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Leakey
and the Silver ScreenJack
Hoxieby Linda
Kirkpatrick | |
| Over
the years I have heard comments about Jack Hoxie and the making of silent movies
here in the Frio Canyon. What I did not know was that the good citizens of the
Frio Canyon community were scammed by Jack Hoxie and his group. Many people found
themselves a few dollars short after the Silent Silver Screen Star left town.
But there is even more to the story. |
Jack
Hoxie
Photo courtesy www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jack_hoxie |
Jack
Hoxie was born on January 11, 1885 and died on March 27, 1965 in Cimarron County,
Oklahoma. Originally, he used the name Hart Hoxie but later began to use his given
name of Jack.
Jack Hoxie was a star of the silent silver screen. He appeared
in about 1200 silent movies. He starred in "The Great Train Robbery", "The Last
Frontier", "Thunderbolt Jack" and "The Broken Spur" to name a few. His young fans
were his top priority. He would not smoke, drink, be arrested or jailed on screen.
It appears that his intentions were good as it is said that he made more good
movies than bad.
He was also known for his horsemanship. He was an expert
rider and stuntman. He also participated in touring Wild West Shows.
But
what really caught my attention was the fact that the Frio Canyon was not the
only community duped by the "star".
In
1925, Jack Hoxie arrived in Deadwood, South Dakota to make a silent motion picture.
The name of the movie is unknown but the movie flopped and investors lost money.
Jack gambled heavily at the Gold Bar Saloon. He lost everything that he had including
his silver studded saddle and bridle. Both were auctioned later at a sheriff's
sale. And Jack Hoxie moved on.
In the spring of 1929, Jack was introduced
to W. A. Wilson of the Marfa Chamber
of Commerce. Jack was very impressed with the Alpine
and Ft. Davis area.
He and his group made plans for a $250,000 resort and movie set that would be
at the Fort Davis site. It was a lavish plan. There would be "a half mile race
track, a polo field, golf course, baseball diamond, swimming pool and rodeo arena".
The entire area would be high fenced. The area became known as "Hoxie's Stockade".
Was this a coincidence that the site of filming here in the Frio Canyon was also
called "The Stockade"?
For two years this west Texas community was held
in the spell of the silent motion picture, three Ft. Davis men invested heavily
while many others invested $100.00 each. However the Hoxie Company was never able
to develop the property as planned and the investors came up on the short end
as Hoxie rode off into the sunset.
It is said that Hoxie could neither
read nor write and when sound pictures came about he was useless as he could not,
"read, remember, or deliver a line."
Did Jack Hoxie have good intentions
or was he just out to con investors and line his pockets? I guess that we will
never know for sure but I did discover that some of his old movies can be found
on Ebay and Amazon.com! I guess that we can invest in his movie endeavors now
without fear of being scammed…or can we? | |
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