in close contact. He's authored four profusely illustrated books about movie badmen. Bob and I are well represented.)
Some dozen years later, I sat in Bill Boyd's office and heard this from Hoppy himself. "I was watching your brother from behind a wagon when he went up to the horse he was assigned to ride. The pony still had his winter range hair on him and had already thrown the cowboy Bob was replacing The poor 'poke, an actor named Charlie Murphy, had been killed in the fall.We all wondered whether Bob was man enough for the job.
"Well, he mounted that pony and got thrown pretty hard. He climbed on
again and hit the dirt again.
"Then he walked up to that horse, grabbed him by the bridle and told him
off. 'You son oj a bitch!' he whispered. 'I need this job, so it's you or me!'"
Hoppy looked at me solemnly. "Then Bob hauled back and whipped that
pony a right hand that made it roll its eyes backward. Bob climbed on him for the third time. Rode him well for the rest ofJ the picture."
Hoppy stopped talking to look out the window at the Western set down on the company street. "Look at that," he cried. He pointed to a "cowboy" parading down the steet, walking with happy abandon. Happy gritted his teeth. "That's what casting sends you nowadays. Wouldn't make a pimple on a real cowboy's ass!"
***
Bob did an incredible amount of acting in 1943. He worked in fifteen films, a tribute to his acting ability and his stamina. Among these were "Mine-sweeper," 'The Leather Bumers," "Colt Comrades," "Riders of the Deadline," "The Lone Star Trai!," "Beyond the Last Frontier," "Corvette K-225," "Follow the Band" and "Bar 20." And a propaganda war picture from Universal called 'We've Never Been Licked," which depicted how Richard Quine (an actor who later became a film director) overcame a Japanese spy ring operating in America and prevented it from stealing a secret formula.
For years, that film was run at College Station in Texas. The "Aggies" treasured it because it was their campus, Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College, that was used for the main location. They ran that print until it was completely wom out.
The last picture Bob filmed that year was another war epic, "Gung Hal", depicting the 1942 attack on Makin Island by Carlson's Raiders. It was one rousing combat film starring Randolph Scott as Evans S. Carlson, and it featured Noah Beery Jr. and J. Carrol Naish as fighting Marines.
Bob told me that Naish's wife Gladys, having a penchant for strong drink, once backed her brand-new Cadillac from her driveway straight into an oncoming ambulance. The slightly damaged vehicle of mercy now had a new mission, and straightaway took Mrs. Naish to the hospital. J. Carrol showed up later in a black suit with appropriate shirt and tie, carrying a black "doctor's" bag. After ascertaining that his wife was alright, he made his "rounds" at the hospital by checking all the attractive females' vital signs. He started on the top floor and, when he finally scurried out to his car, had examined-titillated-a number of patients not necessarily in dire circumstances.
Richard Bartlett, a very good motion picture director, invited me to dinner at his home one evening along with the Naishes. Also invited were Rusty Richards-at one time the top tenor with the Sons of the Pioneers-and his wife Amy. Mrs. Naish was quite taken by Rusty and his singing, and gushed on about it at some length.
J. Carrol listened to the gushing, then glared at her. "Shut your mouth'" he snarled, adding through gritted teeth, "Gladys, sweet darling!" This went on until he led her out the door. The last I heard was, "Get in the Goddamned car! Gladys, sweet darling!"
***
The night "Gung Ho!" was previewed in Hollywood, Bob and J. Carrol stopped by to pick me up. They had four Marine Raiders with them who had fought on Guadalcanal. A strange feeling crawled over me during the screening. Here were Marines who had actually faced the enemy and I was watching a movie depicting their sacrifices. It came as a surprise to me to find that those gyrenes who had been close to the dreadful reality of war were in awe of film people as much as the film people were in awe of the Marines. I began to look at movie crews in a different light.
***
By 1944 the war was swinging our way. The newsreel theaters that sprang up on Hollywood Boulevard were doing a landslide business. It was reassuring to see news and documentary-type films showing that the enemy was losing. American and British naval power had been amply restored and great advances were being made against the Japanese in the Pacific by the middle of that year.
Bob did five movies in '44. In "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo," he was barely noticed as part of the daring Jimmy Doolittle raid of 1942. But in RKO's production of Zane Grey's story, "Nevada," co-starring Anne Jeffreys and Guinn "Big Boy" Williams, Bob's portrayal of a cowboy named Nevada, his first starring role, earned picture makers' attention. From then on his roles began to take on greater significance.
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