(Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above - Max Terhune (left) and western singer/cowboy hero Eddie Dean. Photo taken in the late 1930s while on personal appearances for Republic's Three Mesquiteer trio series. Although Dean did not appear in the films, he filled out the bill on the tour. Several folks helped ID the make and year of the car. Bob Kuppe thought it was a 1937 Chevy. His father had purchased one new and he vaguely recalls his entire family going to the car dealer, for the purchase was a momentous occasion. Bob's family had that car for nearly fifteen years. Bob also notes that the '37 had that tell-tale slash on the side panel. In a later e-mail, Keith Nezat noted that the '37 Chevy had a vertically flowing grill and the next year they changed to a horizontal flowing grill. This car is a 1938 Chevrolet. Bubba Miller also confirmed it was a '38 Chevy.

Although his talents as a singer and composer served him longer, he had an interesting acting career as well. He first appeared in a 1938 Gene Autry-Smiley Burnette film at Republic, WESTERN JAMBOREE. The next year, he was part of the cast for the Republic serial, THE LONE RANGER RIDES AGAIN (1939) with Bob Livingston. Next came five William Boyd/Hopalong Cassidy films at Paramount: RENEGADE TRAIL, LAW OF THE PAMPAS (both 1939), SANTA FE MARSHAL, HIDDEN GOLD and STAGECOACH WAR (all 1940), and the loosely-adapted Zane Grey story, LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS (1940), starring Victor Jory as a leading man in a western for a change.

Dean once told of offering William Boyd a loan when Boyd had sunk everything he could raise and borrow into acquiring all his old Hoppy films, and tried in vain to sell them to television. A few days later, Dean said, he encountered Boyd again in an expensive suit and hat, and the news that everything had come together over the weekend and he was the richest cowboy in Hollywood.

For the next few years, Dean would pop up in western casts at a variety of studios with some of the most popular leading cowboy stars around. Some examples of those early Dean screen appearances include:

• At Republic, he appeared with three different Three Mesquiteers casts in OKLAHOMA RENEGADES (1940), with Robert Livingston, Raymond Hatton and Duncan Renaldo, PALS OF THE PECOS (1941), with Livingston, Bob Steele and Rufe Davis, and GAUCHOS OF ELDORADO (1941) with Steele, Davis and Tom Tyler.
• other work at Republic included KANSAS CYCLONE (1941) and STAGECOACH EXPRESS (1942), both with Don Barry; DOWN MEXICO WAY and SIERRA SUE (both 1941) with Gene Autry; and KING OF THE COWBOYS (1942) with Roy Rogers.
• At Monogram, he showed up in THE GOLDEN TRAIL and ROLLIN' HOME TO TEXAS (both 1940) with Tex Ritter, and TRAIL OF THE SILVER SPURS (1941) and ARIZONA STAGECOACH (1942) with Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, John King and Max Terhune as the Range Busters.
• at PRC in RAIDERS OF THE WEST (1942) a Frontier Marshal flick with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Lee Powell and Art Davis.
• and at Universal in FIGHTING BILL FARGO (1942) with Johnny Mack Brown.

Forrest Lee Green sent the Old Corral webmaster an e-mail about Dean working on the Autry MELODY RANCH radio radio show:

"I was in the same squadron with T/S Orvon (Gene) Autry, at Luke Field, Phoenix, Arizona in 1942 and '43. His MELODY RANCH radio program on Sunday afternoons was carried from the theater at Luke. Eddie Dean, his brother, and Dick Rinehart, formerly with W. Lee O'Daniel's 'Lightcrust Doughboys', comprised the 'Gene Autry Trio'. The Deans were nice, gentlemanly fellows. The musical director was Carl Cotner whose violin is in the Gene Autry Museum. I sang in the group which introduced the Autry show and made a few appearances with Gene accompanied by Ruth Etting's husband, Merle Alderman (who was called Johnny in the movie about her life)."

(Courtesy of Les Adams) Above from left to right are Don Barry, Harry Worth and Milton Kibbee in a scene from Barry's KANSAS CYCLONE (Republic, 1941). In the background between Barry and Worth are Augie Gomez and Matty Roubert. And if you look closely between Worth and Kibbee, you might make out Eddie Dean, about five years before he became PRC's resident singin' cowboy. Milt Kibbee's brother was Hollywood character actor Guy Kibbee. (From Old Corral collection) Above from left to right are perpetual baddie Charlie King at the desk, Eddie Dean, Lee 'Lone Ranger' Powell, and big and tall Glenn Strange, standing and wearing the eye shade. Lobby card from RAIDERS OF THE WEST (PRC, 1942), one of the six films in the short-lived Frontier Marshal trio series. Dean and Glenn Strange were good friends, and even collaborated on some songs together. (Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above, Lee 'Lone Ranger' Powell and Charles 'Slim' Whitaker are about ready to jump this quartet of no-goods in RAIDERS OF THE WEST (PRC, 1942), one of the Frontier Marshal trio series. Unaware of their pending doom, the four baddies are, from left to right: Rex Lease, Charlie King, Eddie Dean and Glenn Strange. Note the lineup as being shortest to tallest - and check the height of Glenn Strange vs. Rex Lease. Strange's World War II draft registration lists him as 6 feet, 3 inches in height and 205 pounds.