Max Terhune was a multi-talented fellow. He got his start in vaudeville as a whistler who did barnyard animal imitations. If that resume doesn’t sound like a passport to film success it was good enough to get him a gig on the WLS Chicago radio program National Barn Dance. Barn. Get it? Oh the star of that show was a guy named Gene Autry. Guess where that goes.

Gene Autry introduced Max and his wooden pal Elmer Sneezeweed to Republic pictures. Republic cast him in their popular B western series The Three Mesquiteers as Lullaby Joslin. He made twenty-one pictures paired with Ray “Crash” Corrigan, Robert Livingston and later John Wayne. Those Mesquiteer films are my earliest recollection of Wayne as Stony Brooks before he became the iconic Duke we remember today.

Following the Mesquiteer series, Max signed with Monogram for The Range Busters series, again with Ray Corrigan. At Monogram Max morphed his Lullaby character into a character known as Alibi who would complete twenty-four pictures in The Range Busters series. Alibi would go on from there to work with Gene Autry at Republic before returning to Monogram to do eight films with Johnny Mack Brown.

Beyond his film career, Max continued his comedic work making personal appearances with Elmer. An accomplished magician, Terhune applied his skills to entertain with illusion.

Off screen, Max Terhune was a genuine good guy. In the category of lovable sidekicks, Max was a top hand. He married Maude Cassady and together they raised three children, two boys and a girl. He died of a heart attack in Cottonwood Arizona at age eighty-two.

Next Week: Fuzzy Q. Jones
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Ride easy,
Paul