Harlene Wood-Harley Wood-Jill Martin

(Pressbook cover courtesy of Les Adams)

Above is the cover of the pressbook for THE LAW RIDES (Hackel/Supreme, 1936), one of many Bob Steele films for producer A. W. Hackel which was directed by Bob's father, Robert North Bradbury. Her name in this oater is Harley Wood, and the old-timer with the white beard is Buck Connors.

Above - crops/enlargements from the pressbook cover and lobby card shown left and below.

This "gal of many names" came and went during the 1930s, and her Hollywood career consisted of about twenty films. B western and serial fans remember her as the heroine to 1928 Olympic shot-put Silver medalist Herman Brix (Bruce Bennett) in the serial, HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS (Republic, 1938).

One of her earliest roles was the star (and being first billed as Harley Wood) in MARIHUANA (Road Show Attractions, 1936), one of many exploitation films of the 1930s. Somehow she survived that bit of misfortune and was cast as the feminine lead in seven westerns. In those seven, she used three different name variations:

Billed as Harley Wood in LAW AND LEAD (Colony, 1936) with Rex Bell
Billed as Harley Wood in THE LAW RIDES (A. W. Hackel-Supreme, 1936) with Bob Steele
Billed as Harlene Wood in VALLEY OF TERROR (Ambassador-Conn, 1937) with Kermit Maynard
Billed as Harlene Wood in THE FEUD OF THE TRAIL (Victory, 1937) with Tom Tyler
Billed as Harlene Wood in WHISTLING BULLETS (Ambassador-Conn, 1937) with Kermit Maynard
Billed as Harley Wood in BORDER PHANTOM (A. W. Hackel-Surpreme/Republic, 1937) with Bob Steele
Billed as Jill Martin in TRIGGER FINGERS (Victory, 1939) with Tim McCoy

Three Stooges researcher Frank Reighter also has her identified in several 1937 Three Stooges shorts (DIZZY DOCTORS, BACK TO THE WOODS and CASH AND CARRY).

According to Jack Mathis in his book Republic Confidential - Volume 2 - The Players (1992), Jill Martin was under a Term Players contract(s) at Republic from August 22, 1938 through February 21, 1939, and during that six month period, she did four films: bit parts in features THE NIGHT HAWK (1938) and WOMAN DOCTOR (1939) and serial DICK TRACY RETURNS (1938); and the female lead in the HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS (1938) cliffhanger. Les Adams also provided some HAWK pressbook clippings with Republic proclaiming: "... lovely Jill Martin, new Republic screen find ..."; she was a native of Kansas City, Missouri; and she was a second cousin of the Wright Brothers (airplane). Time to toss in some speculation: it appears that the name change to "Jill Martin" came around the time of her work at Republic. Whether she, her agent, or the studio instigated the change is unknown. But the new name - along with the "new Republic screen find" pronouncement - may have been done to break from her earlier personas, especially that 1936 MARIHUANA flick. I also chuckle a bit when pronouncing her "Harley Wood" and "Harlene Wood" names. Say "Hollywood".

After Republic, there were only a couple more films for Harley/Harlene/Jill - a Columbia short with Buster Keaton and the Tim McCoy TRIGGER FINGERS, both of which were released in 1939.

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Harlene Wood / Harley Wood / Jill Martin: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939738/

You can download or stream the public domain MARIHUANA (Road Show Attractions, 1936) from the Internet Archive website: https://archive.org/details/Marihuana-the_Devils_Weed

What happened to our actress named Harley/Harlene/Jill. Our search began in 2005, and you'll find out more below and on the next page.

2005 - the Search Began. In 2005, ye Old Corral webmaster began exchanging e-mails with Garry Dashner. He asked if I knew anything about a songwriter who was a heroine in some 1930s westerns. Gary wrote: "I do a history website for my former high school alma mater, NORTHEAST HIGH SCHOOL in Kansas City, Missouri. An alumnus by the name of JILL JACKSON MILLER attended there. I am currently trying to feature distinguished graduates at the NE History site. JILL wrote the song, "LET THERE BE PEACE ON EARTH" and is supposed to have appeared in 7 western movies sometime in the 30's and 40's." Received e-mails from Garry Dashner and Three Stooges researcher Frank Reighter. Our "gal of many names" is listed in the high school yearbook as Evelyn Cowan, and she graduated in 1930 from Northeast High School, Kansas City, Missouri. During her 1929 - 1930 Senior year, she was on the student council, a member of the National Honor Society, in the drama club and Christmas play, and more. Garry Dashner has yearbook photos and biography info at: https://garry-dashner.tripod.com/ https://garry-dashner.tripod.com/jackson.html https://garry-dashner.tripod.com/jackson2.html https://garry-dashner.tripod.com/jackson3.html The Kansas City Public Library, Missouri Valley Special Collections, has a biography on Jill Jackson Miller (1913-1995) and a photo is included (the image is credited to the Kansas City Star newspaper). There is a brief mention of her Hollywood career and doing seven westerns, as well as a failed marriage and a suicide attempt: https://kchistory.org/document/biography-jill-jackson-miller-1913-1995-songwriter-and-actress?solr_nav%5Bid%5D=eb8e938481dcdb761315&solr_nav%5Bpage%5D=0&solr_nav%5Boffset%5D=0&search=Jill%2520Jackson%2520Miller
Internet Movie Database for Harley Wood: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0939738/
Above - yearbook photo courtesy of Garry Dashner	August, 2009 updates: In September-October, 2009, ye Old Corral webmaster connected with Jan Tache, Jill Jackson Miller's daughter. Jan and her sister Harley White provided a bunch of photos and biographical info on their Mom. You'll find that on the next page.