The Lady Vanishes...up in smoke?

A LITTLE NIGHT MYSTERY

COCOANUT GROVE CONTROVERSY

The Rough Riders

8 Films released 1941 - 1942

The members of the Rough Riders:

Charles 'Buck' Jones (1891 - 1942)

(real name: Charles Frederick Gebhart)

portrayed "Marshal Buck Roberts" (who hailed from Arizona)

*Timothy John Fitzgerald 'Tim' McCoy (1891 - 1978)

portrayed "Marshal Tim McCall" (who hailed from Wyoming)

Raymond W. 'Ray' Hatton (1887 - 1971)

portrayed "Marshal Sandy Hopkins" (who hailed from Texas)

(Buck often jokingly referred to Hatton using the nickname of "Killer")

Buck Jones was the 481st person of, eventually, 492 who died in the 12-15 minute Cocoanut Grove nightclub fire in Boston, MA, Saturday, Nov. 28, 1942.

"We were supposed to have been at the Buddies' Club on Boston Common  at 9:30pm to meet servicemen for a couple of hours."

Theatre owners had arranged a testimonial dinner for him at the Cocoanut Grove. He attended out of courtesy to the distributors honoring him.

Of two dozen guests at the Buck Jones testimonial dinner, thirteen were known dead, seven, mostly women, were recorded as missing and presumably dead, and others were in hospitals with burns or injuries which may prove fatal.

Rough Riders producer Scotty Dunlap was with Buck at the Cocoanut Grove.

For reasons known only to Dunlap, he never released a statement as to how he got out of the Grove that tragic night. He was found outside near a fire engine. His hands badly burned, he reportedly asked a youngster to reach in his pocket, take out $100 and phone an ambulance for him.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  *Married to Inga Arvad in 1945.