During the silent film era, in the days of
the original Rin Tin Tin and long before Lassie, a canine
star was introduced whose career continued into early years
of the talkies. The dog was an Australian Shepherd named
Bunk, who was the sidekick, along with Scout the Appaloosa
horse, of cowboy star Jack Hoxie. Hoxie, with a background
as a working cowboy and ranch hand in Idaho, began his
public career in rodeos and Wild West shows. He first
appeared in movie shorts in 1913, and in 1919 starred in his
first featured role. During the ‘20s he worked for several
different film companies, achieving his greatest prominence
in popular Westerns made for Universal Studios from 1923
through 1927.
Hoxie conceived of the idea of including a dog
as a companion in his movies, and sent to Australia for an
in-whelp female. The pups were born during the voyage, but
all save one died. Hoxie said in a 1963 interview, "Those
sailors took care of that pup, and he came in to San Diego
and was delivered to me at Universal Studios. Well, I took
the pup and put a good trainer on him. That pup was old Bunk."* He was also called Bunkie and Bunky Bean. While
the movies indicated below are the ones in which Bunk is
known to have appeared, it is likely that he appeared in
others as well.
It isn’t known what prompted Hoxie to send
to Australia for a dog as opposed to acquiring one locally.
Perhaps he was familiar with the type of dog called
Australian Shepherd from having grown up in Idaho, where by
1905 a newspaper account of a dog show includes an
Australian Shepherd among the entrants. Dogs called
Australian Shepherds had a long history in California, with
importations dating back to the late
1850's
One of Hoxie’s early directors, who became a friend, was an
Australian, J. P. McGowan. An article in the Uniontown, PA,
Daily News Standard in 1930,
about a Hoxie appearance with the 101 Wild West show, links
Hoxie with another Australian, saying that Bunk was a gift
from "Snowy Baker, millionaire cattle king of the Australian
Pampas." Reginald "Snowy" Baker, however, was not a cattle
king, but was an athlete, boxing promoter and film actor who
came to Hollywood in 1920. This story appears to be
publicity-department embellishment, although one could
speculate that perhaps Baker or McGowan might have had some
involvement through connections in Australia.
Bunk’s first
known picture was
Ridgeway of Montana, released
May 12, 1924. A notice in the
Fresno Bee on June 14, 1924
states, "The lure of adventure is featured in Ridgeway of
Montana, Universal feature starring Jack Hoxie at the Strand
Theater tomorrow . . . Hoxie, long popular for his skill at
riding, the product of real ranch training, has plenty of
the western action in this story . . . Also, it must be
mentioned, Hoxie’s own dog, an Australian shepherd, Bunk, by
name, plays his first role before the camera to considerable
footage." The June 27, 1924
Lebanon Daily News related in a
brief article about the movie, "In addition, there’s ‘Bunk,’
the newest dog actor of the screen, an Australian Shepherd
recently brought to the United States . . . ‘Ridgeway of
Montana’ presents him in his first screen work, at puppy
age."
In a scene from "Rough and Ready" (1927) Bunk
appears with Bert de Marc, Jack Hoxie, and Hoxie’s
horse, Scout (photo from The Hoxie Boys by Edgar M. Wyatt)
Bunk in "The Shepherd of the Hills" (1928) with Molly O'Day
Bunk quickly gained favorable attention. A photo in the
June 19, 1924 Los Angeles Times shows Bunk holding a sheaf
of letters in his mouth, with the caption: "Dog Stars of
Filmland – First Annual Film-Stars’ Dog Show will be held at
Germain’s, June 23-24-25. Two of the entries are ‘Omar,’ a
Harlequin Dane, shown with his owner, Norman Kerry, and
‘Bunk,’ an Australian Shepherd Dog, owned by Jack Hoxie." In
August 1924 another movie,
Fighting Fury, was released.
Bunk was featured in an August 8, 1925 Los Angeles Times
article, "Dogdom Royalty Welcomed Here," about the arrival
of a Belgian Sheepdog, Count Muro, who was being brought
from Belgium to the U.S. to work in the movies. Bunk is
shown in a photograph greeting the Belgian dog with the
"keys to the kennel," while two German Shepherd movie dogs
of the era, Rex and Old Dutch, look on. (Muro, actually a
Tervuren, was described in the article as being royalty from
the kennel of the King of Belgium, but in reality he was
bred by a Belgian army officer and his only connection with
royalty was the decoration of his dam, a military dog, by
King Albert I in 1918; he can be seen in a 1931 serial,
"Sign of the Wolf," billed as "King the Wonder Dog.")
In 1925, Bunk appeared in
The White Outlaw, in which Jack
Hoxie’s horse, Scout, played the White Outlaw, a horse that
is captured and tamed by Hoxie, returns to the wild after a
cowboy mistreats him, and proceeds to release other ranch
horses. Hoxie finds the escaped horses and recaptures the
outlaw horse with the help of Bunk, stops a gang of horse
rustlers, and saves the heroine from a stampede. Bunk has a
number of scenes, including carrying a bucket, spotting the
wild horse in the distance and going to get Hoxie to show
him, holding and leading a horse by the reins, seizing and
pulling on the rope with Hoxie once Scout has been lassoed,
fighting and then guarding the head rustler. In publicity appearances for this film, Hoxie
would come out on stage and introduce Scout and Bunk as the
stars of the picture.
This notice for "The White Outlaw" (1925)
oddly has Bunk billed as "Rex" and Scout as
a "wild mare."
Hidden Loot,
also in 1925, featured Bunk prominently in the storyline.
When his master is captured by robbers after coming across
their stash of stolen loot in a deserted cabin, Bunk grabs
the bag and leaps out the window, carrying it away and
burying it. He then returns to the cabin where Hoxie has
been left tied up, tunnels his way into the cabin under the
wall, and frees Hoxie. When the robbers come back, Bunk
prevents them from leaving the cabin while Hoxie makes his
escape. Later, the thieves are captured and the stolen
payroll returned to the ranch.
Bunk’s 1926 pictures were The Demon,
The Fighting Peacemaker ,
The Wild Horse Stampede,
and Red Hot Leather.
A newspaper notice for The Fighting
Peacemaker
states, "‘A Fighting Peacemaker,’ Universal-Blue Streak
Western, starring Jack Hoxie . . . finds Scout and Bunk
working together again in the pictures. Scout is Hoxie’s
favorite horse and Bunk is a sagacious Australian shepherd
dog whose acting is a marvel of canine intelligence. Scout
and Bunk are inseparable companions." In
Scout and Bunk help corral a herd a wild horses. The herd is
released by villains and stampedes, nearly trampling the
heroine (Fay Wray, later to gain fame for her appearance in
King Kong),
who is saved by Hoxie.
Bunk in "Wild Horse Stampede" (1926) with Jack Hoxie and
Fay Wray (photo from
The Hoxie Boys by Edgar M. Wyatt)
In 1927 Bunk appeared in
Rough and Ready,
The Western Whirlwind,
The Rambling Ranger, and
The Fighting Three.
Hoxie related in his 1963 interview, "He
was one of the smartest dogs in the picture business at the
time. He worked with me in practically all of my pictures.
He would ride on the horse with me when I would make long
runs, pull me out of the mud, and when they thought they had
got rid of me, that old dog and the horse would help get me
out of it."* Bunk’s trainer, Bert de Marc, appeared as a
villain in many of Hoxie’s movies.
Bunk’s talents were sought for non-Hoxie
movies as well. He appeared in
The Shepherd of the Hills and
The Little Shepherd of Kingdom, both in 1928
In The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come,
one of his scenes involved running back and forth along a
water trough to keep a flock of thirsty sheep away from
water that had been poisoned. Unfortunately, it appears that
these two films are among the great many of the silent era
that have been lost.
Above: Bunk in Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
(1928) with Richard Barthelmess and Molly O’Day
Right: In a publicity still from 1928's "Shepherd
of the Hills," director Albert Rogell is said to be
using his megaphone to wake up napping stars
Molly O'Day and Alec B. Francis, with Bunk
At the end of the 1920's Jack Hoxie turned again to
rodeos and to appearances with circuses and shows such as
the 101 Ranch Wild West Show. In the early 1930s he returned
briefly to the movies, this time in sound pictures.
In 1932's
Law and Lawless, Bunk makes a
short appearance. He is first shown sitting with a lady, the
daughter of the Spanish ranch owner. A cowboy, played by
Hoxie, who is aiding ranchers suffering from an outbreak of
cattle rustling, comes courting. When Hoxie walks into the
scene, Bunk noticeably greets him in a friendly way, wagging
his tail. The cowboy brings along a Spanish phrase book to
aid in his efforts, and sets it down beside him on a bench.
While he is trying out his Spanish with the lady, the dog
walks up, takes the phrase book from the bench, carries it
over to a big stove and drops it into the stove.
In his scene in Law and Lawless (1932), Bunk steals the phrase book.
And into the stove it goes.
Trouble Busters
in 1933 was Jack
Hoxie’s last movie. Bunk didn’t appear in it. After that, Hoxie went back to the
rodeo circuit and appearances in Wild West shows and circuses such as the Downie
Bros. Circus. Bunk, as always, performed with him.
"He lived to be 18 years old
and passed away on one of the shows," Hoxie told his interviewer. "The cowboys
buried him down on Beaver Creek in Texas. He made it all through Canada with me
and all through Mexico and the United States."*
Movies in which Bunk is known to have appeared:
1924 – Ridgeway of Montana
1924 – Fighting Fury 1925 – The White Outlaw (film excerpt on line)
1925 – Hidden Loot (photo on the Getty Images website)
1926 – The Demon
1926 – The Fighting Peacemaker
1926 – The Wild Horse Stampede**
1926 – Red Hot Leather
1927 – Rough and Ready
1927 – The Western Whirlwind
1927 – The Rambling Ranger
1927 – The Fighting Three
1928 – Shepherd of the Hills
1928 – Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come
1932 – Law and Lawless (complete film on line;
Bunk’s brief scene begins around the 30:00 mark)
__________________________________________________
*The Hoxie Boys: The Lives and Films of Jack and Al Hoxie,
by Edgar M. Wyatt, 1992, Wyatt Classics, Inc.
**In 2011 it came to light that a
number of silent films long believed lost were in an archive in Russia, with
The Wild Horse Stampede listed among them.
Many thanks to Marshall Wyatt for permission to use
photos and material from the book The Hoxie Boys, by Edgar M. Wyatt, and to Penny Tose for her invaluable help in research for
this article. Appreciation is also due to Elaine Reynolds, from whom I first
learned of Bunk on an email list in 1997 and who provided additional
information.
