Jack Montgomery

When I did the profile on Hank Bell, I was reminded that I also needed to do a similar profile on Jack Montgomery. He was one of the so-called "Gower Gulch men", a real cowboy type that came to Hollywood and found his livelihood doing stuntin', ridin' and doublin' in silents as well as A and B grade talkies.

In sound westerns, Montgomery was most often uncredited, portraying a henchman, rancher, gambler, lawman, etc. He also shows up as a townsman, barfly, etc. in 1950s TV shows CISCO KID, HOPALONG CASSIDY, RANGE RIDER, ANNIE OAKLEY, DEATH VALLEY DAYS, more.

He appeared in about 175 films and TV shows scattered over the years 1923 - 1959.

Montgomery was the father of "Baby Peggy", the silent screen youngster that starred in over a hundred comedy shorts in the 1920s. Diana Serra Cary wrote about her father and the western in the book "The Hollywood Posse: The Story of a Gallant Band of Horsemen Who Made Movie History" (Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, 1975). Diana includes much emphasis and history on her parents, the western, and a bunch of real cowpokes who did movies. Also in the book are many stories and anecdotes on Hank Bell, Charles 'Slim' Whitaker, Bill Gillis, Shorty Miller, Ed Hendershot, Jack Padjan, Neal Hart, Leo McMahon, brothers Bob and Fred Burns, Artie Ortego, and many others. The book includes interesting tidbits about her Dad and the film business, and I'll mention a few of those:

one of Jack's early jobs, circa 1918 - 1920, was as a U. S. Park Ranger, initially at Yosemite and later, at the Grand Canyon.
her father's finest moment was doubling for Walter Pidgeon in THE DARK COMMAND (Republic, 1940).
the "Gower Gulch men" had a decades long battle with Cecil B. DeMille ... because DeMille demanded them to do as he said ... even though the scene or stunt may be dangerous ... and some of the riders and stuntmen could be (and were) injured during filming.
things changed dramatically with the western during the post World War II era and the arrival of the TV western. Jack Montgomery quote from the book: "... it costs a studio fifty dollars a day just to put an empty horse on the set with his wrangler ... "
the "not real" cowboys and "not real" western movie heroes were called "White Hats".
in the early days of Disneyland circa 1955, there were plans for a stagecoach ride as well as a trail ride on pack mules. Jack Montgomery was in charge of the pack mules. Driving one of the miniature stages was Artie Ortego, a frequent portrayer of Indians and henchmen in the B western. Diana's book details the incident when Ortego was severely injured when he purposely "heeled" the stage over to avoid trampling bystanders.

Diana adds more on her father and family (excerpted/paraphrased from several of her e-mails):

"One way I have of checking on his films is that he was out of Hollywood for the entire summer of 1941 (leasing a Dude outfit near Kalispell, Montana). He was also out of town and away from movie work from April, 1943 until October or late September of 1945. This was the period when he was running his own ranch in Grand Lake, Colorado which he finally soured on and sold in 1945.

Altho he arrived in Hollywood and soon doubled for Tom Mix, he was busy with my Baby Peggy career from April, 1920 until we returned to Hollywood in June of 1932. He was also busy with our Wyoming dude ranch venture from June, 1929 until we lost it in May of 1932.

My father didn't get into full time "riding extra" work until 1935. Of course from then on, those were the Golden Years of Republic, Hopalongs, DeMille's big epics and John Ford's greatest Westerns, the best times of all for the cowboys."

Suffering from cancer, 70 year old Jack Travers Montgomery passed away on January 21, 1962 at the Motion Picture Hospital, Woodland Hills, California. Pierce Bros. Hollywood was the funeral director and interment at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.

(From Old Corral collection)

Left to right are Jack Montgomery, Andy Clyde, and Robert Mitchum in the Hopalong Cassidy adventure FALSE COLORS (United Artists, 1943). Montgomery appeared in seven of the Hoppy films and a handful of the Hoppy TV shows. This was an early film role for Mitchum - he appeared in seven 1943 Cassidy films and was most often billed as 'Bob' Mitchum.

(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above is the title lobby card from THE RENEGADE (PRC, 1943) with Buster Crabbe on the right sneaking up on Jimmy Aubrey (blue shirt) and Jack Montgomery. Jack appeared in five of Crabbe's Billy the Kid / Billy Carson series at PRC.

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Jack Montgomery: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0599799/

Family Search (free), Ancestry.com (subscription), California Death Index, death certificate, and other sources have more on Jack Montgomery and family:

1910 census and census takers worksheet - owning their home in York, DuPage County, Illinois were 50 year old Robert Montgomery (born Ireland; occupation "Rec. Teller - Bank"), his 43 year old wife Louise (born Canada) and 18 year old son John Montgomery (born Nebraska; no occupation). Also there are two other sons (Edmund, Graham; both born in Nebraska), two daughters (Marcella, Florence; both born in Nebraska), and Robert's brother John G. Montgomery (born Canada): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MK8Y-CF2
World War I draft registration dated June 5, 1917 - 27 year old Jack T. Montgomery was living at 630 Webster Avenue, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois. He was married with child; was born November 14, 1890 in Omaha, Nebraska; occupation was "Barnman" for Wm. Smith, 630 Webster Avenue, Chicago: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6D6-4SM
1920 census and census takers worksheet - renting in Grand Canyon Precinct, Coconino County, Arizona were 28 year old Jack Montgomery (born Nebraska; occupation "Ranger - U. S."), his 24 year old wife Marion (born Wisconsin), 3 year old daughter Louise (born Illinois) and 1 year old daughter Peggy (born California): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR6-TWN
1930 census and census takers worksheet - owning their home in Woods, Albany County, Wyoming were 39 year old Jack Montgomery (born Nebraska; occupation "Farmer"), his 32 year old wife Marion (born Wisconsin), 13 year old daughter Louise (born Illinois), 11 year old daughter Peggy (born California; occupation "Actress - Vaudeville"), two servants and a lodger. He was not a World War I veteran: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X771-1H2
1940 census and census takers worksheet - 48 year old Juan [sic] Montgomery (born Nebraska) and 42 year old wife Marion (born Wisconsin) are among many renters living at 5534 Fernwood Avenue, Los Angeles. His occupation was "Actor - Motion Pictures", and in 1939, he worked 44 weeks and earned $2468.00: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K9CX-DB6
Ancestry.com had his World War II draft registration dated April 26, 1942 - 50 year old Jack Travers Montgomery was born November 14, 1891 in Omaha, Nebraska. He and wife Marian lived at 1210 North Orange Grove Avenue, Los Angeles. Employer was Central Casting Office, Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles. He's 6 feet, one inches tall and weighed 174 pounds: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V4DH-KFR
Death certificate - 70 year old Jack Travers Montgomery was born November 14, 1891 in Nebraska and parents were Robert S. Montgomery and Louise Howell. Occupation was "Actor - Motion Pictures", and he and wife Marian lived at 11854 Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood, Los Angeles. Suffering from cancer, he passed away on January 21, 1962 at the Motion Picture Country Hospital. Pierce Bros. Hollywood was the funeral director and interment at San Fernando Mission Cemetery.
California Death Index mirrors the death certificate - Jack T. Montgomery was born November 14, 1901 in Nebraska, mother's maiden name was Howell, and he passed away January 21, 1962 in the Los Angeles area: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP4Q-PY9
Death notice for Montgomery from the January 24, 1962 Los Angeles, California Times newspaper - survivors included Mrs. Robert Cary which is daughter Diana ('Baby Peggy'): https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45608732/jack-montgomery/
Find A Grave confirms that Jack Montgomery is interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, Los Angeles County, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/149169458/jack-travers-montgomery