NitrateVille.com

Am trying to help a Western historian friend of mine who lives in the wilds of North Dakota.

Does anyone know of any photos existing of a B-cowboy actor/stuntman named TOM BAY?

Or a cowboy/stuntman named YAKIMA JIM ANSON?

In 1925, Bay and Anson, after night of heavy drinking got into a fight. Anson pulled a knife, Bay pulled a gun. Anson was dead & Bay was tried for murder but got off on self-defense. Bay was later killed by his girlfriend in 1933 over his seeing another woman. (And they said Hollywood was a quiet town....)

If ANYONE has any info that I can forward to my friend, I'd be grateful. (I have told him to write to the Academy Library.)

Thanks in advance!
Michael F. Blake

Try lantern.mediahist.org or newspapers.com - they're excellent original sources for film research.

A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF SILENT FILM WESTERN ACTORS AND ACTRESSES (2002 by George A. Katchmer, McFarland Press) has a mini-bio of Bay on pg. 19 and a photo of Tom Bay, Vivian Ray (Bay) and Bob Custer. According to the article, William T. Bay was born Feb. 22, 1901 in San Antonio, entering films in 1922. Katchmer wondered if Vivian Bay might have been his wife or sister.....He mentions Bay's death in 1933 in a shooting.