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The Life and Times of Gordie Peer

Hollywood Cowboys

By WARREN RESEN

In Gordie's own words:

"I was out to California a few times. But I mostly traveled. I didn't work a lot in California. People don't realize what it was like in those days tryin' to get work in the movies. The first thing people think about is that was big money. When I was out there it was a lot of standin' around waitin' for an extra's part. If you got one, it didn't pay a lot." You would make anywhere from $10 to $20 to go in and do a horse fall in a picture. They were low budget "B Westerns. They filmed them in 2, 3, or 4 days. And so if you did a couple, you might make $20 or so.

"I had some ability with my guns, and my ropes, and whips and doin' horse falls. One time I broke my shoulder getting shot off a horse." Well, now I'm laid up and that stops me from doing my gunnin'." I found out that Clayton Moore (the Lone Ranger) was getting like $250 a week to make those pictures. That doesn't seem like a lot of money by today's standards, but it was good money in those days. Well, when he went out on personal appearances he was makin' big money. And I found out I could go out and do a show or do a stunt or something with performers on personal appearance tours and make $300 to $500 for a performance. That was good money in in the late 50's and early 60's.

"The last Lone Ranger picture Clayton made was full length. He only made two full-length feature Westerns. The rest of them were all TV shows. There was 130 or 140, somethin' like that. I don't remember exactly how many but he made two pictures and the last one was I believe in '58.

"The first time I saw Clayton was probably somewhere in the "50's when he was in the middle of bein' the Lone Ranger. I had never seen much television because we didn't have a television at the home where I was livin'. I met him at a fair where he was makin' an appearance. Him and Jay Silverheels (Tonto) was there. I was talkin' with some people and playing with my guns when he saw me. He came over and he says to me. 'You're very good with them.' And I said 'thank you.' He had his mask on, was wearing skintight pants and at the time I thought he looked kind of funny." I really didn't know who he was. And he said, 'Show me some of that.' And we somehow or other just clicked.

"I was standin' there playin' with my guns and he started working on it and developin' it. We would meet at different places where he was appearing and then he started askin' me to go with him sometimes.

"Clayton and Jay didn't travel together a whole bunch because then they'd have to split the money. If Clayton went himself, he might have got $5,000. It was all his and the same with Jay. He could go and get $5,000 for a personal appearance and it was all his. And Fuzzy and Lash LaRue, that was the same with them. (Fuzzy St. Johns played Lash's sidekick in the movies.) But the people couldn't afford to pay two full salaries. Well, that's where I got the break.

"I could go in there and be the sidekick. Although the people didn't know me, I didn't care 'cause I got paid to do it. I didn't look the same as their regular sidekick or anything but I would do some stuff with a gun. 'Course Lash always did somethin' with a whip. And a lot of times when I was out with Clayton I could also do some stunt work and I would do somethin' with a rope or whip. Clayton learned to work the guns real good.

"The word 'cowboy' was a slang expression. People then were known much the same as they are today. There were the day workers or hands, cattleman, and ranchers. When you 'cowboy'd' you went into town and hoorayed, and shot your pistol, and got in fights, and things like that. The term cowboy became glorified because of these guys and so the word got to be a term everybody used. Then everyone started being called a cowboy.

"Fact is, I remember the days when if you asked someone what they were going to do that night, and if they said 'Oh! I think I'll go out and cowboy a little bit,' it meant they were going out to a dance and kick up their heels. You know, it was an expression. You'll still hear some of the old timers say if they see a kid that's driving his car a little hard or somethin' like that say, 'Look at him cowboyin' that car.'

"But most people don't know it today. It's fell by the wayside. And when somebody says the word 'cowboy' today it's like wow... he's a great guy.

"I got tired of being in front of the public. I did not handle having to talk to the people; you know when you're recognized?" You get tired and you just want to get out in the open and away from it." I thought well, the answer to this is to work in amusement parks. I worked in amusement parks a lot of times for like two or three months and then I would go back on the road and work shows and pretty soon I'd say, 'you know I got to get out of here.' There was certain people that I had worked with that made me realize that.

"One guy in particular that I knew would do a show and be out there in front of the people and talk with them and everything. He'd walk off stage and somebody would come up to him and ask him for his autograph and he'd say 'get away from me. I ain't got time to talk to you. Go! Get out of here.'

"And I realized that if you're in show business you can't do that. Well, when I got to the point where I was tired and wanted to be away from it, I would leave and I would come home and work on the ranch awhile and at Pete Clemmons' Okeechobee Livestock Market to get myself prepared to go back out. I could not do the appearances 52 weeks a year."
Gordie left the rodeo circuit in the 1960s.