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Part 1 |
Serials would generally include attractive heroines, action heroes, and villains (the Scorpion, the Dragon, and the Spider, to name a few) in melodramatic sequences that often ended with a suspenseful (and manipulative) cliffhanger ending - that promised to be continued the next week to bring the ticket-buying audience back for more. The heroes and heroines would courageously fight for justice and honor, and the diabolical villains with evil devices would struggle against them. Action sequences would predominate with chases, jumps off buildings or trains, terrifying falls, narrow escapes, fist-fights, close calls and hair-raising situations, and other exciting, death-defying stunts, involving runaway trains, fires, sawmills, other natural disasters, and explosions. In all serials, the truth was often exaggerated or stretched in order to keep the hero alive from week to week.
In modern times, Hollywood studios have borrowed the lucrative idea of using cliffhangers and serialized installment plans or multi-part stories for their largely self-contained epics, e.g., The Matrix trilogy, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Star Wars (1977) sequels and prequels, Spielberg's Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park flicks, the Kill Bill volumes, and the Back to the Future trio. These are not pure serials, but stand-alone, full-length movies with many chapters, volumes, or parts, and exciting serial-like sequences. Many modern-day soap operas and well-known TV series, such as Lost in Space and the soapish Dallas, have used the cliffhanger ending as enticement to tune in again. Serials in Europe:
The Earliest US Serials: The first American serial was the groundbreaking 12-reel What Happened to Mary? (1912), a production of Thomas A. Edison's Company, that starred Mary Fuller (the first true serial queen), and was released concurrently with the serial story "What Happened to Mary?" in McClure's Ladies' World Magazine. Each film chapter was released simultaneously with the corresponding story in the magazine, one story per month, beginning July 26th, 1912. The series was followed with the six-episode Who Will Marry Mary? (1913), and with another twelve episode series, The Active Life of Dolly of the Dailies (1914). The most popular stars of first serials were female, many of whom were western figures or action heroines. Over sixty serial-queen melodramas were released between 1912 and 1920. From 1912 to 1913, Louise Lester portrayed Calamity Anne in a series of comic westerns. The 13-episode action serial The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913), considered by some to be the first true American serial, produced by Selig, starred blonde actress Kathlyn Williams - its first episode was released on December 29, 1913. Harold MacGrath's novel The Adventures of Kathlyn was published in early 1914 - it was the first novel based on a movie -- with stills from the film, and was concurrently sold in bookstores.
The most famous star of the silent serials was Pearl White. The silent serial queen was an early star in a lengthy series of films, beginning with the well-known, multi-chaptered, much-celebrated, archetypal play The Perils of Pauline (1914) - originally 20 episodes in length (but many have since been lost), and now existing as a condensed 9-episode version. The daring, athletic and active female star performed some of the riskiest, hair-raising stunts in her films (on the side of a cliff, in a runaway balloon, in a burning house, etc). Her most famous stunt was reportedly in this serial - in which she was tied to railroad tracks and had to be rescued from a speeding, rapidly-approaching train. The scene was supposedly filmed near New Hope, PA at a place now known as "Pauline's Trestle." Unfortunately, a copy of this episode has never been located, and written film plot summaries do not describe the scene. More famously, a year earlier in 1913, Mabel Normand was tied to train tracks and cried out for rescue in the Keystone comedy Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life (1913), and the scene was also enacted in Mack Sennett's Teddy at the Throttle (1917). Following her success in 1914, White was also featured the next year in an immensely popular and successful 3-part series of 'Elaine' films:
Pearl White's final American serial was the 15-chapter Plunder (1923). Other Serial Queens in the Silent Era: Another heroine of serials was Grace Cunard (nicknamed "The
Serial Queen"), who made her Hollywood debut in 1910, later joined up
with actor/director/writer Francis Ford at Universal, and soon became Universal's
top action heroine. [Francis Ford was the younger brother of famed director
John Ford. Ford was an actor before serving an apprenticeship as a director
and actor for Thomas Ince in the early 1910s. In 1913, he transferred to Universal.]
Together with Ford as her screen partner, they created numerous silent film
serials and westerns. Some of their best-known serials included the 15-chapter
Western serial Lucille Love, Girl of Mystery (1914) - Universal's first
serial, the 22- Another female queen of the serials was Ruth Roland, who appeared in serials such as The Red Circle (1915), the 15-episode The Adventures of Ruth (1919), and the 15-episode The Timber Queen (1922). And Universal star Marie Walcamp starred in a series of "spur and saddle" tales in 1919 as the western character Tempest Cody (e.g., Tempest Cody Rides Wild (1919)). One of the longest running serials was the melodramatic, 119-episode The Hazards of Helen from the Kalem Film Manufacturing Company, which played from 1914 to 1917. In almost half of the installments, the plucky heroine was played by Helen Holmes, followed by Helen (Rose) Gibson, Elsie McLeod, and briefly by Anna Q. Nilsson. Some of the sub-titles of the series were: In Danger's Path, The Pay Train, The Leap From the Water Tower, Wild Engine, and The Open Track. The scene of a heroine awaiting rescue while tied to railroad tracks with a runaway train approaching, was derived from this serial. Serials During the Talkie Era:
Released as a silent film with talking sequences, Mascot Pictures Corporation's first serial, the 10-episode The King of the Kongo (1929), starring Walter Miller, was a big success. The first all-talkie, synchronized-sound serial was Universal's 12-chapter western The Indians Are Coming (1930) with Francis Ford. And Tom Tyler starred in the early 10-chapter B-Western serial The Phantom of the West (1931), Mascot's first all-talking serial. Jungle and Aviator Adventure Serials:
Western Serials: Westerns became the staple subject matter for serials (and many feature-length films) for the first full decade after the coming of sound. Buck Jones, a western star in the 1920s during the silent era, was demoted to low-budget pictures and serials once talkies emerged. He starred in 19 westerns for Columbia from 1931 to 1934, and then in 22 westerns for Universal from 1934 to 1937. ![]() Jones' best known 15-chapter cliffhanger serials for Universal included:
Another major western serial star (and star of B-grade westerns during the 30s and 40s) was Johnny Mack Brown who found himself turning to small-scale serials - and to low-budget westerns (for smaller independent studios such as Mascot, Supreme Pictures, and Monogram) after appearing in MGM's semi-successful, big-budget feature film Billy the Kid (1930) (based on the saga by Walter Noble Burns) with director King Vidor. He starred in 16 low-budget pictures for Supreme Pictures in the mid-to-late 1930s before going to Universal. Some of his more notable serial films included the 12-chapter serial Fighting with Kit Carson (1933), the 15-chapter Flaming Frontiers (1938), and the 15-chapter The Oregon Trail (1939). Tom Mix was also one of the great American cowboy super-stars (as producer, actor, and director). Three of his best feature films were The Great K&A Train Robbery (1926), Riders of the Purple Sage (1925), and the talkie My Pal, The King (1932). Ken Maynard experienced a short career as a western star in the silent era, marked by trick riding on his horse named Tarzan. His action-packed silent westerns included Senor Daredevil (1926), Red Raiders (1927) and Cheyenne (1929). His career faded into the 40s, although he was well-known for his role in In Old Santa Fe (1934). In the late 30s and early 40s, legendary B-movie cowboy Tim McCoy, was famous for his serials in which he portrayed the 'Lightning Bill Carson' character in the late 30s, and a lawman named 'Trigger Tim' in the early 40s. He also co-starred (in second-billing) along with western hero Buck Jones in the early 1940s in the low-budget series of eight feature-length western films known as The Rough Riders, until the series ended with Jones dying in a nightclub fire (at the Cocoanut Grove in Boston in Nov. 1942).
Republic's 12-episode serial western adventure The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940) starred Don "Red" Barry as Red Ryder, a cowboy hero derived from the comic-strip and radio, and King of the Royal Mounted (1940) told a tale of Canadian Mounties. King of the Texas Rangers (1941) similarly was an adventure serial about the Texas Rangers.
Early Tarzan Serials:
The first Tarzan serial talkie, Tarzan The Fearless (1933) from Principal, starred the 1932 Summer Olympics gold-medal winner Larry "Buster" Crabbe in his first serial. It was released in two forms: (1) as a 12-chapter serial and (2) as a feature-length film. Of the almost 100 Tarzan films about the English nobleman raised by apes in the African jungle, the most memorable and enduring were the MGM-Johnny Weissmuller/Maureen O'Sullivan feature-length versions of the early 1930s. To bring his own creation to the screen, author Edgar Rice Burroughs formed his own movie company and produced The New Adventures of Tarzan (1935) (aka Tarzan's New Adventure). It was issued as both a low-budget serial and as a 75-minute feature that starred Olympic decathlon medalist champion Herman Brix (aka Bruce Bennett). Herman Brix was Edgar Rice Burroughs' personal choice to play the ape man. It was later re-edited, and reissued as Tarzan and The Green Goddess (1938). Actors and Real-Life Heroes in Serials:
Early in his film career, John Wayne appeared in many B-movie westerns and adventure/action serials especially after his first feature film, The Big Trail (1930), failed at the box-office. He appeared in the 12-chapter The Hurricane Express (1932), and the 12-episode Shadow of the Eagle (1932) as a daredevil skywriter for a carnival. Wayne's last serial was the 12-chapter The Three Musketeers (1933) about the French Foreign Legion. Cowboy crooner Gene Autry (in his first starring film role) was featured in Mascot's influential, western/sci-fi 12-episode The Phantom Empire (1935) (aka Radio Ranch). It was credited for inspiring Universal's Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials. A 12-episode serial The Galloping Ghost (1931) starred real-life football great Harold 'Red' Grange as a college football star. Death-defying magician and illusionist Harry Houdini's first film was the serial The Master Mystery (1918), and boxer Jack Dempsey ("The Manassa Mauler") appeared in the 15-part serial Daredevil Jack (1920) from Pathe. |