Over the course of the last 33 years, I have met many of the cowboy stars, heroines, villains and great stuntmen that were highlights of the 1930s, 40s and the demise of the B western in 1954, such as: Sunset Carson, Eddie Dean, Charles Starrett, The Durango Kid, John Hart, Clayton Moore, Pierce Lyden, Yakima Canutt, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Monte Hale, Jennifer Holt, Peggy Stewart, Rex Allen, Pat Buttram, Gail Davis, Dick Jones, Fred Scott, Jock Mahoney, Jimmy Ellison, Rand Brooks and Lash LaRue.

This article highlights Lash LaRue, the King of the Bullwhip.

Al “Lash” LaRue was born in Gretna, La., and his early life was spent in the south. In 1944, Lash, then still billed as Al LaRue, was signed to a contract by Universal Studios and appeared in a number of bit parts before landing a good role in “The Master Key,” a Universal serial of 1945. His role in this serial was an East Side kid’s type and did little to further his career. He did small roles in several of the studios’ Deanna Durbin musicals, but then signed on as the black-clad villain, “The Cheyenne Kid,” in the Eddie Dean starrer entitled, “Song of Old Wyoming.”

The mail poured in to the PRC Studios, which prompted them to give Lash his own string of films. Lash was teamed with the great Al St. John as Fuzzy Q. Jones and they were an enormously popular duo. When the PRC series of films came to an end, Lash and Fuzzy moved to Screen Guild Productions and the quality of their films improved noticeably. When this set of films was completed in the early 50s, Lash and Fuzzy made extensive personal appearance tours around the country and drew high crowds of admiring youngsters wherever they appeared.

Lash would make some appearances in “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” series as crooked Sheriff John Behan, but because of reported difficulties between Lash and the show’s star, Hugh O’Brian, he left and the role of Behan was continued with Steve Brodie cast in it.

His television show “Lash of the West” premiered Jan. 4, 1953. The show was a mere 15 minutes long and only lasted until April 26, 1953.

His last appearance was in “Stagecoach” for his old friend Willie Nelson. Al “Fuzzy” St. John died in 1963, and Lash passed away in 1996.

Side notes on Lash LaRue:

I first met Lash LaRue in 1983 at the Charlotte Western Film Festival. He was a guest star along with Alan Hale Jr., Rod Cameron, Jock Mahoney and Tommy Farrell. I was standing by the entrance to the movie theatre watching Lash in the best of his movies, “King of the Bullwhip.” He stood alongside of me, we briefly talked while watching the great bullwhip fight scene he had with the villain. The movie concluded and he went on to answer questions, and explain how the scene was filmed, etc.

Over the course of the next 10 years, I worked at least two or three years where Lash was the guest star at these festivals. He always stopped by to say hello!

Although Lash made only 14 movies for PRC and several TV guest appearances, he was one of the most popular guest stars at the shows I attended. The fans would flock to him, listen to him recite his poetry and he would occasionally get out his bullwhip and give a demonstration of why he was known as the King of the Bullwhip.

Recap of recent western trip:

I visited my brother Barry in Fort Worth, then headed to the rolling hill country of Fredericksburg, Texas. Then to Fort Stockton, Texas, one of the many military forts established in the 1880s to protect passengers on the San Antonio to El Paso route. Big Bend National Park has a nice scenic drive, and then to Marfa, where the movie “Giant” was filmed in 1954.

Old Mesilla, N.M., has the original building where Billy the Kid was jailed, tried and sentenced to hang in Lincoln, N.M. He escaped, shot two guards and was eventually killed by Pat Garrett in Ft. Sumner, N.M. Wilcox, Ariz., home of the Arizona Cowboy the late Rex Allen. Nice museum in the historic district, then to Mescal, Ariz. This movie location was built for “Monte Walsh,” in 1970 and used for “Tom Horn,” “Dirty Dingus McGee,” “Tombstone” and “The Quick and the Dead.” I worked on this set as an extra in an Italian western starring Victorio DiSica in 1994. The set is closed, in disrepair and for sale.

Tombstone, Ariz., was our next stop. I have been here many times and stopped to see if the town still maintains the old west look. It does, but tourism is down! The scenic trip on Route 82 goes by Elgin, Ariz., where a town was built in 1946 for the climactic fight between John Wayne and Montgomery Clift in the classic western “Red River.” Nothing remains here but an excellent winery!

We stopped outside Tucson, Ariz., to visit one of the historic missions, Mission San Xavier Del Bae, built in the 1700s. Fantastic! Then on to Old Tucson Movie Studio in Tucson for the “High Chaparral” reunion. The guests were Don Collier, Rudy Ramos and my friend Neil Summers from the show and Robert Fuller – “Laramie,” “Wagon Train” and “Emergency,” Roberta Shore – “The Virginian,” and Darby Hinton – “Daniel Boone.” All these shows are on MYTV and the INDP channel locally.

The return trip stopped at Langtry, Texas, to visit a replica of Judge Roy Bean’s place, the Law West of the Pecos. This place has changed some since I first visited over 30 years ago. Del Rio, Uvalde and Hondo were towns we stopped in. Hondo, Texas, is where the Newton Gang robbed a bank in 1920. I met the last surviving brother, Joe, in 1980, and he talked about robbing this bank. I stopped at the bank of Hondo to talk to someone but it was closed, being Good Friday.

Fort Clarke, the old military post, was impressive, and many stars working at Alamo Village stayed here. John Wayne, Richard Widmark, and many more while working on “The Alamo, “Two Rode Together,” “Bandalero” and “Barbarosa.” Alamo Village is closed and is going into disrepair. We then headed to San Antonio, Texas, to visit the Alamo, Buckhorn Saloon and the River Walk. I have been here several times before, and we enjoyed strolling along the river walk. We then headed home. Great trip!

Interested in taking a trip west and need some ideas? Give me a call at 304-295-7239. Note: Some of the above will be covered in a future issue.