Bradbury is most famous for directing early
Westerns starring
John Wayne. Bradbury helped create and advance the ideological image of John Wayne. After a brief run at Warner Bros in 1933, Wayne was back into
Poverty Row in 1934 at
Monogram.
Trem Carr, who had founded Monogram with
W. Ray Johnston, had contracted Wayne as well as
Yakima Canutt. Carr then hired Bradbury to write the screenplays as well as direct the majority of the pictures. This is where his most watchable
B-Westerns were made with
Archie Stout as cameraman and Bradbury as director. These inexpensively shot 1930s B movies include
Riders of Destiny (1933), one of the earliest examples of the
singing cowboy movie. The role of Singin' Sandy Sanders was created for Wayne by Bradbury, who saw a market niche for the singing cowboy. Bradbury used his son Bill to dub Wayne's singing voice for the role of Singin' Sandy. Although Wayne's singing voice did not match his speaking voice, and the character of Singin' Sandy was not used again, it paved the way for
Gene Autry and other singing cowboys. Bradbury had Wayne do his last lip syncing in
Westward Ho (1935), where it is believed that
Jack Kirk provided Wayne's singing voice. Other B Westerns starring Wayne and directed by Bradbury during this period were
The Lucky Texan (1934),
West of the Divide (1934),
Blue Steel (1934),
The Man From Utah (1934),
The Star Packer (1934),
The Trail Beyond (1934; co-starring
Noah Beery, Sr. and
Noah Beery, Jr.),
The Lawless Frontier (1934),
Texas Terror (1935),
Rainbow Valley (1935),
The Dawn Rider (1935), and
Lawless Range (1935). Many were also written by Bradbury, and almost all featured character actor
George "Gabby" Hayes. Wayne, along with stuntman
Yakima Canutt and Bradbury developed the "pass system" of throwing near-miss punches that looked realistic. This involved the precise placement of cameras to make the misses appear to be actual punches. == Later work ==