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In the 1920s, the Santa Clarita Valley was just an extended village. Today, you find apartment complexes housing 500 people. Nearly a century ago, that was the population of the entire valley. Having been founded in 1877, Newhall Elementary School had been around for 40 years already. Talk about overcrowding, there were 60 kids in one class. The district contemplated maybe hiring a second teacher. The school moved all over town for years until settling into its permanent campus on Walnut Street today.

William Andrew Lamoreaux (pictured) was an athletic, freckled face kid who looked like Huck Finn in a cowboy hat. The handsome Newhall Elementary student drew stares, waves and whispers everywhere he went in town. But young master Lamoreaux was known by another name — Buzz Barton — one of the most famous child stars of all time.

Movie press releases of the day noted he won several national youth rodeos before the age of 12. There aren’t any records left of that and possibly, the hard-riding youth may have won many regional events. We did, after all, host world-famous rodeos right here at the present-day Saugus Speedway grounds.

Lamoreaux was born in Gatlin, Missouri, on September 3, 1913. Shortly thereafter his family moved to Newhall. The area was already famous for cowboys and was one of the top Western filmmaking areas in the world. He met leading man Jack Perrin who became his mentor and lifelong friend and who later gave William some stand-in rolls in the early silents. In 1926, Perrin gave the boy the stage name of Billy Lamar and featured him in five oaters: “The Laffin’  Fool,” Knockout Kid,” “Man from Oklahoma,” “West of Rainbow’s End” and “Thunderbolt’s Tracks.” Around the same time, he made another film, “Splitting the Breeze,”  using the name of Red Lennox.

By 1927, he was one of the hottest actors in America. His parents, Floyd and Myrtle, signed him to a long-term contract with the company that would soon by RKO Pictures.

So. William’s stage name went from Billy Lamar to Red Lennox to Buzz Barton. His parents made sure he didn’t skip school. During the regular year (mostly) he’d attend Newhall Elementary and make movies in the summer, winter and Spring breaks. By 1927, he made “The Boy Wonder” and “The Slingshot Kid.”

His amazing riding and roping talents were compared to any of the top cowboy/actors of all time. Indeed, William was not play-acting in these movies. He did all his own stunts. It was in 1928 he fell from a 20-foot-tall scaffold in Hollywood and broke his arm — right before school started.

Right in his heyday, something film historians call “Demon Sound” occurred. Movies went from the silent days to the “talkies.” By 1929, America’s appetite for child stars was waning. RKO dropped him after starring in an amazing 14 features in July of that year. His last RKO flick was “Pals of the Prairie.”

William took off a year, then came back to team up with the hottest box office star of the day: Rin Tin Tin. The German shepherd and Buzz Barton made the great cliffhanger, “The Lone Defender.”

He made a few cheap Westerns, but that didn’t dampen his huge popularity. The Daisy Rifle Company made thousands of special BB guns with his name on them. They’re rare, hot-selling items today on e-Bay.

In 1932, Barton became a part of local history trivia. He played on the first albeit short-lived Newhall Polo League. Barton’s teammate was legendary Cowboy Hall of Famer, Andy Jauregui, who is immortalized on the city’s Walk of Western Stars. Their Team Placeritos went against the Newhall squad of “Cowboy”  Bob Anderson (who started the valley’s first big rodeo and owned the Saugus Speedway) and some recently retired thespian by the name of William S. Hart. (Newhall won, 7-6). Wouldn’t you love to have been in the bleachers to watch that one?

But, like many child stars, Buzz was fetching and lovable as a boy, but rather gawky as a teen and young adult. He did a few supporting parts in Westerns and by 1940, couldn’t find steady work in Hollywood.

He served in World War II and was on the battleship Missouri when Gen. Douglas MacArthur accepted the surrender of the Japanese.

Afterwards, William led an eclectic life, cowboying around and even doing community theater. He starred in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” in 1967 down in Hawthorne.

William Andrew Lamoreaux in his later years did a few bit parts in movies. Buzz Barton was one of the most famous people in the world in his youth. His last screen credit was as the train conductor in the Rod Steiger/Sidney Poitier 1967 classic, “Heat of the Night.” He came back to his roots, spending his last years as a wrangler on Corky Randall’s ranch on Pine Street up Railroad Canyon.

His health deteriorated and he died on Nov. 20, 1980 in a Reseda at the relatively young age of 67.

John Boston, a.k.a The Time Ranger, has earned 119 major awards for writing stuff. Besides The Mighty West Ranch Beacon, his work appears in the prestigious thebostonreport.net just about every darn day. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon. Read Boston’s daily blog, his Daily English Muffins, the Adventures of Job Hunter and more of John Boston’s award-winning commentary on thebostonreport.net.