Spook Ranch is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Edward Laemmle (Carl Laemmle's nephew) and starring Hoot Gibson. It was produced and distributed by Universal Pictures. The film featured white actor Ed Cowles in blackface playing Hoot Gibson's black sidekick, George Washington Black.Universal Pictures founder Carl Laemmle persuaded his nephew Edward to enter the family business in 1915, after which he specialized mostly in directing westerns. Actress Helen Ferguson retired from acting in 1930 and became a Hollywood publicist. Hoot Gibson enjoyed a sensational career as a major Western star in the 1920s and early 1930s, but wound up dying penniless in 1962, from cancer.