Where’s Charley?

This framed poster is for sale at the Autry Museum of the American West.

Let’s examine a sampling of the stars we have here, and count their contributions to the great film library of Columbia studios.

Jane Wyatt made 2 films for Columbia.

Hugh O’Brian was also in a grand total of 2 films for Columbia.  Like Wyatt, neither were westerns.

Alan Hale Jr. was cast in 5 films for the studio, 2 of which were westerns.

Terry Moore did 6 films for the studio.  Number of westerns = zero.

Walt La Rue made an appearance in 8 films, primarily as a stunt man.

Clayton Moore appeared in 10 films for Columbia, playing second-fiddle to Charles Starrett in 4 of them.

Gail Davis was under contract for Columbia for 2 films, both as the love interest in a Charles Starrett vehicle.

Question: where’s Charles Starrett?  Where is Durango?  Starrett was the star of 135 films for Columbia,  and appeared as the Durango Kid in the longest running western series that the studio ever had.  As I’ve noted elsewhere in this blog, Charles’ films make up nearly FIVE PERCENT of the entire Columbia film library.

And his autograph doesn’t rate?  Is this justice, I ask!

The final insult is that Charles’ stunt man for years and years, Jack Mahoney, is proudly featured here.

The Injustice Of It All

Smiley Burnette has a star on Hollywood Boulevard.

Smiley has a commemorative rifle.

Smiley even has a celebrity impersonator.

What does poor Charles Starrett have? A couple of pages on B-Western websites.

And this lousy blog. Poor Charley.