Fred Thomson: Silent Movie Cowboy Star at 'Readers of the Purple Sage'

Frederick Clifton Thomson [not to be confused with silent movie director Frederick A. Thomson] was born in Pasadena, California in February 1890. He was a superb athlete, playing football at Occidental College in Los Angeles and at Princeton Theological Seminary, and setting national records in the All-Around meets. He served as a pastor in Washington, D.C. and in Los Angeles; after marrying his college sweetheart Gail Jepson, he was re-assigned to Goldfield, Nevada. Gail died of tuberculosis in 1916, and Fred enlisted in the Army, becoming a lieutenant.

Fred was assigned as technical advisor for a Mary Pickford war movie, "Johanna Enlists", and Mary made a point of introducing the handsome Fred to her best friend, screenwriter Frances Marion. Romance ensued, but World War I erupted and Fred was shipped overseas. Frances was sent to Europe as a government correspondent, and they met several times before and after the Armisitice, including Christmas in Paris in 1918.

        Fred and Frances were married in November of 1919 in New York City, with screen star Mary Pickford as maid of honor. Fred & Frances honeymooned in Europe, and were joined later by Mary and her new husband, Douglas Fairbanks. Returning from Europe, they lived in rural New York, and Fred found the horse Silver King, a large [17 hands high] dapple-gray hunter, at a riding stable in New York City.
        Fred decided to become a Western director, to provide an example of the value of 'clean living' for boys across America and around the world. Back in Hollywood, Fred studied the cinema business while he trained Silver King. Per Hollywood tradition, a bit player failed to show for Frances's "Just Around The Corner", which she wrote and was directing, and Fred was asked to step in; he was a smash. Westerns were growing in popularity, and soon Fred was signed to contracts with Harry Joe Brown and then Joseph Kennedy.
        Fred was named the number two box office star in 1926 & 1927.

        But tragedy struck: Fred apparently scratched his foot on a nail while working at his stables and contracted tetanus, which the doctors mis-diagnosed. He died on Christmas Day of 1928. Pallbearers at Fred's funeral included Harold Lloyd, Charles Farrell, Douglas Fairbanks, and George W. Hill; honorary pallbearers included Buster Keaton, movie mogul Joseph M. Schenk, and Harry Chandler (of the Los Angeles Times).
        Memories of Frances' life with Fred at 'Enchanted Hill', their 160-acre estate in Beverly Hills, made living there without him unbearable, so she sold the property, including the stables and Fred's co-star, the horse Silver King; Silver King had a subsequent career as a movie horse on his own.
        Only one of Fred's 24 feature films is today available to the public.

"More Than a Cowboy: The Life & Films of Fred Thomson & Silver King"
by Edgar M. Wyatt
Wyatt Classics, Raleigh NC hardcover [1988] for $29.95 + $3 s/h

"The most effective idealist is one who is nine-tenths entertainer."
— Fred C. Thomson

"Just Around The Corner"
[silent filmed 1920, released Dec 1921]
Scenario & direction by Frances Marion
video not available; full credits from IMDb

"The Love Light" [Jan 1921 silent]
Written & directed by Frances Marion; starring Mary Pickford & Fred Thomson
Tapeworm b&w VHS [9/2000] for $29.95
Image Ent b&w DVD [8/2001] for $26.99
full credits from IMDb

"Penrod" [Feb 1922]: directed by Mickey Neilan
"Oath-Bound" [Aug 1922]: starring Dustin Farnum
"The Eagle's Talons" [15-episode Universal serial 1923]
"A Chapter In Her Life" [Sept 1923]: directed by Lois Weber

Fred's Monogram/F.B.O. Westerns
"The Mask of Lopez" [Jan 1924] ง
"North of Nevada" [Feb 1924] ง
"Galloping Gallagher" [filmed 1923, released March 1924] ง
"The Silent Stranger" [April 1924]
"Dangerous Coward" [May 1924]
"The Fighting Sap" [June 1924]

Fred's Robertson-Cole/F.B.O. Westerns
"Thundering Hoofs" (Oct 1924)
available on video (source not confirmed); full credits from IMDb
"That Devil Quemado" [April 1925]
"The Bandit's Baby" [May 1925]
"The Wild Bull's Lair" [June 1925] งง
"Ridin' the Wind" [Sept 1925] งง
"All Around Frying Pan" [Nov 1925]
"The Tough Guy" [Feb 1926] งง
"Hands Across the Border" [May 1926] งง
"The Two-Gun Man" [June 1926]
"Lone Hand Saunders" [Sept 1926] งง
"A Regular Scout" [Nov 1926]
"Don Mike" [Feb 1927] งง
"Silver {King} Comes Through" [May 1927] งง
"Arizona Nights" [Aug 1927]

Fred's Paramount-Lasky Westerns
"Jesse James" [Oct 1927] งง
"Pioneer Scout" [Jan 1928] งง
"The Sunset Legion" [April 1928] งง
"Kit Carson" [June 1928] งง

ง = uncredited script work by FM งง = script by FM as 'Frank M. Clifton'

        Frances Marion Owens was born in San Francisco, California in November of 1886. After a career as an artist and model and writer, she began writing scenarios for Hollywood movies in 1912, where she became fast friends with star Mary Pickford. Frances married Fred Thomson in November of 1919, writing all or part of many of his subsequent silent Western features, mostly under the pseudonym 'Frank M. Clifton'.
        After Fred's tragic death in 1928, Frances continued writing movies and won Oscars for writing in 1930 ("The Big House") and in 1931 ("The Champ"). In 1930, she married George W. Hill, director of "The Big House"; they divorced in 1933; he committed suicide in 1934.
        Mary Pickford stopped making movies at about that time, and Frances's mentor, studio head Irving Thalberg died in 1936, so Frances's Hollywood career waned and she wrote mostly plays and novels from that time.
        Frances died in Los Angeles in May 1973, still a most-respected female writer and director.
        Only eighteen of her 150+ movies are available on video.

"Love" [continuity; 1927 silent]
based on Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina"; starring Greta Garbo & John Gilbert
Two endings were filmed, one happy and one sad.
video not available | full credits from IMDb

"Min and Bill" [1930 Oscar-winner]
Directed by George W. Hill; script by Frances Marion & Marion Jackson,
based on Lorna Moon's novel "Dark Star"; starring Marie Dressler & Wallace Beery
VHS available | full credits from IMDb

"Dinner At Eight" [co-writer; 1933]
based on the hit play; starring John & Lionel Barrymore, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler & Jean Harlow
VHS available | full credits from IMDb

"Off With Their Heads" [1972 novel] by Frances Marion
MacMillan hardcover [1972] out of print

	"Without Lying Down: Frances Marion & The Powerful Women of Early Hollywood" [1997] by Cari Beauchamp Univ California Press 9x6 pb [5/98] for $13.97 Scribner 9½x6½ hardcover [3/97] out of print/used tv movie [Chaise Lounge/UCLA 2000]: Image Ent. b&w/color DVD [3/2003] for $26.99 Milestone color/b&w VHS [11/2001] out of prodn/used full credits from IMDb
	"The Women Who Write The Movies: From Frances Marion To Nora Ephron" [1994] by Marsha McCreadie Birch Lane Press 9½x6¼ hardcover [10/94] out of print/used

Readers of the Purple Sage BookstoreFred ThomsonSilent Movie Cowboy Star

Readers of the Purple Sage Bookstore
Fred Thomson
Silent Movie Cowboy Star