Westerns of Hollywood's Poverty Row! Film Historian Marc Wanamaker Uncovers Forgotten Director! AWOW

Poverty Row, Hollywood’s underbelly, was filled with fly-by-night studios! Con Artists! Gower Gulch Cowboys! Bankrupt producers! Amateur actors! Arrests! And, a lot of dreams! Perhaps the most infamous director who began making by making silent westerns and worked into the mid-1930s is Robert J. Horner. He lost both legs in 1900 at the age of six while playing on the Rock Island Railroad tracks near his home in Spring Valley, Illinois. He later lost an eye. Horner's amazing Poverty Row movie output, fundraising and marketing talents are the focus of this special episode of A WORD ON WESTERNS.

Author and film historian Marc Wanamaker joins producer/host Rob Word for a special conversation that takes viewers on a journey to the bottom of the movie industry. Wanamaker delves deep into the past and early days of Hollywood when dozens of independent filmmakers grasped for a foothold in the booming movie business at the turn of the last century.

Who were these brave individuals who lived from film to film, barely making enough money to continue? Most of them gave up, quit and disappeared. Those who stayed left a legacy of often unwatchable product but were all a part of film history. The easiest films to produce were westerns and, while their names aren’t known to many, their place in Hollywood history is confirmed.

Find out who these individuals were? Who succeeded? Who failed? Wanamaker has been a foremost authority in the area of film research and early Los Angeles for several decades. He has written or co-authored over 30 books on the history of the area, specializing in the growth of the motion picture business and joined Rob April 29, 2022 for this intriguing conversation about early Hollywood.

Check out “The History of Hollywood with Marc. Wanamaker” on his popular podcast.
http://www.povertyrowstudios.tv/thehi...