The Lone Star Ranger (1923)

Tom Mix's second silent film was The Lone Star Ranger, again with Fox Corporation.  While not all renditions of Grey's works were true to the novel, this one at least included all of the characters with their original names.  His two co-stars were the lovely Billy Dove and, of course, Tony, the Wonder Horse. 

Sadly, this movie is considered a lost film.  It likely was burned in the 1937 Fox Vault Fire in Little Ferry, NJ.  Decaying nitrate film combined with high temperatures and inadequate ventilation resulted in spontaneous combusion.  Among the films lost were most of the silent films produced by the Fox Film Corporation.

You can however, read Zane Grey's novel, The Lone Star Ranger, by clicking here. 

In Lone Star Ranger, Billy Dove was cast as Helen Longstreth.  Though Billy's blonde trusses were her calling card, her "Helen" was a brunette.  Dove had a long career, beginning as a marginally talented singer and dancer in the "Follies" and continuing through silent films to a less successful career in "talkies".  Though not remembered by many movie fans today, she was a star in the silent films on a level with Mary Pickford and Clara Bow.  Dove was a favorite of well known men of the day, having affairs with Flo Ziegfeld, William Randoph Hurt and Howard Hughes.