in 1927, Canutt made appearances at rodeos across the country. By 1928, the talkies were coming out, and though he had been in 48 silent pictures, Canutt knew his career was in trouble. His voice had been damaged from flu in the Navy. He started taking on bit parts and stunts, and realized more could be done with action in pictures. In 1930, between pictures and rodeoing, Canutt met Minnie Audrea Yeager Rice at a party at her parents' home. They kept company during the next year while he picked up work on the serials for Mascot Pictures Corporation. They married on November 12, 1931, and had three children together. Two sons followed their father into stunt work. When rodeo riders invaded Hollywood, they brought a battery of rodeo techniques that Canutt would expand and improve, including horse falls and wagon wrecks. He also developed the harnesses and cable rigs to make the stunts foolproof and safe. Among the new safety devices was the 'L' stirrup, which released a rider's foot if he was performing falling off a horse, so that he did not get hung in the stirrup. Canutt also developed cabling and equipment to cause spectacular wagon crashes, while releasing the team of horses, all on the same spot every time. Safety methods such as these saved film-makers time and money and prevented accidents and injury to performers and animals. Canutt developed the 'Running W' stunt, bringing down a horse at the gallop by attaching a wire, anchored to the ground, to its fetlocks and launching the rider forward spectacularly. But this either often killed or severely injured the horse, requiring it to be put down. At a minimum it was badly shaken and unusable for the rest of the day. The 'Running W' is now banned and has been replaced with training for the falling-horse technique. It is believed that the last time the Running W was used was on the 1983 Iraqi film Clash of Loyalties, when British actor and friend Marc Sinden and stuntman Ken Buckle (who had been trained by Canutt) performed the stunt three times during a cavalry charge sequence. While working on Mascot serials, Canutt practiced and perfected his most famous stunts, including the drop from a stagecoach that he performed in John Ford's Stagecoach (1939). That stunt was filmed on Lucerne Dry Lake, north of Lucerne Valley, California. He first performed