Above, Fuzzy and 'Lash' LaRue
Al 'Fuzzy' St. John
1893 - 1963
Fuzzy was the trail pal to singing cowboy Fred Scott at
Spectrum Pictures and Jack Randall at Monogram. At PRC, he became the helper
to Bob Steele (Billy the Kid), George Houston (Lone Rider), Bob Livingston
(Lone Rider) and Buster Crabbe (Billy the Kid/Billy Carson). During the
early 1940s, he even spent some time helping Don 'Red' Barry at Republic
Pictures.
St. John and Crabbe did 36 oaters, and ol' Fuzz took center stage in a
couple of the films, FUZZY SETTLES DOWN (PRC, 1944) and HIS BROTHER'S GHOST
(PRC, 1945). And there's some crazy comical hijinks in WILD HORSE PHANTOM (PRC,
1944), as St. John gets attacked by a large bat.
When the Crabbe series ended in 1946, he saddled up with the
bullwhip-cracking, black garbed, Al 'Lash' LaRue , who had just been given
his own starring series at Producers Releasing Corporation after being
featured in several of the Eddie Dean singing westerns. LaRue and St. John
were together for about five years, and their last film was released in
1951.
Paul Dellinger authored the Old Corral page on Lash LaRue, and he included
some LaRue comments about Fuzzy which I've included below:
· Fuzzy was an angel unaware, as far as I'm concerned", said LaRue. "He was
a wonderful guy, and I wish he were still here to see how long the films had
lasted ... he was the greatest ad lib artist in the world. He could stumble
over a matchstick and spend fifteen exciting minutes looking for what he
stumbled over."
· He would talk about Fuzzy as a separate person", LaRue recalled. "Hey,
that would be something for Fuzzy to do," he would say about a bit of comedy
business.
· LaRue, who later went through a drinking problem of his own, recalled
Fuzzy having had one and said he couldn't understand why. "Then I met his
wife", LaRue said. "And then I understood." "He and Fuzzy became friends,
but not at first", LaRue noted. The change came one day when Fuzzy told him,
"Hey, I wasn't gonna like you. But you're all right".
St. John retired from film-making in the early 1950s, and then did frequent
performances at circuses, fairs and rodeos. He passed away in 1963 from a
heart attack while working with the Tommy Scott Wild West show. Bill
Russell, in his March, 2001 Western Revue magazine, included an interview
with Doc Tommy Scott --- St. John worked on the show for about 5 years, and
his death was in Lyons, Georgia (not the oft reported Vidalia, Georgia).
Here is link to some Fuzzy Photos
http://silentgents.com/PStJohn.html