Above is a blue duotone re-issue title lobby card for BILLY THE KID'S FIGHTING PALS (PRC, 1941). Steele has an armlock around Dave O'Brien, while veteran Rex Lease (in white shirt) is shown in the inset on the top left and bottom right. The interesting thing with this lobby card is that the cast shown in the photo insets don't match the FIGHTING PALS movie and cast. The scenes and cast are probably from BILLY THE KID IN SANTA FE (1941) --- in that film, Rex Lease played Steele's helper Jeff (instead of Carleton Young) and Dave O'Brien was a baddie. From L-to-R are John Merton, Dave O'Brien (in blue shirt), Buster Crabbe (seated), Lynton Brent and Curley Dresden in SHERIFF OF SAGE VALLEY (1942).  Crabbe had a dual role in this oater, and 'the other Crabbe' is facing him on the far left.  Note the 'Tex O'Brien' billing on this lobby card. (Courtesy of Les Adams) O'Brien, Chief Thunder Cloud (next to O'Brien in bottom left), and Ric Vallin (white buckskins above Daniels head) were the stars of KING OF THE STALLIONS (Monogram, 1942), alternate title: CODE OF THE REDMAN. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is a blurb on Dave O'Brien's hoss 'King' from the BOSS OF RAWHIDE (PRC, 1943) pressbook.

Above, O'Brien signs the contract with Pete Smith for starring in, as well as writing/directing, the Pete Smith comedy shorts at MGM beginning around 1945.  It was probably during these films that O'Brien adopted the name of 'David Barclay' to use for the writing credits while still using 'Dave O'Brien' for his screen appearance credits in the Pete Smith shorts.

Above, O'Brien as Captain Midnight.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Dave O'Brien: http://imdb.com/name/nm0639495/

If you have a high speed cable or DSL connection, you can download or stream REEFER MADNESS from the Internet Archive website: http://www.archive.org/movies/details-db.php?collection=feature_films&collectionid=reefer_madness1938

Most of the TV History type books include a list of the Emmy Award winners by year.  The following website has info on the "Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy" Emmy given to Sherwood Schwartz, Dave O'Brien, Al Schwartz, Martin Ragaway and Red Skelton for the RED SKELTON SHOW in 1961: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0151518.html

Images Journal has a article on 1930s 'exploitation flicks' of which REEFER MADNESS is a prominent film:  http://www.imagesjournal.com/issue08/reviews/forbiddenfruit/default-nf.htm

The Turner Classic Movies website had several of the Pete Smith shorts which you could view online. Go to the following webpage and enter Pete Smith in the search box on the top: http://tcmdb.com/index.jsp