Hero of the Month: Bob Custer
Many B-Western heroes were actual cowboys. Such was the case with Bob Custer, a former cowboy and rodeo star who made an easy transition to film in the mid twenties, signing with Jess Goldberg’s low budget company where he gain instant popularity in films like Trigger Finger (1924), The Range Terror (1925) and The Devil’s Gulch (1926).
Trying to broaden his appeal, Custer made a few non western films under his real name Raymond Glenn, but audiences didn’t want to see him in films like Temptations of a Shop Girl (1927), so it was back to being Bob Custer in West of Santa Fe (1928) and The Oklahoma Kid (1929).
The coming of sound dealt Custer a heavy blow when it became apparent that his acting ability did not equal his riding expertise. Some reports say he couldn’t remember lines and others state it was a severe case of mike fright causing him to choke when ever he had to deliver lines. Whatever the case, Custer appeared like a total amateur on screen, but managed to soldier on through increasingly cheaper productions like Covered Wagon Days (1930), Law of the Rio Grande (1931) and Mark of the Spur (1932).
Like many other former silent stars, Custer came to the attention of Nat Levine, who teamed him with Rex, the Wonder Horse and Rin Tin Tin, Jr. in Mascot’s Law of Wild (1934) where Custer is framed for murder in an attempt to steal Rex from him and turn the horse into a champion racer.
Custer called it quits after a few more films, his last performance was in Santa Fe Rides (1937). Getting a degree in engineering, Custer found work as a building inspector, eventually working his way up to Chief Building Inspector for the city of Newport Beach.
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