AUGUST NO.

50c

THRILLS
SCREEN
ILLUSTRATED
MEN BEHIND
THE MASK OF

70RR0
mau

This Bold Caballero's daredevil exploits are

chronicled, in detail beginning on page 7.

WORDS
In

kept

short,
its

SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED has

promise to

its

readers.

We

have brought

you the movies' most exciting moments the

ones that YOU wanted to see in pictures and
print. Now, in our third year of publication, we
promise to continue on in the trend-setting style
that we originated and deliver more features
and fotos on the personalities and movies which
you've asked us to cover.
This issue

we pay

ALAN LADD, take

tribute to adventure

long

hard

look at

hero

ZORRO,

and fight with SUPERMAN & FLASH GORDON,

the saddle with BUCK JONES and review
lots more in the way of thrill-packed SERIALS

fly

hit

and other great eeiiuiuiu treasures.

Editors Sam Sherman and Bob

covered,
Price

have

once again utilized their multi faceted skills to

deliver the STI goods. Drawing on their vast

CLIFFHANGER

thrill-packed

CLASSICS,

the lowdown on Hollywood's seven greatest fun-

nymen and

lots more from exciting movies both

and new.
The thrill you get from a spectacular epic

old

knowledge of vintage motion pictures and production techniques, in combination with interview know-how, they have gone directly to the
screen sources to make STI the unique maga-

movie, the thrill generated by death-defying

stuntmen in action, the thrill of side-splitting
comedy, the thrill of a great film hero dashing

The following material has been prewill be seen in future issues

of SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED:

TRATED.

zine

it

is.

pared for you and

Exclusive

wood

stars,

fabulous

interviews

with

four

great

Holly-

behind-the-scenes information on a

TARZAN

epic,

stories

on

ten

never-

to

the

rescue and the

drama all

these

Relive

moments with

thrill

of tense

screen

SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSmost unforgettable movie

are

the

us

each

issue.

Your

favorite

screen stars, comedians and adventure heroes

will

be here waiting don't be late!

age that makes great stuntmen! A long overdue

tribute is due them!
was extremely interested in Bart Andrews'
letter which
stated his ambitions regarding
I

and displayed a solid background

knowledge of the subject.
am currently engaged in film projects which employ just such
and stunts. If Bart and other amateur
stuntmen, over twenty years old and living in
New York area are interested in learning more
stuntwork

fights

about

the

possibility

my

project,

will

answer

stuntwork

of

me

contact

please

regarding

immediately.

Bob Miller
217 Maujer
Brooklyn

We

are

personally.

inquiries

all

more

planning lots

St.

New York

6,

the

in

wav

of

stunting stories and realize the great contribu-

THE STARS SPEAK

A good

friend

me

sent

Screen Thrills and how

it

over.

You

really have

an October issue of
have enjoyed

something it

looking

grand.

is

Being one of the old timers it did me lots of

good to think back a few years while reading
the magazine.
worked in my first picture in
1910 and from then on for many years. Seeing
I

many of my old
made me very happy.

pictures of so
Thrills

played

the

in

and then, of
sound serial.

friends in Screen

silent

first

productions.

for Selig

serial

am looking forward to reading

next issue, you have a great magazine,
and please know that
wish each and every one
of you the best of everything for many coming
I

STI

editors

talked

also

to

distin-

fond memories of the films they did together. In recent years Edmund Cobb has proven

action

petent character actors.

we

our best as

We

at

him

wish

STI

look forward to seeing him

more and more outstanding

in

roles.

everywhere.

fans

To

like

some

see

Tom

don't miss

action,

in

thrill-a-

SMASHING STUNTMEN on page

issue's

48.

SILENT SCREEN TREASURES

do wish and hope that you would dig back

to the days

when

were the king of enter-

serials

tainment and the product that brought the customer back to the box office week after week

and

lot of

in

so

your

screen

the

of

minute shots of stunters

this

held

be one of the movies' and TV's more com-

daredevils

that

tions

Steele and Dale Van Sickel have given to true

guished actress Fay Wray, who was one of Ed's

leading ladies, and who mentioned that she

to

things, had a part in the first

all

THE RANGE (Truart 1923) and FANGS OF DESTINY (Universal 1927). A rugged he-man. talented actor and pleasing personality all rolled into
one is how he came across in these vintage

that

the

would be

instances several times a week

exploits

screen

our

of

heroes

faithfully followed.

have several fine big books on the history

movies and while they are great in

themselves, your magazine is far and above
of

years.

Edmund Cobb

the

their scope. That is because they have frozen

themselves to that one volume and there they

Hollywood, California

ehd. Whereas your magazine continues to pub-

The story you did on me was very good.

showing it to Red Skelton and Jerry

lish and issue after issue brings out articles

and photographs that show other phases of a
life that we knew very little about at the time
that those movies were being produced.

enjoyed
Lewis.

Milton Frome

A most enioyable feature of your magazine is

that you seek out many of our old time favorites
and thus you bring us up to-date with the stars
we knew and followed and stili hold dear
in the memory of the wonderful performances
tha't they gave for our enjoyment. Your maga-

Hollywood, California
{featured in STI No. 7)

Here

am wishing

wonderful
not

spread

express

some

my

in

The

timers"

the
can-

that

about

reading

and

seeing

zine with

their

to the

and very interesting to read. You are doing a

know the "old'
wonderful job, keep it uo as
timers" appreciate what you are doing the

but

Edmund Cobb

V.

(featured

Wright
in STI

a staunch, enthusiastic

and stuntmen,

Nevada

City.

No. 7)

1927

thought

was

it

very well

together

out

The pictures turned out fine. My family

and friends enjoyed it very much.
article.

Fred Scott

it

has given

ure to see Republic

me

admirer of stunts
particular pleas-

Pictures get their due

in

The acknowledged leaders in

and westerns, it follows that Republic
would have had the finest stuntmen on the payyour

magazine.

roll.

hope SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED will do

on the two "real" heroes of Republic's
serials
Tom Steele and Dale Van Sickel!
.
Working as a team, Tom and Dale took turns
I

a story

Hollywood. California
(featured in STI No.

8)

doubling

Most

of these authentic

comments are from

whose careers have heen covered

Edmund Cobb, one of Hollywood's great

personalities
in

STI.

veterans

of

screen,

the

venture fans a
tertainment.

We

has given

movie

ad-

share of action packed enare planning a career story on

full

him for a future issue. Along these lines, STI

editors just recently screened two of Ed Cobb's
RIDERS OF
outstanding silent starring Westerns

this
lot

names

all

the

Republic

serial

men

leading

throughout most of the forties and

fifties

with Republic actually choosing their serial stars

to

match the stuntmen. Now each

"action

heavy,"

man who

lasted

the
till

chief

the

serial

villian's

last

had an
hand

right

episode while

all

the other bad guys bit the dust, one by one.

Tom was

stunting for the

hero,

the

...

and

doubling honors for the action heavy

vice-versa.

If

Dale did

They had the speed, style and cour-

been

much

the

big,

days

is

the studios

in

those

in

little

long

will

be

who played

those pioneer days

by the chaps who

books about the movies and

overlooked

write those big fat

tors,

time fans

I'm going to bring out

to cover, including an actor

has

without

may be

letter

of the old

quite a few pictures

and

serials
I

think a

you

for
in

Long

Mack

in

CALLING ALL STUNTMEN

life.

Boulder

interested in the

do. What is even more surnrising is

same as
the number of people here in the village who
remember some of the people in Screen Thrills.
My personal wishes that your magazine enjoys

long and prosperous

neighborhood theater.

know that

and photographs bring

articles

its fine

us back to the days of a glorious youth and back

written

wonderfully

are

stories

Thrills.

when

feelings

the '"old

of

pictures.

for

Words

you

thank

to

Screen

variation write

Many

big stars.

continually

up the same acfine

actor of

overlooked

because

those days were not geared to

properly exploit their acting properties and as a

consequence some of the favorites of our day

became forgotten men.
have in mind was a diminutive
The one
I

cowboy

We

star with the

name

of "Shorty" Hamilton.

do wish you would give us some photos and

a story about him as to

became

of him.

who he was and what

was active in the

believe he

years 1915-1921.

Others that we would like to see some stories

on are Neal Hart who was billed as "America's
He was a real cowboy as was Joe Ryan
Pal."

who was on the Vitagraph roster as the heavy

opposite William Duncan. Another real cowboy
was Vester Pegg who came out of rodeos and
(Continued on page 6)

VOLUME

August, 1964

NO.

3,

ILLUSTRATED

mm #

Editor

SCREEN THRILLS
ILLUSTRATED
MATINEE MAIL

THE MEN BEHIND THE MASK OF ZORRO

M.

SHERMAN
16

Executive Editor
& Art Director

ROBERT PRICE
Contributing Editor

FORREST

continue to get our share

of fan mail, that time-honored "stamp of approval" in the magazine industry.
You'll meet them all as, one by one, they step
up for examination in this detailed study of the
robed rogue's long screen history.

Editorial Director

SAMUEL

We

4
and Publisher

JAMES WARREN

ACKERMAN

A special STI "Tribute to a ToughGuy" the late Alan Ladd, who rose from bit
part obscurity to the front ranks of Hollywood's
brightest stars, only to pass away on the threshold of a new career.
ALAN LADD

24

PRIVATE SCREENING Pa Jector's new

deavors have in no way interfered with his

26

BUCK JONES

34

FLYING AND FIGHTING HEROES Here they

come! More pics and facts on those adventurous

42

AMERICA'S OLDEST SCREEN SPELLBINDER

determination to

fulfill

odd and unusual

Managing Editor

LEE IRGANG

enold

your requests for those

stills.

to hundreds of requests, this all-time great star of the range,

long overdue for the STI career treatment, at
last

In

answer

takes his well-deserved place

in

our Wes-

tern Hall of Fame.

SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED, published

quarterly

knights of the neighborhood movie palaces:

Superman, Flash Gordon, Dick Tracy, Tarzan,
Blackhawk, etc.

by Warren Publishing Co. Editorial, Advertising and

Subscription Offices at 1426 East Washington Lane,
38, Pa. Second-class mail privileges

Philadelphia

pending at Philadelphia, Pa., with additional entry

pending at Sparta, Illinois,
Printed in U.S.A. Entire contents copyrighted
by Warren Publishing Co.

1964

SUBSCRIBER CHANGE OF ADDRESS: Give 6 weeks

notice. Send an address imprint from recent issue
or state exactly how label is addressed. Send eld
address as well as new.
CREDITS

AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Victor

Adam-

Ida Belaney, John Cocchi, William Haddock,

King Features Syndicate, Dan Levitt, National Periodical Publications, Inc., E. J. Perry, Bob Randall.
son,

of "Silent Bill" Haddock, pioneer director, who was up to his megaphone

film -making during the days when "movies

The amazing story

in

really

48

moved."

THE SMASHING STUNTMEN

Pa Jector fans

Good news

for

all

STI's venerable vault-keeper

broadens the scope of his operations in the
form of a full-length article!
!

performers that you have mentioned and are

working on new stones in this

continuously

Think you'll enjoy this issue's article on

area.

amazing
You"II

"Silent

Haddock

Bill"

many

find

your

of

page

on

42.

including

favorites,

Francis Ford and George Larkin, covered in the

(Continued from page

think

still

seems

to

active

is

this

presenting

in

story

to

life

Then
his

could

life

be

in

later

Duncan the famous

serial' star and

Universal

two beautiful leading

ladies, Carol

and later on Edith Johnson.

married Duncan. Last time

In

here of Francis Ford shows

feature. The photo

his brother's (John Ford)

in

magazine

your

noticed

was very

When

the other wonderful serial queens such

as Marie Walcamp, Neva Gerber, Ann Little,

of

Lil-

and Jean Paige, who married Albert

Vitagraph

and

let's

not

forget

Juanita Hansen.

will

History

continue

work.

Western

realize the

the

but

star,

name was Jack

played to
of

full

names

the

the

Forlorn

others

Stars, like

was a

kid

Tom
my

ones you have menwas not

to

Holt.

me
Some

houses back
of

his

was

he
of

tops.

his

His

Westerns

Some

in

the

20's,

pictures

are

as follows:

West,

Wild

River

and

Horse

many

Mesa,

article

on

him.

Sunset

others.

would sure appreciate

an

It

it

if

will

Pass,

and many
you could
be

probably

Never the less Jack Holt was one of the best

portray

Glad you like our STI style of screen scuven-

We

im-

the

The Thundering Herd, Man of The Forest, The

Enchanted Hill, Wanderers of the Wasteland, Born

to

iring.

ex-

this

especially the

interesting,

etc.

of

the same old story. He was not a Western star.

West New York, New Jersey

In

tioned. Probably to you and others he

write

Dino

It

Mix,

to

Tom

the

publishing

Movies and we hope you

feel

"Screen

entitled,

Cowboy

Smith

life."

having met
was strongly

in

and

actor

pressed by him as an individual.

STAR OF WESTERNS

in

Ken Maynard,
favorite was none

You are writing and

wonderful

Hollaway

articles on the old time

E.

fortunate

THE QUIET MAN, which Republic

production of

Thrills."

in this very interesting

nature in "real

released in 1952.

time Miss Johnson

we saw him was

Hopalong Cassidy western, also appearing in

was Clara Kimball Young.
One or two more and Hi close. The story of
the serials will not be complete unless you
cover the life of Eddie Polo, Francis Ford,
Charles Hutchison, Ben Wilson, George Larkin,
Pear] White and her great rival, Ruth Roland

of the

menace" was

cordial

tremely

that picture

all

millions passed on Peter

movie personality as the "man
offset by a warm and

of

Lorre. His

of

him as he appeared

installments.

lian Lorraine

we do

as?

favorite

Francis Ford

and

if

Just as we were going to press word

was sadly received that a great screen
actor had died. On March 23, 1964 a film

when the movies were

too, there is William

and

you that

tell

story,"

the

of 1962, Forry

Fall

come with him

to
in

Ackerman invited me
Producers Studio

to

Hollywood, where AlP's THE RAVEN was

winding up

day of shooting. Hav-

last

its

met and talked to Lorre in the past,

Forry was well acquainted with him when
ing

west.

John

importance of the pioneer

McCullough

Mt. Vernon, Ohio

he introduced me to the former "Mr.

Moto." Peter Lorre was so friendly and
without

affectation

that

conversation

about his various roles came easily and

informally. I remember him commenting on Warners' MASK OF DIMITRIOS

very

(1944) as one of his better films and one

of his favorites too.

He was "good"

in

that one and played an unusual type of

screen hero. This man with the sinister

screen personality was a "regular guy"

and

those

who

knew him

think twice about

it.

have

informal

shared

an

he was
do

in

the

well

didn't

feel privileged to

with Peter Lorre. No matter

movies, he

conversation

how

"evil"

really

could

"good."

As an actor he quite
amply proved this. We, his audience will
only

miss him.

Sam

Sherman

Keep reading
to:

"Silent

Bill"

"it

and uncovered information. By definition, Jack

Holt was certainly a Western star as he starred
in Westerns. However, he did many other kinds
of films too, as is the case with other Western

fied

covers so great a span

case the story of his

his

in

several

old

Our editors always seek

when covering the career

up much new

usually turn

films.

in

that his story should be written at length and

Vitagraph

same

the

who can go way back

young. Anderson's

the

favorite

writer that

on

few people of the movie industry around

are

old

bave also starred

you are a bit

readers of your fine
Broncho Biliy Anderson,
Hollywood's first movie cowboy. He is still alive
thank God and it seems quite in order for you
to prepare the "Life of Broncho Billy." There
It

magazine

reader can

STI

solid

not be

out the unusual and

of an

Wayne,

a star rider with the Miller Brothers 101

Ranch and for years and years gave wonderful
to Harry Carey and other Universal
Western stars. A fine cowboy was Jim Corey,

support

slow

Any

feature on Jack Holt.

stars. People like Bill Elliott, Don Barry, John

Bob Livingston, Bob Steele and many
more are most certainly Western stars, but they
in many non-Westerns. If you
like an actor why worry about what he's classi-

4)

was

who

will

Haddock

Cliff

STI and keep writing

Hanger, SCREEN THRILLS

ILLUSTRATED. 1426 East Washing,

ton Lane, Philadelphia, Penna. 19138.

THESE GREAT STARS

HAVE MADE ZORRO,

THE SPANISH

WORD

FOR

SYNONYMOUS WITH
ACTION IN ANY LANGUAGE

'FOX',

JOHNSTON
WHEN
LEY penned

McCUL-

his original story

of Capistrano" in 1919
detailing the exploits of Don Diego
Vega the fop by day and masked
avenger by night he really started

"The Curse

something! For over the years the

character he created has furnished
the basis for many adventurous film
sagas of Old California in the T)ays
of the Dons.'
Hollywood has produced no less
than five authentic Zorros as well
as several "descendants" of the
original Vega. Douglas Fairbanks,

was the first Hollywoodian to

recognize the cinematic potential in
McCulley's yarn and purchased the
screen rights in 1920. His feature,
Sr.

THE MARK OF ZORRO,

proved

a new type of role for the dashing

Doug and launched him upon his

never-to-be-forgotten caof screen "swashbuckling" in

fabulous
reer

costume dramas.

Doug
Continuing the precedent established by Doug Fairbanks almost
twenty years before, Reed Hadley treated audiences to some exciting swordplay in ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION.

Bob Livingston portrayed Johnston

heavily-masked
daring rogue in THE BOLD
Color' production in 1936.

CABALLERO,

Republic's

McCulley's

first

'Natural

set the pace

Bringing his amazing athletic

abilities to the part of the daring
Zorro and well-known comic skill
to

the

role

of

Diego,

Doug

suc-

ceeded in casting the classic mold

from which all ensuing interpretations were to be patterned. All this
was to be expected from such a
popular performer but, if anything,
he outdid himself in the role of the
"fop." Doug's riding, fighting and
swordsmanship were perfection itself; but audiences and critics alike
were captivated by his antics as the
languid, perfumed ladiesman who
seems content to loaf through life
in fancy clothes and rich surroundings.

The film's story, too, set the style

for most of the screen plays to follow. The aristocratic Don Diego
returning from Spain where he has
been educated, is horrified at the
tyranny prevailing in Spanish California. As "Senor Zorro," Diego
wages a one-man war against the
villainous Captain

Ramon

(Robert

is in cahoots with the

corrupt Governor (George PerioIn order to divert suspicion
from himself, Diego assumes the
guise of the simple-minded, hand-

McKim) who
lat).

dandy, fooling
everyone including his lady-love,
(Marguerite de la Motte).

kerchief-flourishing

Lolita

In 1925, Doug filmed a sequel

Q, SON OF ZORRO,
repeating the success of the original.
also done in Rudolph Val-

entitled

As was

DON

entino's

THE SON OF THE

SHIEK

(1926), Fairbanks played

a dual role, as both the son

and the

He

started it all! The one and only Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. rescuing his fair lady, Marguerite de
Motte, and inflicting THE MARK OF ZORRO upon villain Robert McKim (1920).
father

who comes

to the aid of his

offspringt
It was not until 1936 that Senor
Zorro again slashed his way across
the screen; this time in "natural

color."

THE BOLD CABALLERO

was Republic Pictures' first color

film but it was not lull color as we
know it today. Instead, Magnacolor, one of the screen's early rwocolor processes was used. Develop-

ed

by Consolidated Film

tries,

its

tints

Indus-

WE'RE IN THE LEGION NOW,

CAPTAIN CALAMITY and DEV-

ON HORSEBACKunder

name

"Hirlicolor," for the

of those films,
The star of

ALLERO

of

that

studio's

1936

serial

THE VIGILANTES ARE COMING and its THREE MESQUITEERS

who

series.

Director Wells Root,

also did the screen treatment,

adapted the Fairbanks idea into an

exciting remake which gave Livingston the opportunity of being the
screen's

first

talking Zorro.

the
producer

George A. Hirliman.

THE BOLD

CAB-

was Robert Livingston,

Republic's Western lead who was
rapidly rising to box-office fame by

Root's adaptation had Diego incensed by the cruelty and taxation

being imposed upon Indians of
Santa Cruz by the Commandante
(Sig Rumann) of the local garri(Robert
son. When a Governor
Warwick) appointed by the King
of Spain arrives in California to
take over the province, the Com-

mandante

kills

him blaming

Zorro. Diego charms his

way

it

on

into

the Commandante's confidence un-

la

der the ruse of arranging a marriage

with
the
Governor's
orphaned
daughter, Isabella (Heather Angel),
which will enable the Commandante to gain legal control of the
locality.

Many

striking

situations,

laced with sensational stunts and

swordplay, lead to the film's exciting conclusion.
Bob Livingston recently discussed

THE BOLD CABALLERO's

a taxing situation

were predominately

blue and orange and the process

was also used on three Grand Nafeatures of the period
tional

IL

way

film-

ing with us and made several interesting comments on a variety of

subjects including the merits of
Magnacolor, complete with a graphic description of its hues. Of particular interest was the fact that
he, too, was taught the finer points
of fencing by Hollywood's sword

the late Fred Cavens.

"yes, Fred knew his business alBob recalled. "He taught us
In addition to myself, screen
Fairbanks, Tyrone Power
and Guy Williams all benefited by
specialist,

right,"
all.

Zorros

his tutelage.

Fred passed away

in

1962 and has been sorely missed

around the studios. As a swords-

man he had no peer"

}

Of
this

sufficient interest to note at

point was the release, just a

few weeks prior to

THE BOLD

CABALLERO, of a pseudo-Zorro
This was THE
OF SANTA FE, a
product of Burroughs-Tarzan Pictures, in Cinecolor; a picture with
film, also in color.

PHANTOM

a curious history.

Hawk'

Phantom'

to

Actually filmed some half-dozen

HAWK,
years previously as
this feature was never released due
to technical difficulties, not the least
of which was star Norman Kerry's
bad speaking voice. A popular leading man of the silents, Kerry found
this to be his downfall in the talkies. Ashton Dearholt, a former actor-turned-producer and one of the
partners in the Burroughs-Tarzan
company, became interested in the
footage in 1936, and managed to
turn it into a saleable property. Reedited and with a completely dubbed voice track plus musical score,
the resulting effort was entitled

THE

THE PHANTOM OF SANTA FE

ZORRO RIDES AGAIN Republic's first Zorro serial smash! Yakima

Canutt, doubling for star John Carroll, executes the fabulous horseto-moving truck transfer and, below, Duncan Renaldo admires portrait
of Carroll's great-grandfather, the original Zorro.

and sold as a brand new

months in the making."
THE
was

film

HAWK

"many

originally

filmed in Multicolor, another pioneer bi-pack (or two-color) system,

but by 1936 these labs had been
taken over by Cinecolor, who furrelease
nished the final
prints. While not an exact imitation
of Zoito in that the hero did not
wear a mask, the screenplay did

PHANTOM

follow

the

classic

story

line

laid

down by McCulley. Kerry portrayed the lazy, sleepy fop as a disguise

and became the mysterious "Hawk"
to avenge the wrongs perpetrated
by villain Frank Mayo and his band
of renegades.

in

modern times

Republic had no idea of letting

the daring Zorro remain as inactive
as he had previously and so, shortly after

THE BOLD CABALLERO,

put our hero to work in his first

serial, the classic ZORRO RIDES

AGAIN released in 1937. There

was a switch, however, in that this
was a "modern" Western, and Zorro
was no longer Don Diego but instead his "great-grandson" James
Vega (John Carroll).
This was the first joint effort of
Republic's famous William Witney-

directing team and

the serial-duo chalked up their iniscore for this one.
plot centering around the activities of in-

John English

tial

Marsden (Noah Beery)

henchman El Lobo (Dick

dustrialist

and

his

Alexander) to sabotage the building of the California- Yucatan railroad, provided audiences with some
of the most stirring situations ever
seen in a sagebrush serial.
Behind the mask through the en12 chapters was that dean of
stuntmen, Yakima Canutt, who was
never better. He had previous experience in "Zorro-ing" for he had
doubled in the Livingston feature.
Unlike the previous film, which had
tire

much

way of dramatics, the

being mostly action, furnish-

in the

serial,

Yak with almost as

footage as star Carroll!

ed stuntman

much

organizes "Legion"
ZORRO

RIDES AGAIN was,

needless to say, a slashing success
and

prompted

another

Republic

ZORRO'S FIGHTING LE-

serial,

GION

The famous "unmasking" scene from ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION.

Reed Hadley prepares to remove the helmet of Don Del Oro, supposedly re-incarnated Yacqui idol portrayed by Montague Shaw.
Below, Don Diego serenades the beautiful Isabella (Bob Livingston
and Heather Angel) in THE BOLD CABALLERO.

in 1939. For this version,

audiences were taken back a few
decades in time; again to the days
of Don Diego. Reed Hadley, long
before his emergence as a TV star
in RACKET SQUAD and PUBLIC
DEFENDER, became the third

actor to portray the original Zorro

on the screen.

ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION

was the

first of the Zorro adventures

to take place in Mexico, rather than
California. Here the "Legion" was

organized to combat the activities

of Montague Shaw who, while masquerading as Don Del Oro, a Yacqui Indian idol, tried to incite an
uprising in order to stop the flow
of gold to Juarez in Mexico City.
Witney and English repeated their
earlier triumph, again aided and
abetted by Yakima Canutt in the
saddle.

plays 'Fox' for Fox

In November 1940, almost twenday after Fairbanks

ty years to the
released

THE MARK OF ZORRO,

20th Century-Fox brought forth the

first "official" re-make bearing the
original

title.

Tyrone Power starred

and made a

valiant, albeit not too

attempt to inherit the
Fairbanks mantle. More of an actor
than a true swashbuckler, Power's
performance was thought by many
critics to suffer by comparison with
that of Fairbanks. Indeed, one New

successful,

York

reviewer, remembering

Doug

In the classic Zorro tradition, John Carroll championed the local peons and, in addition, ended the
attempts to sabotage the California- Yucatan Railroad in ZORRO RIDES AGAIN (1937).

as a "swashbuckler who swashed

with magnificent arrogance and
swished, when required, with great
style," thought that Power rather
reversed the role and "overdid the
swishing with a swash more beautiful than bold." Nevertheless, the
Fox film featured a rousing finale
in the form of a jim-dandy duel
between the unmasked Zorro and
the villainous Captain Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone), with luscious Linda Darnell as the prize.
Republic next brought Zorro back
into their serial fold with two cliffhangers based on the exploits of

some

rather

ants" of

Don

contrived "descendDiego. About the only

SON OF

thing George Turner, the

ZORRO

(1947),

Moore, the
(1949), had

Clayton

and

GHOST OF ZORRO
in

common

with their

was a similar black outfit. For one of Republic's biggest frauds, though, we must
turn back to 1944.
illustrious predecessors,

the fraudulent Zorro

Zorro had it easy in '44, for in
the only
time he appears was in the title of
the film! After a single credit acknowledging McCulley as the creator of the character, the chapter-

ZORRO'S BLACK WHIP

play went about its business of depicting the hazards experienced by

the "Whip" (Linda Stirling), a mysterious figure clad in a Zorro-like
costume.
Walt Disney added a Zorro series
to his TV schedule in the late fifties.
Reverting to the old locale, these
shows starred Guy Williams as
Diego and placed a rather too heavy
emphasis on the comedy provided
by Henry Calvin as a sort of Oliver
Hardy-ish "Sergeant Garcia." Some
of the early episodes were directed
by Bill Witney himself, however,
and reflected much of the flavor of
the early Republic serials. Music
by William Lava, who had written
13

The sign of the "Z" heralds the end of Captain Esteban Pasquale (Basil Rathbone)
Fox's remake of THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940). Administering the coup de grace
themes

for the Republics, also contributed to this mood and many

stunts were performed for Williams
by Dave Sharpe, another old Republic stand-by.

The most recent of Hollywood's

long line of Zorros
Williams, of the Disney

was Guy
TV stable.

in
is

20th CenturyTyrone Power.

seems safe to predict, though, that

Zorro's American film career is far
from over, and that it will not be
too long before he is once again
charging before the cameras of the
film capital.

revamped for theatres

In 1959, some active minds at
Republic put together feature versions

and

of ZORRO RIDES AGAIN

GHOST OF ZORRO, distrib-

uted them theatrically, and hoped

Many factors are responsible for

the undying appeal of this colorful
knight-errant; and when he dashes
about the countryside, brandishing
his blade and carving "Z's" into the
opposition, each member of the
audience experiences his ow,n par-

from the public interest

generated by the
show. Not to
be outdone, Disney assembled a
feature-length compilation himself

ticular thrill. But no doubt the basic

lure is the sense of participation in
classic high adventure that he im-

THE

modern age, it becomes more and

more of a necessity for both young
and old alike to periodically "escape" into that bygone era where
bold caballeros defended honor and

to benefit

TV

and released

it

in

1960

titled

SIGN OF ZORRO.
In recent years there have been
a few Zorro pictures produced in
Italy, including some starring exHollywood actor Frank Latimore,
but to date, these have received
Httle exposure on these shores. It
14

parts.

Amid

the complexities of this

womanhood with

equal aplomb;

all

to the tune of galloping hoofs, thundering pistols and flashing blades!

imbue 10 A TOUGH GUY

One

of Hollywood's great adven-

WAS WITH immediate

IT shocking
impact
that

and
the

SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRAT-

ture stars is gone, but the world

won't soon forget the smashing

action he brought to the screen!

ED

learned the tragic news of

Alan Ladd's death. Hours before the
information was released on the east
coast, STI editors were speaking by
phone with Max Terhune, famed
Western screen comedian, who was
talking from California. Max had
staff

Alan Ladd and Van Hefiin go after the heavies

received this bad news early and
sadly relayed it. He had known Alan
Ladd due to personal appearance
shows done in conjunction with
Paramount Pictures. Their first informal meeting however, had humorous undertones according to

Max:
"Back about 1942 or 1943, J was
returning home from San Francisco
by train after doing a show there.
I spotted a good looking young man
in uniform who was sitting near me
and thought he looked familiar. I
asked him if anybody had ever told
him that he looked like Alan Ladd.
Was I surprised when he answered:
"I am Alan Ladd!" He then went on
to ask: "Tell me Max, are you still
making Westerns out at Republic?"
Well, that started us off talking, and
to this day I
being friendly

still

think of

and

natural.

him as
He was

not a phony."

The Ladd story is not one of overnight success or of undeserved popularity. He worked hard to get to the
top and when he got there, his own
abilities and talent kept him there.
He was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas on September 3, 1913. At the
age of eight California became his
home when his family moved to
North Hollywood. Enjoying phys18

ical activity,

in classic

Alan was a track and

star at North Hollywood

also liked to swim at city
pools, which contributed to his daily
exercise and good health. Members

swimming
High.

He

of his school music and dramatics

department saw that he had talent
and decided to give him a chance
to display it. This came in the form
of selecting him to play and sing
the Koko role in their production
of
MIKADO.

THE

no stars wanted
As the big studios in the 1930's
were always looking to add new
youngsters to their star rosters,
trainee programs were instituted by.
most of the major companies. Fresh
from refusing an athletic scholarship
to the University of Southern California (as he felt that earning a living was more important) was young
Alan Ladd. Spotted by studio talent
scouts from Universal, he was selected to become a member of their
future-star experiment. Unfortunatethe dramatic development plan
failed and Alan was dropped along
with another hopeful Tyrone Power! This did not dismay him however, he knew he could always find
ly,

work somewhere and

his

physical

SHANE

fitness

brawl.

would always come

in

handy.

In 1932 he scored as the West Coast

diving champ and also was the
holder of the 50 yard free-style interscholastic record.

the grip
With ambition under his belt he
ready to conquer the world and
started by taking a job with the now
defunct San Fernando Sun-Record.
Proving adaptable to a variety of
assignments, he worked as a reporter and also as the paper's advertising
manager. With a need to establish
himself in a profession that he felt
comfortable in, Alan tried operating
a cafe and selling cash registers.
Neither assignment lasted very long.
He felt he had to get back to the
movies. A friend who knew Alan's
capabilities helped him get a job at
Warner Bros, as a "grip". This was
the chance he needed to once again
get close to acting via the studios
who thrived on that very art. As he
had been a high diver, the supervisors knew that he was more conditioned to high places than the
average worker was. So, Alan was
assigned to do all the "high work"
This meant the job of rigging the
scaffolding for the lights that were
felt

most highly placed above the

being used that day.

He

sets

did this

work very well and in later years,

studio workers he had toiled with
respected him as a top "grip",
even though he was a leading Holly-

still

wood star at that time.

Beyond supplying him with

a
regular salary, the job as "grip"
really did nothing to advance his
acting career. This led to Alan's taking dramatics courses and instruction at the Bard Dramatic School.
Around this time he broke into the
film studios again as an extra and
bit player. Film Historian John
Cocchi recently commented on
Ladd's little known small parts:
"Alan Ladd first appeared before the
cameras in 1933. He was an extra
in

PIGSKIN PARADE

tury

(20th Cen-

Fox 1936), played unbilled

roles m THE LAST TRAIN FROM

MADRID (Paramount 1937),
THE HOWARDS OF VIRGINIA
(Columbia 1940), CITIZEN KANE

(RKO

1941) and although credited

as being in

BORN TO THE WEST

(Paramount 1938), he is not in evidence in that film and I know of

nobody who has spotted him in it!
Adding to the confusion is the rerelease of

as

BORN TO THE WEST

HELLTOWN,

Ladd

which plays up

in the advertising."

After leaving dramatic school,

about the time he was playing small
parts in feature pictures and appearing in commercial films and "Soundies" musical shorts, Alan Ladd was
hired as a radio actor by Los Angeles station KFWB. As the legend
goes, screen star turned agent Sue
Carol heard him on the air and was
impressed by his voice. Her ability

to recognize talent and direct a performer's career awakened Hollywood to Alan Ladd's screen potential. His parts became better and
better with Sue Carol in his corner.

They were

later

married on March

15, 1942.

killer hired
According to the Ladd legend,

it

was Sue Carol who interested Paramount Pictures and director Frank
Tuttle in this two-fisted actor, which
led to his being cast in a key role in
1942's

THIS

GUN FOR HIRE.

Al-

though his name was number four

in the cast, after those of Veronica
Robert Preston and Laird
Cregar, Alan Ladd did receive a big
play in the film's advertising, as
Paramount executives knew they
winner
in this actor. His name
had a
may have been fourth; however his
Lake,

picture rated top space in

most of

Ladd and Ben Johnson brought an explosive

in George Stevens' SHANE.

fist fight

to the screen

the film's ads.

ed special

Some

of

them

catchlines

featuralso

which

made him stand out: ALAN LADD,

a new star! See him nowremember him forever in a sensational role
that will burn itself into your heart!

On March

25,

MOTION

1942

PICTURE EXHIBITOR
GUN FOR HIRE

spoke of

THIS

and Alan
Ladd: "Alan Ladd, known as the
Raven, professional killer, is hired
by Laird Cregar, executive of Nitro
Corporation and owner of a night
club, to kill Frank Ferguson, exemployee who has a secret poison
gas formula, stolen from Nitro, to
sell or give to the Government. Back
of Cregar is Tully Marshall, aged,
Ladd on paill head of Nitro. .
triotic motives, gets Marshall and
Cregar to sign confessions of guilt
kills Cregar, Marshall dies of
a heart ailment, and Ladd is killed.
It ranks with the better product
. .
of its type. Ladd is an ace killer
and makes a good impression/'
.

Ladd
.

who's starring now?

Frame blowup of Alan Ladd from the 1940 motion picture CAPTAIN
CAUTION. As there were few good stills taken of him in this production (he had a small part), a re-release distributor had this
frame enlarged and played up Ladd as one of the movie's stars.

Alan Ladd

in

his

CAPTAIN CAREY

film

trenchcoat meant excitement for movie fans

U.S.A.

in

THIS GUN FOR HIRE was an

immediate sensation and established
the pattern for

many

Ladd

later

portrayals. With his boost to major

stardom also came a landslide of
so-called
Alan Ladd re-releases.
Films which he had made several
years earlier, none of which he actually starred in, were hastily put
out again with new advertising, playing up Ladd in no uncertain terms.
Typical of these reissues were UA's
:

1940 CAPTAIN CAUTION, Paramount's 1940 LIGHT OF WESTERN STARS and PRC's 1941 PAPER BULLETS, brought out again
as GANGS INC. In 1943 Monogram
released their 1940 production of

HER

FIRST

ROMANCE

as

RIGHT MAN, this' time billing featured player Alan Ladd over stars
Edith Fellows and Wilbur Evans.
Reviewers that year noted: "This
FIRST ROis a reissue of
MANCE. The added value of the
cast names now makes it a more
important picture than heretofore,
particularly in the case of Ladd.
Jacqueline Wells is now known as
Julie Bishop, and has also come far

HER

since."

parade of

hits

Winning a fabulous response from

and critics everywhere,
Ladd became Hollywood's

audiences

Alan

His acting ability

forceful personality crashed
through the movie screen to establatest sensation.

and

lish a fantastic legion of fans for

him. The Ladd pictures paid off
well at the box office, so well that
a Paramount executive once stated
that when the studio needed money

they just made a new Alan Ladd

movie. Typical of the critics' imLadd are these bravos
from MOTION PICTURE EX-

pressions of

THE GLASS KEY

HIBITOR:

some good acting by Ladd and

Donlevy
Ladd, who has developed into a first-rate menace, does as
good a job here as he did in THIS
GUN FOR HIRE." LUCKY JORDAN "A curious mixture of heroics and fast action, the selling angle
.

is Ladd, who is just about the toughest thing to hit the screen since
Humphrey Bogart. As the completely unmoral gangster in the early
part of the picture, he is excellent."
CHINA "It has the powerful Ladd
draw
Ladd's regeneration is believable"
.

Alan Ladd served

country in
fighting the
the screen.
his

by

real life as well as

He

wartime enemy on

served in the armed forces during

II and when he returned
to Hollywood, he found he was even
more popular than when he left. For
over ten years Alan quickened the
pulses of action hungry male movie-

World War

warmed

goers as he

the blood of
counterparts in the

female

their

solid screen entertainment that Paramount was starring him in. The

1952 release of Warner Bros.'

IRON MISTRESS

marked

THE

his re-

turn to the other studios as he continued in the type of roles he had

made famous.

Shane!
In 1953 however, Alan Ladd
demonstrated perhaps the greatest
display of his dramatic skills in
George Stevens' SHANEthe classic Western. All over the world this
production was hailed as Ladd's
most important since THIS GUN

FOR

HIRE.

NEW YORK

WORLD-TELEGRAM

"Alan
Ladd's unadorned but magnetic
presence is an ideal choice for the
title role."

NEW YORK MIRROR:

"Ladd has never been seen to better

advantage.
He shows new facets
of depth under Stevens' direction."
.

NEW YORK JOURNAL

CAN

AMERI-

Ladd's best screen per." BOXOFformance to date

FICE "In the title role, Alan Ladd
contributes a strong, restrained performance that easily qualifies as the
It's

best of his career."

THE HOLLY-

WOOD REPORTER:

"Alan Ladd

Making a tough screen Jim Bowie, Alan Ladd uses the famed "Bowie
in encounter with Ned Young. (THE IRON MISTRESS)

knife"

Ladd and Loretta Young prepare for the worst

in

war

torn

CHINA.

These exciting character studies of Alan

Ladd represent him at his dramatic best
in his last movie. He did such a good job
in
this fiim that a sequel,
NEVADA

SMITH, was planned for him to star

in.

The new production is still under consideration, but finding an actor to measure
up to Ladd's standards is no simple job.

"

turns in his finest performance since

first crashed into stardom with
HIRE, as Shane,
mysterious, gun-toting stranger
befriends homesteader Van
Heflin and his wife, Jean Arthur,

he

GUN FOR

THIS

who

when

Emile Meyer is
them off their

cattle tycoon

threatening to run
place."

The formation of Jaguar Productions demonstrated that Alan Ladd

was an able businessman

as well as

a good actor. His independent outfit

produced theatrical features and
also lensed a few TV shows. In more
recent years Alan is reputed to have

made

ORAZIO

film in Italy
or HORATIO.

known

He

as

appear-

ed on TV's GENERAL ELECTRIC

THEATRE and produced his own
radio showBOX 13, which added
to his many projects. His last movie,
a coproduction between Paramount and

THE CARPETBAGGERS,

Joseph E. Levine's Embassy Pictures, has been set for a summer '64
release. His unfortunate death at the
comparatively young age of 50 last
January 28th, sadly halted a new
aspect of his career.

As

"Nevada Smith"

THE CARPET-

in

the character

BAGGERS, Ladd

turned in so exdramatic performance that

a sequel was being planned for him
citing a

to star

in.

Tough

man

guy,

Alan

actor and business-

Ladd

combined

all

these roles into the picture of Hollywood success. It's hard to believe
he's gone.
END

In BEYOND GLORY this Alan Ladd wartime episode emerged as part

of a courtroom drama's search tor testimony which would straighten
out a military school misunderstanding.

ALAN LADD'S

1954

PARATROOPER: (Columbia) Leo Genn

FEATURE FILM CREDITS

All the films listed below are Paramount p
lures except where noted otherwise. Nar
next to the titles are players who were starror co-starred with Ladd.

HELL

TAVERN:

Gardner

Ed

(All-Star

auction)

1955

THE McCONNELL STORY: (Warner

O.S.S.:

Geraldine Fitzgerald

YEARS BEFORE THE MAST:'

Brian

Don

1947

Roland D
RULERS OF THE SEA:

CALCUTTA: Gail Russell

VARIETY GIRL: Bing Crosby (All-Star product
WILD HARVEST: Dorothy Lamour

1940

LIGHT OF THE WESTERN STARS: Victor Jory

IN OLD MISSOURI: (Republic) Weaver Bros.
MEET THE MISSUS: (Republic) Roscoe Karns

CAPTAIN CAUTION:
Victor

(United

Artists)

1956

HELL

ON

FRISCO BAYt (Warner

Bros.)

Edward G. Robinson
SANTIAGO: (Warner Bros.) Rosscna Podesta
1957

THE BIG LAND: (Warner Bros.) Virginia Mayo

BOY ON A DOLPHIN: (20th Century-Fox)
Sophia Loren

SAIGON: Veronica Lake

BEYOND GLORY: Donna Reed
WHISPERING SMITH: Robert Preston

THE* DEEP SIX:

[Warner Bros.) William Bendix

THE PROUD REBEL: (Buena Vista)

Mature

FIRST ROMANCE {RIGHT MAN): (Monogram) Edith Fellows

THOSE WERE THE DAYS: William Holden

HER

THE*

GREAT GATSBY:

Betly

Olivia deHcvilland

Field

THE BADLANDERS: (MGM) Ernest Borgnine

CHICAGO DEADLINE: Donna Reed

1941
"

Bros.)

June Allyson

THE BLUE DAHLIA: Veronica Lake

TWO
OF BERLIN:

Corp.)

(Columbia) Joan Tefzel

Shelley Winters

(Universal!

THE BLACK KNIGHT: (Columbia) Patricia Medina

DRUM BEAT: (Warner Bros.) Audrey Dalton

Russell

1946

BEASTS

BELOW ZERO:

SASKATCHEWAN:
DUFFY'S

SALTY O'ROURKE: Gail

1959

PETTICOAT POLITICS: (Republic) Roscoe Karns

THE BLACK CAT (Universal! Basil Rathbone
THE RELUCTANT DRAGON: (RKO Radio) Disney

Wanda

Hendrix

MAN

IN

THE NET: (United

Carolyn Jones
(Warner Bros.)

Artists)

GUNS OF THE TIMBERLAND:

Gilbert Roland

Cartoon feature

PAPER BULLETS (GANGS

Woodbury

INC.!:

(PRC) Joan

ALL THE

YOUNG MEN:

(Columbia)

1952
1942

JOAN OF PARIS: (RKO RADIO!

GUN FOR HIRE: Veronica

THIS

Michele Morgan
Lake

THE GLASS KEY: Brian Donlevy

LUCKY JORDAN: Helen Walker
STAR SPANGLED RHYTHM: Betty Hutton

RED MOUNTAIN: Lizabeth Scott

THE IRON MISTRESS: (Warner Bros.)
Virginia

Mayo

THUNDER IN THE EAST: Deborah

SHANE: Van Heflin
BOTANY BAY: James Mason
DESERT LEGION:

(Universal)

Kerr

Arlene Dahl

THE* CARPETBAGGERS:
George Peppard

(Paro

23

"We!!,

me

friends,

the front

office

shore

has

hoppin' this issue! Mind you now, 01' Pa

ain't

cornplainin'

none!

It's

jus'

that

can't

help bein' a little bit proud of my latest accomplishment here at STI.

trust you'll all
see my 'article' on page 48 but jus' to make
I

sure,

I'm

callin'

yore

attention

to

it

right

here and now. Gladden this of codger's heart

and take a peek. Yes, the letters have been
comin'

in

hot

'n'

heavy, resultin' in Pa's first

major assignment! Keep readin'

writin' and
who knows what the future may hold?"

Send yore requests to: PA JECTOR, SCREEN

THRILLS ILLUSTRATED, 1426 East Washington
Lane, Philadelphia, Penna. 19138

PA JECTOR

Enjoyed the SPIDER pies in STI No. 8, Pa. How

about a shot of Worren Hull as MANDRAKE,
THE MAGICIAN? Kathy Dempsey, Jackson,
Mississippi. No sooner said than done, kiddo!
In this gruelin' scene from Columbia's 1939
serial, Ernie Adams draws serious glances from

Mandrake and

his faithful servant, Lothar, por-

trayed by Al Kikume.
recently had the opportunity of seeing Denver Dixon's exciting production HALFWAY TO HELL.
Can you fell me if he has any new releases on his schedule? "Whifey" Robertson, Monrovia, California.
The answer to that one is yes, and here is a scene taken on the set of the latest Victor Adamson Production,
TICKETS TO TERROR, a suspense melodrama being filmed in Technicolor's new Techniscope process. Director Al Adamson (r) puts actors John Aimond and Roy Morton through their paces.

TWO

Those dueling sequences from THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD fSTI No. 7) were fantabulous! All
Tim Colt, Red Rock, Arkansas. Here's a highly interestin' one from MonoI can say is more, more, more/
gram's BREED OF THE BORDER (1933). The gent bein' pinned by Bob Steele is none other than the
late Fred Cavens, Hollywood's master of fencin' who numbered Errol Flynn among his pupils. You, as
well as onlookers George "Gabby" Hayes and Marion Byron, can learn more about Fred by readin'
our Zorro article in this ish.

my .action appetite like "Mounted Police" pictures. Let's see Allan Lane again as KING
OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED Maynard Rocke, Kermit, Texas. While not from that particular Republic
from its sequel, KING OF THE MOUNTIES (1942), should do. Anthony Warde dares

Nothing satisfies

serial, this incident

to match

brawn with Zane Grey's famous

fictional hero.

TRAGIC BLAZE that enTHE

veloped Boston's famous Cocoanut
Grove night club on the evening of

November 28, 1942, claimed over three

hundred victims, including one of
the world's most beloved Cowboy
idols. It was ironic, indeed, that
BUCK JONES, the splendid star of
sagebrush epics, should die in surroundings so far removed from his
beloved Western plains.
Buck was attending a party given
in his honor by a group of New England film exhibitors on the night of
the tragedy, when he was overcome
by the flames which suddenly swept
through the structure. His removal
to the Massachusetts General Hospital was followed by death two days
later

on November

30.

Trem Carr, veteran Western producer and a close friend of Jones

flown in from the coast
of the disaster, was
told by doctors that Buck died as a
who had

upon hearing

result of "smoke inhalation, burned

lungs, and from second and third
degree burns of the face and neck."
And that even had he survived,
Buck's career would have been over,
"so grotesquely was he disfigured."

Narrowly escaping death in the

same holocaust was producer-director

Scott B. Dunlap, Jones' personal representative, who had accompanied
the star on his trip East. They had
been pals since Buck's early days
in the film colony; a period that was

preceded by some rather adventurous pre-Hollywood years.

his early years

Born in Vincennes, Indiana on
4, 1889, young Charles Gebhart
grew up in the Southern Indiana
farm country and it was during this
period that he acquired his famous
nickname. It happened one day, so
the story goes, when "Chuck," as he
was first known, was thrown from a
cantankerous old mule. Circulation
of the story brought gales of laughter to his neighbors and provided a
Dec.

new handle

for

him when "Chuck"

became "Buck."

When he was twelve -years old,

his family pulled up stakes and headed for the Indian territory of Oklahoma to establish a "homestead.''
Locating near the town of Red Rock,
they took 1350 acres and attempted
to prove up the land.. These early
years on the Oklahoma frontier were
hard for the Gebharts, though, and
spending money was seen by
anyone, including teen-age Buck,
little

trails of
So,

adventure

Buck struck out on

his

own by

getting a job on the famous Miller

Bros. "101 Ranch." This was a gigantic spread located near the town of
Bliss, Oklahoma, and consisting of
101,000 acres; hence the term "101"

Ranch. The
boy wrought

life

working cowin Buck,

of a

many changes

and the 14-year-old farm hoy who

took the job at $15 a month plus
board, developed into a top $30 a
month hand by the time he was 17.
Many were the topics of conversation in ranch bunk houses during
those days and one of the most fascinating to Buck was auto racing.

He became

Columbia releases served both to re-establish Buck Jones at the

box-office and offer him financial security once again after his
fiascos of 1928-29. Above as he appeared in
RIDER (1933)
and below, throttling Harry Woods in the first Jones talkie, THE

SUNDOWN

LONE RIDER

(1930).

so interested, in fact,
that he suddenly decided to leave the
101 and head for Indianapolis, where
races were held.
"If was a big decision in my life,"
Buck later recalled. "I was a greenhorn through and through. I knew
absolutely
nothing about towns,
much less cities. But the roving
fever and my curiosity got the best
of me. I decided at the age of seventeen that it urns time I got out and
saw a little of the world.
"I'll
never forget how big and
bustling and exciting Indianapolis
looked to me. I couldn't get over the
noise! After an entire lifetime in the
silence of the outdoors, I couldn't
believe that people could actually
live in this clanking, confounded
racket. I spent the first night at a
hotel, but I couldn't sleep at all.
"The next day I made my way out
to the race track. It was practically
completed and already the famous
race drivers from all over the country were gathered, testing the track
and looking after their precious
motors. No one paid much attention
to me, except to stare at my cowboy's outfit as though I were a creature from, another world.

"But one fellow, who appeared to

be working as a mechanic, was very
nice to me. His name was Harry
Stillman, and he later became one
of the most famous race drivers in
the country. I told him I wanted to
get into the racing racket in some
way or another, and his first crack
was: 'These are automobiles, son, not
horses.'

Even though

knew he was

kidding me, we became fast friends."

Buck stayed at the Indianapolis
track for a year working as a mechanic before he enlisted in the Army
where, as a member of the 6th Cavalry, he saw service in the Philippines
against the Moros.

'big time' or bust

The

101

Ranch beckoned once more

following his Army discharge, but

after the exciting events experienced
by Buck during the previous years,
on the range seemed rather tame.
So it was with great enthusiasm that
he heard the news that the ranch
was going to send a "Wild West"
show out on the road. Signing on for
exhibitions of bronc riding and trick
roping, Buck traveled with the MILlife

LER BROTHERS

WEST SHOW

to

101

RANCH WILD

New

the troupe played their

tant date.

York, where
first

impor-

Prominent in many of Buck's early Columbia talkies was young Ward Bond, here getting an unexpected
heave-ho from THE FIGHTING RANGER (1934). Completing this foursome is Frank Rice & Dorothy Revier.
29

It was also in New York, this spring

of 1914 at Madison Square Garden,

that Buck played his "first important date." For it was here that he
first met Odelle Osborne, a circus
rider from Philadelphia, who soon
became Mrs. Jones.
"We got married in Lima, Ohio,"
according to Buck, "a year after we
had met, on horseback in the center
of the circus ring with half the
town applauding us and the other
half scandalized. But we didn't care.
We were in love, and we wanted to
do what we loved best, ride."
Hearing that there was big money
to be had in Chicago "breaking
horses" being purchased for the
French Cavalry, Buck and "Dell"
headed there where they managed
to accumulate quite a "roll." This
was used to finance their own small,
riding exhibition circus which proved
to be a profitable idea as they toured

the tank towns of the Dakotas and

Montana.

Buck's movie debut

Los Angeles, Buck was looking for

some steady employment when a
chance meeting with an old circus
pal, who was working "extra" in
westerns being filmed at Universal,
led him to his first encounter with
the cameras. There, on the old Universal City lot, Buck made his motion picture debut as a "sheepherder," for the magnificent sum of five
dollars a day.
The money from these first movie
jobs enabled the Joneses to establish a home in the film capital where
their daughter, Maxine, was born.
Buck always had the interests of his
family at heart and it was with
great pride that he later saw Maxine
married to Noah Beery, Jr.

Eventually Buck graduated from

extra work to featured parts in films
such as the 2-reelers made by Franklyn Farnum for Canyon Pictures
(BROTHER BJXL, UPHILL CLIMB
and DESERT RAT) and later to the
higher salaried position of stuntman,
where his range-riding background
proved a boon. So expert did he be-

come

The "big time" then beckoned when

Buck received an offer from the
Ringling Brothers Circus. Accepting,
he and Dell travelled with the show
to California where they were forced
to leave late in 1917 because she
was expecting a baby. Settling in

at this phase of movie-making,

that he was soon offered a $40-aweek contract as permanent yearround stuntman for the Fox Studios.
Fox executives were at that time
having plenty of troubles with their
chief bread-winner, Tom Mix. Tom

was

insisting

DAWN

So,

it.

as a sort of

Fox decided to build

up another Western star to scare
into line. Buck was selected, re-

Mix

ceiving a salary increase to $150 per

week, and was put to work in his
first starrer,

THE LAST STRAW.

long parade of hits

This was early in 1920. THE LAST
STRAW proved an immediate hit and
"Buck Jones," the embryo cowboy
star, drew enthusiastic praise from
critics and moviegoers everywhere.

For example, Wid's Daily, a trade

paper of the era, had this to say:
"William Fox has become his own
competitor and introduced a second
cowboy star in the person of Buck
Jones,

who makes

his initial

bow

to

Jones has personality

stardom.
just a little different than most of
the Western heroes we have had so
.

There is a certain sincerity of

purpose about his portrayal that is
Taking all in all,
sure to please.
it must be conceded that the latest
cowboy hero will probably meet with
the approval of the picture-loving
public, more especially those admirers of Western photoplays"
Truer comments were never printed and these proved to be some of
the understatements of the day; for
Buck plunged into one of Hollywood's
far.

comic. Charles King, Buck and Hank Mann waiting for some
TRAIL, a 1931 Beverly Pictures Production released by Columbia.

Two veteran Westerners and one veteran

plot developments along the

upon more money and

threatened to stop making pictures

unless he got
threat to him,

most amazing film

ing

careers. Follow-

THE LAST STRAW

scores of silent
including
in

he starred in

programmers
1920:

for

Fox

FORBIDDEN

TRAILS, FIREBRAND TREVISION,

THE SQUARE SHOOTER, SUNSET

SPRAGUE, JUST PALS.
1921:
TWO MOONS, THE BIG
PUNCH, THE ONE-MAN TRAIL, GET
YOUR MAN, STRAIGHT FROM THE
SHOULDER, BAR NOTHIN', RIDING
WITH DEATH.
1922:
WESTERN SPEED, TO A
FINISH, ROUGHSHOD, THE FAST
MAIL, TROOPER O'NEIL, WEST OF

CHICAGO, BELLS OF SAN JUAN,

BOSS OF CAMP FOUR.
1923: THE FOOTLIGHT RANGER,
SNOWDRIFT, HELL'S HOLE, ELEVENTH HOUR, SKID PROOF, SECOND HAND LOVE, BIG DAN, CUPID'S FIREMAN
1924: NOT A DRUM WAS HEARD,
THE VAGABOND TRAIL, THE ARIZONA EXPRESS, THE CIRCUS COWBOY, WESTERN LUCK, AGAINST
ALL ODDS, THE DESERT OUTLAW,

WINNER TAKE ALL, THE MAN WHO

PLAYED SQUARE.
1925: THE ARIZONA ROMEO, THE
TRAIL RIDER, GOLD AND THE
GIRL, THE TIMBER WOLF, DURAND OF THE BADLANDS, LAZYBONES, THE DESERT'S PRICE.
1926: THE COWBOY AND THE
COUNTESS, THE FIGHTING BUCKAROO, A MAN FOUR-SQUARE, THE
GENTLE CYCLONE, THE FLYING
HORSEMAN, 30 BELOW ZERO.
1927 DESERT VALLEY, THE WAR
HORSE, WHISPERING SAGE, HILLS
OF PERIL, GOOD AS GOLD, CHAIN
:

LIGHTNING, BLACKJACK, SILVER

VALLEY, BLOOD WILL TELL and, in

THE BRANDED SOMBERO.

1928.
It

was at Fox that Buck formed

his

close association with "Scotty" Dunlap, who directed some of these

early treasures. In the eight years he

starred for Fox, Buck became that
company's second largest money-

earner and was reputedly earning

$3500 per week in the later years of
Such affluence was, perhaps, Buck's temporary downfall, for
his contract.
this

accumulation of capital prompt-

ed him to sever relations with Fox

and embark on two financially disastrous ventures of his own.

Big Hop' flops

Earliest of these was his initial attempt at independent film-making
in 1928. The first of his "Buck Jones-

Productions," THE BIG HOP, received bad reviews, proved a boxoffice failure and ultimately resulted
in a loss of some $50,000 for Buck.
The novelty of sound was just coming to the fore at the time of THE
BIG HOP'S release and, while actually a silent picture with titles, it
was issued with "Synchronized Music and Sound Effects," using the
Cortella Phone disc system. Placed
"States Rights" distribution
into
channels, the film did not get the
circulation it might have had, if

Buck Jones' authentic range background was reflected in his

realistic screen characterizations. As opposed to many film
stars, there was no need to prefend to be a cowboy; for he
was the genuine article, and it showed!
31

properly handled by a major company. Also, this story of a Western

rancher who enters a Trans-Pacific
flying contest was not popular with
Buck's fans, who seemed to prefer
horses over horsepower in their
hero's pics.

fiasco

number two

Buck's second catastrophe occurred

when he put together his BUCK
JONES WILD WEST SHOW. A few
years previously, a group of youthful
admirers known as "The Buck Jones
Rangers" had been organized, chiefly
as a promotional stunt; an idea that
had mushroomed to the point where

erns for producer Sol Lesser's Beverly

Pictures. There was a big difference
between this pact and the one he
had with Fox, however, for Buck's
salary was now $300 per week.
Released by Columbia, the first of
this series was THE LONE RIDER
in July 1930, Buck's first talkie. Enthusiastically received and acclaimed "one of the best talking Westerns
of the season" Jones followed with

very active hand in this operation

and, in addition to his starring and
front office activities, performed such
behind - the - camera functions as
script writer and, on occasion, director. These titles
to exhibitors from

his

"advance

man,"

rival

shows

would either destroy or cover up

these notices so that by the time the

BUCK JONES WILD WEST SHOW

arrived in a given town, hardly anyone knew they were there! At the
end of thirty days on the road the
show folded, leaving Buck sad and
disheartened and $300,000 poorer.
In desperate straits, financially,
Buck returned to the coast where
eventually Dunlap, now his manager,
was able to arrange a contract for
Buck to make a series of eight West32

available
1934-37 were:

SEES RED, THE CRIMSON TRAIL,

STONE OF SILVER CREEK, BORDER BRIGANDS, OUTLAWED GUNS,

other topnotch action efforts: SHADOW RANCH, MEN WITHOUT LAW,

THE DAWN TRAIL, DESERT VENGEANCE, THE AVENGER, THE TEXAS RANGER and THE FIGHTING
SHERIFF for the 1930-31 season.

THE THROWBACK, THE IVORY

HANDLED GUN, SUNSET OF POWER, SILVER SPURS, FOR THE
SERVICE, THE COWBOY AND THE
KID, RIDE 'EM COWBOY, BOSS
RIDER OF GUN CREEK, EMPTY

Columbia then took over the actual

production of the Jones pictures and

HANDED

SADDLES,

Like Hoot Gibson, Buck loved to inject humor into his Westerns whenever
where he and the boys attempt to teach Silver the "Charleston!"
the club once boasted over 4,000,000
members. Buck had always wanted
to return to the world of outdoor
show business, and what better idea
was there than to bring his own
Wild West Show to towns sporting
large concentrations of "Rangers"?
It was a sound idea alright, but
Buck had not reckoned with a few
unscrupulous tricks sometimes practiced in the circus world. After the
posting of show bills or "paper" by

made

ROCKY RHODES, WHEN A MAN

from

late '31

through early

leased the following

titles:

'34

re-

BRAND-

ED, BORDER LAW, RANGE FEUD,

RIDIN' FOR JUSTICE, THE DEADLINE, ONE MAN LAW, SOUTH OF

THE RIO GRANDE, WHITE EAGLE,

HELLO TROUBLE, McKENNA OF
THE MOUNTED, FORBIDDEN
TRAIL, TREASON, SUNDOWN RIDER,
CALIFORNIA TRAIL, UN-

SANDFLOW,

LEFT-

SMOKE

TREE

LAW,

possible; as in this scene

RANGE, BLACK ACES, LAW FOR

TOMBSTONE, BOSS OF LONELY
VALLEY and SUDDEN BILL DORN.

A dispute with Universal in mid1937 (the studio wanted him to increase his yearly output! resulted in
a transfer of Buck's activities to
Columbia for
starrers

in

Pictures were

whom

1937-38.

he provided six
These Coronet

HOLLYWOOD ROUND-

KNOWN VALLEY, THRILL HUNTER, UP, HEADIN' EAST, CALIFORNIA

THE FIGHTING CODE, THE FIGHT- FRONTIER, OVERLAND EXPRESS,
ING RANGER and MAN TRAILER. STRANGER FROM ARIZONA and
In addition, Buck appeared in two LAW OF THE TEXAN. In keeping
non-Western dramas for the com-

HIGH SPEED (1932), an auto

racing thriller, and CHILD OF MANHATTAN (1933), with Nancy Carroll.

pany:

multi-talented Buck

with trends of the times, Buck's place

on Universal's production schedule
was then filled by a singing cowboy,
Bob Baker.
Old school cowboys were naturally
bitter about the musical intrusion

and Buck was no

exception.

"They

money on horses,
and ammunition," he was

use songs to save

Leaving Columbia, he re-activated

Buck Jones Corporation and pro-

his

duced a
for

series of 22 action
Universal release. Buck

dramas
had a

riders

quoted. "Why, you. take Gene Autry

and lean him up against a tree with
his guitar and let him sing three

songs and you can fill up a whole

without spending any money.
That's why they've overdone the
singing, and. that's why it's on the

reel

way

out."

Buck as a crook?
Buck predicted the death of the
musical Western fad alright, but'
many years were to pass before it
came about; too many years to do
his career any good. No regular series
of pictures was to come his way in
the next couple of years and instead
Buck appeared in two very nonJones-type of roles. The first was
UNMARRIED, a 1939 Paramount picture in which he played a brokendown prize fighter, and the other was

WAGONS WESTWARD

(1940). His
role of a crooked sheriff in this ChesMorris starrer for Republic
ter
brought shrieks of anger from the
Jones gallery.
could they do
this to Buck?
Jones then made two more serials
in 1941,
EAGLE (Columbia)

How

WHITE

and RIDERS OF

DEATH VALLEY

(Universal) increasing his chapterplay total to six, for he had previously made four for Universal:
,

GORDON OF GHOST CITY

THE RED RIDER

WEST
RIDER

(1935)
(1936)

(1934),

and THE

(1933),

ROARING

PHANTOM

the Rough Riders ride

With Jones' star very much on the
descent, Scott Dunlap came to the
rescue with a Monogram pact in
1941. This united Buck with oldtimers

Tim McCoy and Raymond

Hatton in that studio's "Rough Riders" series. These eight sagebrushers,

ARIZONA BOUND, GUNMAN FROM

BODIE, FORBIDDEN TRAILS, BE-

LOW THE BORDER, GHOST TOWN

LAW, DOWN TEXAS WAY, RIDERS
OF THE WEST and WEST OF THE

LAW were well made but these elder

statesmen of the sage were facing
ever-increasing competition from the
younger stars and musical formats
of the day.

Buck was then to make only one

more film. This was DAWN ON THE
GREAT DIVIDE, a sort of Monogram
"special" with Mona Barrie, Rex Bell
and Raymond Hatton, which was released shortly after his death.

Buck crammed a rich, full life into

his 53 years, doing the things he
loved to do most. He was completely
dedicated to frontier film-making
and would quickly come to the defense of his art.
"Drop around to a neighborhood
theatre some Saturday afternoon,"
he'd say, "then you'll see why Westerns are going to be here for a very
long time to come, and why your
old pal Buck is going to keep on
making them as long as he can climb
into the saddle."
Which is exactly what he did.

Fred Kohler, one of the BORDER BRIGANDS, feels the wrath of Buck
Jones, an undercover Canadian Mountie, in Universal's 1935 release.
Below, the avenger bit in SUNSET OF POWER, also '35 Universal.

John Hart, star of Columbia's 1955 ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN AFRICA, proves how good an actor he
is by keeping a straight face with a ridiculous looking ape-suited performer standing right in front of
him. Hart's skill was also in effect quite recently as a featured star on ABC-TV's DAY IN COURT.

lyTORE IMAGINATIONS

have
been captured by colorfully
thrill-makers
costumed,
fictional
than perhaps by any other type of
screen adventure hero. Well known
film action stars (ie. John Wayne)
also play in comedies and dramatic
productions, which certainly expand
their general popularity, but at the
same time dilute their specialization
in this one area. This is a good thing
for actors, as they do not become
type cast and so may perform in a
wide variety of motion picture cate-

On

the other hand, some

members of the audience will for
this reason not be able to identify
with these stars on a purely actiongories.

36

adventure basis. All this points directly to the fact that Superman,

and on
these fearless crusaders
have never let their legions of admirers down.

rated tops in animated cartoons, live

action serials and more recently as
the star of over 100 Yz hour television episodes. The Man of Steel
has indeed proven his strength in a
business sense too. All later adventure heroes, which were patterned
after him, have either been generally
forgotten or survive to such a lesser
degree that their existence is hardly

King of Comics

Flash Gordon, The Phantom and

their kind always deliver the sock-

a-minute excitement that fans of

this type of entertainment demand.
In comic strips, movies, radio shows

TV

noticeable.

In over 25 years of active competition Superman has proven the

most durable of them all. Undefeated king of comic book adventure, he

Surveying the adventure scene on

purely personality basis, many

names come forth of popular screen

stars. Those enjoying the heroics
presented by films of this type will
no doubt like to some extent, just
about

all

the actors

who have been

Showing how Superman has to "pull his punches" when slugging the heavies, are these two scenes
Man of Steel in action. Above: Columbia's Clark Kent (Kirk Alyn) shows how it's done. Below:
demonstration from the TV series with George Reeves.
e copyright 1904 Notional Periodical publications inc.

of the

responsible for popularizing their

favorite type of socko celluloid.
However, when true fans of serial
thrills get together to discuss the
who's who and what's what of actiondom, one name usually stands
out head and shoulders above all
the rest. To state this situation in a
simple manner, the man's name is of

course Buster Crabbe!

Countless fans
Countless

so-called

have

actors

appeared and disappeared on

and

TV

in the movies
they usually
don't leave a strong mental impression in the minds of their audience.
The ones who are remembered fondly, and thought about to some great
extent, are those who can impress
both children and adults with their
distinctive personalities and versatile

dramatic

abilities.

Buster Crabbe

rates right at the top of this thealist. Those who saw him originally in his serials of the 1930's
trical

remain

staunch boosters to this

day, as do film fans of the 40's, 50's
and 60's who have been enjoying
his early productions (in re-release
and on TV) and new films with
equal enthusiasm.
his

Cliffhanger

Champ

Buster Crabbe clearly rates as

Hollywood's King of the Sound
Serial, having a total of nine starring
cliffhanger classics to his credit. So
popular are these films that it would
be difficult for many fans to accept
any other actor in the roles of these
fictional heroes. Buster's serial triumphs are:
FEAR-

TARZAN THE

LESS

FLASH

(Principal 1933),
(Universal 1936),
(Universal 1938), FLASH

GORDON
BARRY

GORDON'S

RED

TRIP

TO MARS

(Universal 1938), BUCK ROGERS

(Universal 1939), FLASH GOR-

DON CONQUERS THE

UNI-

VERSE

THE

(Universal

1940),

SEA HOUND (Columbia 1947),

PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS

(Columbia 1950) and KING OF

(Columbia 1952). In.

THE CONGO

the mid-1950's adventure conditioned

audiences, who had been
thrilled to the core by Buster's Uni-

TV

versal

more

wanted

serials,

more and

action from their favorite star.

This request came through in the

form of
popular

Crabbe

CAPTAIN GALLANT,

TV

series

stars in,

and

which
is still

the

Buster
running

strong throughout the world. Dealing with the adventures of the

French Foreign Legion, it presents

Zarkov (Frank Shannon), Flash (Buster Crabbe) and Dale Arden

(Jean Rogers) are surprised to meet metal-clad Earl Askam in Uni-

Dr.

versal's 1936

BLACK HAWK

FLASH GORDON.
star Kirk Alyn

1952 Columbia

Serial.

is

Copyright 1964 King

Features Syndicate Inc.

held at bay by Carol Forman

in

the

Copyright 1964 National Periodical Publication!

Inc.

the versatile actor in tense dramatic

situations as well as fast action.

At the present time, Buster's busischedule has become so demanding that he has difficulty finding the time to appear in new films.
As Executive Director of a swimming pool construction firm, he has
ness

guided Cascade Industries to a leading position in that field. Another

line of endeavor,

summer camps, has

also been greatly enhanced by Buster Crabbe's presence. His Camp

Meenahga in Saranac Lake,
York is for boys and his Camp Hui

New

Kai

in

Marblehead, Massachusetts

a co-educational recreation spot

Both are filled to capacity each season and it's no wonder
What young boy or teenager
wouldn't just love to spend his vacation season at the camp of his favorite adventure star? There are certainly a few older boys around who
wish they could shed a few years
for this opportunity.
is

for teenagers.

Meet Buster Crabbe!

When
manages

time does permit, Buster

to get out to

Hollywood to

in an occasional Western for

producer Edward Small. A new one
is
on the way shortly. Currently

star

(Universal 1940).

under negotiation is a project for

Buster Crabbe to star in an exciting
underwater
spectacular
the
at

henchman prepare a death trap in DICK TRACY's

worthy of some of the best inventiveness seen in sound

World's Fair in New York City. If

it goes through as planned, it will
provide an opportunity for millions

Charles "Ming the Merciless" Middleton prepares another sinister

ation

in

FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE

situ-

Irving Pichel has his

G-MEN

that

is

serials. Hero Ralph Byrd is only momentarily helpless

from the 1939 Republic cliff hanger.

in

this

scene

TV

of movie and
fans to. see their
favorite star in person!

Serials being

shown

For those who have not recently

seen the many screen heroics of
Buster Crabbe and other fabulous
cliffhanger adventurers here is great
Currently
Buster's
information.
Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers
serials are making the TV rounds,
as is a feature version of his TAR-

ZAN THE FEARLESS.

16mm

rental libraries throughout the U.S.

have available for rental ADVEN-

TURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL,

WEB, THE
SPIDER RETURNS, Buster Crab-

THE
be's

SPIDER'S

Columbia

serials

and

lots

more

lines. Fortunate movie

can also catch the two Batserials, Captain Marvel and
others at neighborhood picture palaces. Providing thrills for adven-

along these
fans

man

ture lovers of all ages, these amazing heroes zoom into action once
END
again.

Wm.

"Silent Bill"

Haddock (1910)

Haddock. He was born on November 27, 1877 in Portsmouth, New

Hampshire and came from a fa;
which traces its way back to their
original arrival on American soil in
1610.

Getting a solid educational

Boston's English
at
Burdette College,

background

e theatrical

world

to

make Westerns

Texas.

Two

in San Antone,
of the leading players

films

most

who were brought ^long

1911's

in these

MO.

to appear
outdoor productions were
Francis Ford and Edith Story. Ford,
the brother of now-famed director
start in
Ford,
was
given
his
John

the picture business by Bill, who

hired him in 1909 to work for the
Edison Studio on 21st street in New
York City. Quite by accident, both
men were hired by Melies in 1910
without one another knowing in advance that they would toil together
again. In later years Francis Ford
became a well known leading man,

adventure star, director and charhe appeared in his

acter actor
films
brother's
too, i.e. STAGE-

COACH.
However, back in 1910-1911 he
was a Melies performer and he
proved ah able one-reel Western
star in many Haddock productions.
"Silent Bill" turned out about 60

for

Melies-Star,
of

outstanding

made

San Antone and a front

was
and
Mexico were played by 300 cadets
from the Southwestern Military
Academy.
in

wall, simulating the Alamo,

built for it. The armies of Texas

impossible to shoot

of the earliest producers of Color motion pictures, Bill

to direct the
CLANSscreen production of
MAN. Prepared as a full length
feature film (not a one or two
reeler) this production would have
been one of the first such long films
produced in America the only
problem was the senseless method
that Kinemacolor was forcing "Silent Bill" to use in making the picture. He and the film crew were to
travel with the road company that
was giving stage performances of

which was one

Haddock was chosen

THE

THE CLANSMAN,
In October 1911 William Haddock became part of a project whose

very existence has been forgotten,

even though it greatly concerns
serious film history. He directed the
NATION!
original
film which never saw completion
and so was never distributed. Working for the Kinemacolor Co., a firm

BIRTH OF A

Farnum (wearing dark tie & laced boots! in

loaded 1913 production of SOLDIERS OF FORTUNE.
Dustin

one of the
which was

THE IMMORTAL ALA-

This early epic is reputed to

be the first screen treatment of the
mighty Texas battle. The film was

his

"first"

which was based on Thomas Dixon's famed novel.

They were to shoot scenes for the
film day by day in different cities.
This absurd method angered Bill
who knew the backgrounds would
never match and that scheduling
the filming and setups would be
near impossible. Nevertheless, he
did direct quite a bit of the film

pictureWilliam Haddock's action

he finally broke off with Kinemacolor and sued them for his salary which he never collected!
until

Frank Woods, editor

of

Motion

Picture News, had seen some of the

Haddock-Clansman
footage
and
thought it so interesting, that he told
D. W. Griffith about it and suggested Griffith make a film based on
the Dixon novel. This was the birth
of

BIRTH OF A NATION!

went

into production

and

classic

in 191,5 a

D.

W.

on the epicmovie master-

piece emerged.

pull that punch!

In 1912 William Haddock joined
Eclair and turned out scores of ad-

venture

comedies and dramas

in their Fort Lee, New Jersey studios and in Pawnee, Oklahoma. He
brought Robert Frazer into the
movies for that firm and guided the
Villain

scene

films,

actor's early screen career.

sound came

in

(When

Frazer became one

of the
busiest character
actors
around.) Star-to-be Evelyn Brent
also played her first small roles in
these very same pictures. George
Larkin,
a
stuntman
who had

doubled Pearl White,

inence as the star of

came
Bill's

promPawnee,

to

Oklahoma

oaters. George was only

but his background as an exprizefighter made him one of filmdom's tougher performers. The
fights he staged, in those pre-cameratzicked-punch days were fierce filmic
brawls. On some occasions Larkin
and a tough cowpuncher named
"Whitey" would fight before the
cameras almost endlessly until director Bill blew a whistle, giving the
signal for George to give his adversary the knockout punch and end
5' 6",

the battle royal.

With the arrival of 1913, Dustin
became a stage actor turn-

Famum

ed movie

The

film

was SOL-

DIERS OF FORTUNE,

an adven-

star.

ture-loaded picture which was directed by William Haddock on location in Cuba. Noted, as Dustin's
first film, his next film that year

MAN

(1913) THE SQUAW

was to
prove a source for much early Cecil

DeMille publicity. Bill Haddock

was offered a contract to direct
B.

THE SQUAW MAN

by

the' Jesse

Lasky Company, which consisted of

Lasky, DeMille and Sam Goldfish
(before he changed his name to
Goldwyn). "Silent Bill" was to get
S300 per week plus a stock interest

company however, he received a better offer elsewhere and

in the

so didn't

do

THE SQUAW MAN.

The man who

did direct that par-

ticular film was Oscar Apfel, although DeMille has been mis-credited as being its director. Apfel's name
was never mentioned in publicity
on THE SQUAW
the De-

MAN

Henry Pemberton throws chauffeur out of car as he prepares to make his getaway
from TRADE SECRET, a Haddock directed serial-like film. (Gotham 1914)

is

This

Hero Robert Frazer holds back mob in 1913 Eclair production filmed in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Bartender Jack Johnson and others dangerously used real clubs and bottles in this fight as "breakaway"
props were accidentally switched for real ones.

name always getting the big

Another area of controvesy
surrounding this picture is its repu-

Mille
play.

tation as the

Hollywood

first

feature

made

in

claims have been made

of others that

were

earlier.

serial thrills
As the months reeled by William

Haddock turned

out an endless va-

riety of screenfare for an assortment

of production outfits : Kalem, All

Star Co., Life Photo Co. and Holland

Film Co. In 1915 he joined Gaumont and worked on films in Flushing, New York and Jacksonville,
Florida. That year he did one of
W. C. Fields' first films at the Flushing studio. Fields did his pool table
act in the short and didn't help production schedules any when he and
some pals went out for lunchtime
drinks and returned driving a "lifted" garbage wagon. But, a clever
director like Bill Haddock knew
how to work with people and so the
film turned out okay despite the
difficulties encountered.
With the increasing popularity of
46

serials in the

late

teens,
into

more producers got

more and
the field

of chapter play production. Top directors were hired to do these films

and so William Haddock teamed

with Burton King to bring to life
two cliffhanger classics. THE MASTER MYSTERY starring Houdini
and THE CARTER CASE starring
Herbert Rawlinson (1918-19 releases) were the products of their
collaboration. Both were 15 episode
serials and were filmed one chapter
per week. The early chapters were
released after they were finished
and in some locations they played
before the final chapters were even
completed, Houdini had developed
a special diving suit which permitted the man inside it to get out without help and while still underwater.
MASHoudini used this in
in scenes which
TER
were filmed in a special glass tank
to make camerawork easy. In that

THE

Playing the part himself,

without a double, Buckley was supposed to crawl up a steep cliff out
of a boat in the water at City Island,
Ne"w York. A hazardous sequence in
metal.

the heavy
trouble as

outfit,

the actor ran into

it was being filmed. Bill

Haddock and the crew were pretty
far away from him as he crawled up

the cliff. However, all did not run

smoothly! Suddenly, he started slipping back towards the water as he
lost his footing. But, luck was there
that day -and he regained his hold
on the rocks. According to Bill: "If
he had slipped into the water with
that heavy suit on, we never would
have been able to save him." Making serials was for the tough only!

limitless talent

MYSTERY

very same film the mystery man

villain was played by Floyd Buckley who wore a special metal suit
which looked like a cross between

armor and a robot, and

which was really made out of heavy
a suit of

With a

theatrical

acting

back-

ground in his blood, Bill Haddock

was always looking for new and exciting projects. After working with
Sidney Olcott on REBECCA OF

SUNNYBROOK FARM, TIMOTHY- QUEST

and

OLD NEW YORK

finally

LITTLE

in 1923, he left

Bob Frazer blasts into action as he heaves villain at baddies in another shot from the famed 1913
Eclair fight sequence. Unconscious heroine Mildred Bright (who later became Frazer's wife) was almost hit by a flying plate in this battle.
motion pictures to devote

his

time

to other fields. The last films he

directed were made in 1927: a real
life series about towns in the eastern
U.S. In 1930 he managed a children's theatre that figured quite
prominently in the careers of many
young future stars. John Garfield
was one of them.

Returning to acting Bill became

in demand on the stage. In
1946 he toured the Far East in

much

YOU CANT TAKE

YOU,
roles.

came
too.

IT

WITH

playing one of the leading

When television drama bethe rage he adapted to this

MR. PEEPERS

FOR TOMORROW

and

SEARCH

are just

two

of

TV

the countless New York based

shows that he appeared on. Recently
he was in the film versions of

THE

MIRACLE WORKER and SUNRISE AT CAMPOBELLO, and last

Bill was flown to California,
where he was featured with Lau-

fall

be 87 on his next birthday, remembers fondly the early movies.

"1 would never tell an actor to do
something I wouldn't do myself.
While making a series of comedies
in 1909, one of our actors was supposed to be hit by a steamroller in
one scene. He backed out of it, so
I "doubled" for him myself and took
the fall. Working on railroad pictures sometimes proved very dang-

While doing one of these

engineer didn't follow the
had been given in
The hero was tied to the
tracks and the girl was to untie him
as the train came along. The engine
erous.

films, the

instructions he

advance.

to move slowly and we would

undercrank, so that the camera
would speed up the action. This is
not what happened though. The

was

train

came down the

tracks at full

speed and our heroine almost missed getting the hero untied in time.

THE TIME OF THE BAR-

Quiet!

RACUDA. The

play is due for a

Broadway run next fall, and "Silent
Bill" will be sure to be in it. This
unique director and actor, who will

They began

me

"Noisy

Bill,"

member of the Screen

The press started to call me

Club.

"Noisy Bill" for a gag, but I had it

switched to "Silent Bill," which
'

stuck."

to sum up his outlook on

motion picture career, "Silent

Asked
his

Bill" replied:

"The pioneering days were probably the most satisfying and happiest of a motion picture director's
life, in spite of the fact that he had
no assistant, had to write his own
continuity, or shoot off the cuff, look
up locations, make up his own prop
list and sometimes act in the pictures.
Whatever the result was,
credit or blame was his."

In the case of William "Silent

Bill"

Haddock, the

credit

fine director,

was and

performer

&

gentleman, this screen veteran has

given a lot to the art and entertain-

We at
SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED take off our editorial hats to an
ment

Everybody always wonders why

I'm called "Silent Bill." J was a
member of the gang at the first mo-

to call

which I replied that I'm the

to

quietest

is his.

rence Harvey in the stage production

tion picture club. When I would enter I always shouted out a greeting.

of

motion pictures.

amazing individual.

END
47

Here they
are!

The

bone-breakin;
jaw-knocking
rib crackin'

gang that

made

Holly-

wood

the

action capital

of the world!,

Dunn' the days when I was roadshowin' up in the Yukon,

shore had some jim-dandy turnouts. I'll
nevah forget th' time 500 action-hungry gold prospectors turned up at our little 200-seat "Music Hall"
to see Freddie Bartholomew in LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY. Boy, what a rhubarb! And this scene from
GUNS OF THE TIMBERLAND shore does look like that Saturday night!
I

always so easy to come by for us old

film folk! And this was the Big Boss,
himself!
All I could think of at the time
was to tell the truth which was,
namely, that I wasn't sleepin'; merely restin'

my tired

after a hard day

(that's 01' Betsy,

ol'

bloodshot eyes

at the

my

little

Simplex
ol'

pro-

typical of us folks in show biz (Did

you hear the one about
?), Big
Jim handed me a batch of stills.
I took one look at 'em and, believe you me, 01' Pa ain't felt so bad
since the last time he watched Betsy
.

King Ross

in

EMPIRE!
"Pa,"

Jim grinned, "I'm

givin'

you

the big assignment

I should have known he was just
funnin' though, for JW's just a big
kidder. So, after our initial greetin's
and an exchange of pleasantries

show for it? Pulled sprockets, that's

what! But thafs all past now, for
I'm kickm' myself upstairs and takirt' you with me. I'll make it all up
to you, Pa, and the first thing I'm

50

machine, bless her heart!).

My

THE PHANTOM passin' the buck

your big break! You've been slavin'

away down here, nursin' your lumbago, all for the good of the Warren
Empire and what have you got to

jectin*

goin' to do is let you write a story to

go along with these great stills!"
He was bein' too good to me.
take-up reel spilleth over.

"I'm itchin' to do it myself," he

continued (next week). "These stills
have the makin's of a great article
and the only reason I'm not doin' it
myself, is that I'm goin' to
in over the weekend."

Maybe
at those

be socked

should take another look

stills, I

thought.

misjudged them.
great. So, 01'

Maybe

Maybe

I'd

they were

Pa took another peek.

It was soon very evident that Pa,

the would-be author, was forgettin'
a rule learned by Pa, the projection-

many

ist,

reels

before. Namely,
film twice!

nevah screen a bad

a knotty problem
What

could

do with

this

How

of unrelated scenes?

mess

could I

possibly tie them together? In a

bundle, yes, but in an article?
At times like that I almost wish
that STI's Jim Warren was RKO's

Western

star

Jim Warren!

JW

booked, pardon, brooked no

interference with his plans, however,
and sensing my quandry, countered
with: "If you don't want to do it,
Pa, just say so, and I'll give it to

Hanger to do. He's continued

to hang around week after week
just beggin' me for a chance at stardom. I don't want to have to do it,
though, because I've always had a
head, I mean heart,
soft spot in
Cliff

my

for you, Pa.

my

of

You see, you remind me

favorite

movie

actor,

Leo

This shot from Warner Brothers' GUNS OF THE TIMBERLAND reminds

me of th' time I fell off th' balcony at th ol' Arcadia Theatre. I was
missed
headin' down from th' "booth" for a bag o' popcorn when
th' stairwell and, boy, was Ol' Pa blue.' Below, that hold stuntman

Gorcey!"

And so, with a flash of light, a

cloud of dust and a hearty "Hi-Yo,
Dinah'" he was gone, leavin' Pa
with a problem!

Al Wyatt has on Frank Sinatra in THE MANCHUR1AN CANDIDATE

shore is similar to th' one my chiropractor had on me after my fall!

consents to advise
What

needed was some sound

advice. Advice from some of the top

pros in the filmag field.
I located Bob Price on Mount No.
3 at the Coney Island Pony Ride.

There are Pony Rides closer to

Manhattan, of course, but Bob likes
to patronize this one which is run
by one-armed Bill Bronson. You
see, Bill was once a leadin' film
authority until

Bob

talked his

arm

conversation about Westerns.

Havin' just completed a superb
"Trooper Mount" before an audience of awed five-year-olds, Bob was
obviously in high spirits. Just the
time to get a friendly tip!
Needless to say, the horse finished
off in a

last

my

and

ended up havin'

to

swap

spare exciter lamp for a subway

token to the Bronx

Once in that fabled borough, I

had no trouble locatin' Sam Sherman's hideaway-I merely followed a trail of Milt Frome stills. Sam
was also in a buoyant mood as he
had just completed the masterly job
of cementin' Bob Custer's head onto
Bob Baker's body, frame by frame,
throughout a print of THE LAST
STAND; thereby remedyin' a mon-

umental error

by Universal

in castin'

in 1938.

committed

From parapets to pachyderms from castles to cats! There's nothin' like good action photos such as
these to put life back into 01' Pa's tired blood! Yes, I like movies of all kinds, both old and new, but
my extra special favorites are those with spine-tinglin' situations and excitement. When performers like
Al Hedison, THE SON OF ROBIN HOOD, go into the act and lone Reed puts on her animal routine,
Pa really "turns on."

Ol'

Sam's a jovial cuss with a lot of

and he promised to give me all

grit

the help I'd need, but "not too soon."

'mood music?'
That settled it. There was nothin'
01 J Pa to do but buckle down
and get at it. Get it over and done
with. Out of the way. Finis. But first,
just to get in the mood, why not
slap somethin' on Of Betsy? Somefor

thin' stimulatin'.

THE THRILL OF IT ALL proved to be an

somehow

that

interestin'

flick

title just didn't

but

seem

too apropos for 01' Pa's project at

hand.
Then suddenly, it hit me! Like a
bolt outta the blue, completely without warnin', my title came to me!

THE SMASHIN' STUNTMEN!

That's what I'd call it!
Nothin' could say it better!
So now I'm all set to plunge right
into the article of the issue, but
oops there's no more space left!
Such a pity, but that's the way
the magazine racks! Well, Ol' Pa'll
Beautiful!

just have to put a damper on his

journalistic ambitions for now and
get back to the rewind bench.
you all have many hours of troublefree projectin' out there!
END

May

LOOK! BACK ISSUES OF

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TEST OF DONALD NORTON: starring Tyrone Power (7 ReelsOne Hour 1 45 Minutes long!) only $34.95

TRANSCONTINENTAL LIMITED:

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NAME

onthe2 Reel Franklin Farnum films

ADDRESS

CAPTAIN COMPANY

Dept STI-9
Box 6573

CITY

Philadelphia 38, Penna.

STATE

ZIPCODE

Charles Ray

CAPTAIN COMPANY

Dept.STI-9 Box 6573

Philadelphia 38, Penna.

63

At last you can

START YOUR OWN RARE 8mm MOVIE COLLECTION AND

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The

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epic

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PERIL OF THE RAILS

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1944

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stars with Lila

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ROPING A BRIDE

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MIDNIGHT GIRL

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PUNCTURED RO-

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CAPTAIN COMPANY DepL STI-9

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PHILADELPHIA 38, PENNA.

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Cltjr_

Stota-

CAPTAIN COMPANY Dept. STI-9

BOX 6573
PHILADELPHIA 38. PENNA.

PERIL OF THE
RAILS. Enclosed is $24.95
plus 75c for handling
want

want JUNGLE WITCH.

Enclosed is $4.95 plus 25c

for handling

want SAGEBRUSH TOM.

Enclosed is $4.95 plus 25c

handling

for

65

OWN THESE HORROR CLASSICS

8MM

IN

NOW THESE

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If you have never seen this COMPLETE production, you have never been chilled as

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CAPTAIN COMPANY
Box 6573

Dept. STI-9

Philadelphia 38, Penna.

Please rush me:

THE HUMAN MONSTER featuring Bela Lugosi

Enclosed

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THE VAMPIRE BAT Enclosed

postage & handling

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is

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THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (complete V/A

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Name
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BACK ISSUES OF

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