I collect movie lobby cards (11" x 14" posters) with gambling themes, and this could be my favorite! I can't believe I just won it at auction for only $48. It shows John Wayne catching a crooked poker player with an ace up his sleeve! It is from his western, "The Desert Trail" (1935). The movie was made by "Lone Star," but the films were too cheap to make lobby cards for them. Monogram studios released the films under the Monogram name in the late 1930's and made some scarce lobby cards. My lobby card was put out in the 1940's with the re-release by Western Adventure Pictures.

Wayne didn't become a big star till 1939's "Stagecoach." Till then he appeared in a succession of B films for both major and minor studios. Most of these films were westerns including some roles supporting that company's current B western stars—Buck Jones and Tim McCoy. During the period 1933-1935, Wayne hooked up with Monogram Pictures to star in 16 low-budget westerns called "Lone Star Westerns. They were called B-westerns , the second film of a double feature. He was paid $2,500 per film, each of them having a total budget of $10,000 and a five-day production schedule.

In the movie Rodeo star John Scott and his gambler friend Kansas Charlie are wrongly accused of armed robbery. They leave town as fast as they can to go looking for their own suspects in Poker City. Note the poker slot machine in the background.

Robert
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John Wayne and Ward Bond in "Tall In the Saddle" (1944). This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I especially love the chemistry between Wayne and Ella Raines. This "still" shows a very interesting scene in the movie. It is also controversial about the rules of poker. The fellow with his back to the camera is holding a gun on Wayne. Wayne and the guy were playing draw poker. The guy needed to draw a Queen. And he was dealt a Queen on the draw, but the card bounced off his wrist and was exposed! Wayne said the card was thus "dead." The guy protested. Wayne let the betting proceed. Wayne eventually claimed the pot because "the card was dead." But the guy draws his gun on unarmed Wayne and takes the pot. Wayne leaves, but in a dramatic scene shortly returns with his gun and takes the pot! I proudly own this still.
http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/StillsA_TopMaleStars.htm