A Maynard Whoop-Up In Twelve Chapters

Mascot On Mystery Mountain (1934) With Maynard

Look at the six-sheet above and tell me it's not good as a circus coming to town. And I submit it's art, too. Just think: displays like this were once hung outdoors, left to mercy of rain or punishing sun, then peeled down, tossed out, so another could fill the billboard. Here, then, is why so few survive. Was Ken Maynard doing a serial news? For boys of action age, the biggest. Ken took saddle chances no one else dared. He was Superman before there was such a character. Maynard was no actor. In fact, I'll bet he never memorized a stitch of dialogue, vague ad-lib of tissue narratives getting a job done nicely. Give me Ken in conversation with miracle horse Tarzan over Method improvisation anytime, KM addressing T as "old man" (so indeed, what age was Tarzan, and how long did he live?). Mystery Mountain was for cheapest-of-serial-makers Nat Levine of Mascot Pictures. How cheap? I read once he made players change costume in the open with a rain barrel for privacy. Even Jim and Sam might have blanched later at that.

The Rattler Strikes --- And He Could Be Anybody in Mystery Mountain!

Ken Maynard got princely sum, $10,000 a week, for doing Mystery Mountain, idea being to finish in a month. Nat didn't know his Ken, but realized the cowboy was ornery beyond endure of last employer Universal, where Maynard had a talking series, made enemies of most, and got tabbed as meanest of mean drunks. Was he self-medicating a sad past, stunt injuries that still pained, Daddy issues? (they say he pulled a gun on a director once) Alas, some drunks are just cussed, and that's the whole of it. We'll never know, of course, for who's left that put magnifier to enigma that was Maynard? But he was loved by a public, have no doubt of that. Story I once heard was that Walter Matthau was doing location for a 1972 comedy, Pete 'N Tillie, when someone told him Ken Maynard was shopping at a nearby market. Matthau stopped everything, left a crew standing, while he rushed off to meet and shake hands with his boyhood idol. This was near the end for Ken. He had a squalid finish, but let's pass that. I'm here today for Mystery Mountain, clocking all twelve chapters on my punch card, and ripe to sing praise of a chapter-play to rank among immortals.

To the punch card reference: These were once issued to children going in for Chapter One of a new serial. If you came back each week and got the card punched, there was free admission for a final installment. Think of that dime you saved! Enough to buy lots more than we could imagine today. Mystery Mountain was a hit for Mascot. In fact, it was Levine's biggest but for The Miracle Rider with Tom Mix. Later, after folks stopped caring and Nat was back managing a small theatre (one interviewer found the old man atop a ladder to change marquee letters), Mystery Mountain went into tar-pit that was Public Domain. Buccaneering Tom Dunahoo of Thunderbird Films began selling 8/16mm prints to all comers, which I'd guess were aging men who recalled magic that was Maynard. Would Walter Matthau have bought one had he known? Now we can have Mystery Mountain on DVD from Jack and Jason Hardy at Grapevine Video, outstanding source for silents and early sound rarities. Here's how service-conscious the Hardys are: They released Mystery Mountain on an OK disc several years back, found better elements more recently, and invited buyers of the initial offering to swap in their purchase for the upgrade. I took advantage and was rewarded with a best-yet Mystery Mountain. Do I recommend Grapevine for this and other vintage product? Definite yes.

Mystery Mountain has a masked villain called The Rattler. He can assume disguise of all other characters, including Ken. This is a serial where you can't be sure of anyone, for is it them or ... The Rattler? I admit my disorient when Maynard does spectacular ride work, then turns out to be ... well, you know. The Rattler is so adroit as to make me wonder why he doesn't move to greener fields than scrub where whole of this serial was shot. Turns out there's gold in that thar Mystery Mountain, and a wagon service run by the heroine to be sabotaged throughout twelve serves (that's twenty-five reels, including a long first chapter, if anyone counted). Again a consumer warning: Don't watch serials in a lump --- limit yourself to one or at most two chapters, for these are like hot fudge cake, gooey and fun, but in moderation, please. I'll admit confusion over who The Rattler ultimately turned out to be, for he was unmasked repeatedly in a last couple of chapters, and focused as I was, the progression just lost me. There were also more red herrings than my humble mind could absorb, all in apparent phone conversation with The Rattler as weeks wore on, then each exonerated, or seeming to be, as Ken dug deeper. I tell you, Mystery Mountainis The Big Sleep of serials.

More Ken Maynard and other cowboys at Greenbriar Archive: Back In The Saddle Again, Teams On The Ups and Down, and John Wayne Learns His Trade.