Ken Maynard was a huge cowboy star in the 1920s and 30s. He was the forerunner of the singing cowboy, and was one of the biggest western stars of all time.
He successfully bridged the gap between silent movies and "talkies," and was also a screenwriter and director. He blazed the trail in Hollywood for Gene Autry and my personal singing cowboy favorite, Roy Rodgers.
Ken also was a "sort of," a relative to mine on my mother's side of the family. It used to be fun to brag about this because nobody had the slightest idea who he was. But, to my surprise, several years ago I saw Ken Maynard posters on my grandsons bedroom walls.
As I've mentioned before I'm on an email string of 40 plus story telling relatives. This past week one of Ken Maynards's real relatives shared a bit of history about him. He grew up in Columbus, Indiana. He and his brother, Kerm (short for Kermit - forerunner of the famous adorable frog) were notorious for being rowdy bad boys, always into mischief. One day there was a factory explosion in Columbus and the boys' parents first response was "what in God's name have you done now?"
Both Ken and Kerm rode horses and were trick riders in circuses, carnivals and rodeos. Ken eventually went to Hollywood and became a stuntman, Kerm soon followed but was never as successful as his brother. But he was a good human being and lived a much better life.
Ken Maynard, along with all of his talent and success, was not a good person. He was personally disliked by most everyone who knew him. He plowed through all of his money and ended up an alcoholic living in a trailer in South Florida. A sad ending, indeed.
For those of you who have my book, New Day, there's a poem about him on page 16.
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