Could it be that Hamilton saw John Wayne on a film set moving furniture, holding lights and reflectors, etc, and perhaps saw potential in the young Wayne, and then mentioned it to Ford (whom he may have known socially), and Ford then told him to give Wayne a shot in front of the camera. This would have happened before Wayne and Ford even met, and Ford may have later watched the Hamilton films to see if Wayne may have had that certain something in front of the camera, and then, upon recognizing him on the Fox lot, given Wayne a shot in Mother Machree. With this theory (and it is nothing more than speculative theory), the Wayne and Ford would both be correct in saying that they met on the set of Mother Machree (as quoted in John Wayne: American by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson, and Joseph McBride in Searching for John Ford), and Wayne would still be correct in saying that Ford had spoken with Hamilton regarding putting Wayne in front of the camera (and remember that he WAS in front of the camera on several occasions before Mother Machree)
Also, as Wayne’s freshman year at USC was September 1925 through May 1926, he would have still been in High School when The Iron Horse was in production (as it premiered in New York on 28 August 1924, and production would have been underway at least May-July 1924). Based on this, I don’t see how Wayne could have appeared in The Iron Horse at the age of 16 or 17.
As for Careful Please (1926), I am convinced that the extra Elly has recognized as John Wayne, actually is John Wayne. Yes, he was in school, however, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he did some extra work while he was in school. An extra is not necessarily needed on a film set for the duration of production, only on those days where he would appear in a scene. As the Hamilton shorts were very low budget, focusing on laughs rather than production values, it is quite conceivable that Wayne worked for a day or two on Careful Please, as well as likely doing the same on other films.
