 (Courtesy of Les Adams)
L-to-R are Big Boy Williams, Hoot Gibson, and Harry Carey, Sr. in a scene from POWDERSMOKE RANGE. And Carey is wearing the gunbelt.
 
Old Corral webmaster notes: I've gotten a fair amount of e-mails asking for details and images of the gunbelts used in the ol' B-western ... and that's the reason that the Gunbelt Trivia section was started.
Most questions relate to the rigs worn by Hoppy, Bill Elliott, and Allan Lane ... and the sometimes called "swastika gunbelt" or "RKO gunbelt" pictured on this webpage.
Boyd Magers acquired this unique gunbelt at a January, 2006 auction.
Harry Carey wore it in POWDERSMOKE RANGE (RKO, 1935) and it was probably first used by Richard Dix in CIMARRON (RKO, 1931).
The gunbelt also shows up in other films:
Carey Sr. wore it again in THE LAW WEST OF TOMBSTONE (RKO, 1938).
Henry Brandon strapped it on in the George O'Brien MARSHAL OF MESA CITY (RKO, 1939).
Lucio Villegas used it with a single holster in the George O'Brien THE FIGHTING GRINGO (RKO, 1939).
Robert Fiske wore it as the gunslinger out to get George O'Brien in TIMBER STAMPEDE (RKO, 1939).
Robert Ryan wore it in RETURN OF THE BAD MEN (RKO, 1948).
Boyd notes that the symbols were termed "whirling logs" by Native Americans. The silver work is by Bohlin, but there is no information on who did the leatherwork.
The symbol on the gunbelt is NOT the Nazi swastika. You can read more about the symbol at Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika
 (Above gunbelt images courtesy of Boyd Magers) |
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