Republic Pictures contract player LARRY STEWART

Larry Stewart was under contract to Republic Pictures 5-1-1943 to 4-30-1944. During this period he appeared in the following films, receiving onscreen billing in none of them:

SILVER SPURS, SLEEPY LAGOON, A SCREAM IN THE DARK, MYSTERY BROADCAST, IN OLD OKLAHOMA, RAIDERS OF SUNSET PASS, HANDS ACROSS THE BORDER (all 1943); THE FIGHTING SEABEES, ROSIE THE RIVETER (both 1944).

Considering the published birth year of 1930, I am confident that this actor is not, as the IMDb lists, the same Larry Stewart who became a writer, producer, and television director, but is indeed the performer who co-starred with Judd Holdren  as the Video Ranger in the serial CAPTAIN VIDEO (1951). He also played in a second Sam Katzman serial, BLACKHAWK (1952).

Republic Pictures contract player MARC KRAMER

Marc Kramer appeared, unbilled, in Republic's THE MANDARIN MYSTERY and BEWARE OF LADIES (both 1936). He was under contract with the studio 9-28-1936 to 11-9-1936.

                                                                              

Republic Pictures contract player BARBRA FULLER

Barbra Fuller was placed under contract by Republic from 5-3-1949 to 5-2-1950.  Her most notable credit during her stay was the female lead in the now-notorious Red Scare thriller THE RED MENACE (1949).

                                     

 

From Wikipedia:

Barbara Fuller (born. July 31, 1925) is a motion picture and television actress from Nahant, Massachusetts. She appeared frequently in B-movies and television series in the 1950s. During that time she was married for a short time to western motion picture star, Lash LaRue. Although they never had any children they did have a godson, child star and later author and theologian J.P. Sloane who is the son of radio and television’s Jimmie Jackson and Anita Coleman. Fuller played Claudia in One Man's Family, a radio show. She did her first radio work in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 9. By age 18 she had appeared in twenty-five radio soap operas. Fuller changed her hair color frequently for film roles. Its hue varied from platinum to brunette in her four movies released by Republic Pictures in 1950. She returned to blonde as Laurel Vernon in Lonely Heart Bandits (1950). Fuller appeared with John Eldridge and Dorothy Patrick in this crime drama. Her first screen credit is for The Red Menace (1949). This was followed by roles in Crosswinds and Flame of Youth (1949). In the latter she was the leading lady, acting opposite Ray McDonald and Tony Barret. In The Red Menace she plays Mollie O'Flahery, a character who is used by the Communist Party as bait. City of Bad Men (1953) is a western adventure in which Fuller plays a minor character. Afterward she was mostly involved in television work. Her last parts as a movie actress came in How Sweet It Is! (1968) and The Roommates (1973). Her television performances are numerous, beginning with a 1953 episode of Adventures of Superman. Other series in which she participated are Four Star Playhouse (1955–1956), Ford Television Theater (1957), Trackdown (1958), State Trooper (1958), Colgate Theater (1958), My Three Sons (1960), Perry Mason (1960, 1964), and Daniel Boone (1970). In one of her television appearances she starred opposite Charles Boyer (Hallmark Hall of Fame 195?)."

Republic Pictures contract player: GRACE DURKIN

The sister of juvenile stars Junior and Gertrude Durkin, Grace Durkin was under contract to Republic 9-28-1936 to 12-27-1936. She may be seen today in the public domain Ellery Queen programmer THE MANDARIN MYSTERY (1936), available for free on the Internet Archive site. Grace Durkin passed away at age 77 in Los Angeles in 1991. The Durkin family tragedy of 1935 is described in the following clipping: 

Republic Pictures contract player WELA DAVIES

Contracted by Republic 3-4-1940 to 3-3-1941, Wela Davies is recorded in studio files as having appeared in THE CROOKED ROAD, WOMEN IN WAR and EARL OF PUDDLESTONE (all 1941), plus LADY FROM LOUISIANA (1941). She is not identified in any of them and it is unknown if she escaped the cutting room floor. She is included here for the sake of completion. 

Republic Pictures contract player MOZELLE CRAVENS

Under contract to Republic 3-1-1943 to 8-31-1943,  Mozelle Cravens was a member of the WAPS, i.e. the Women's Army of the Plains, aiding Eddie Dew in defeating rustlers in the wartime Western RAIDERS OF SUNSET PASS (1943), an entry in the aborted "John Paul Revere" series. That was about it for Mozelle, who was much better known for her extracurricular activities. Cravens was the wife of famed William Morris agent, the Russian born Johnny Hyde, who in 1947 divorced her to marry a new client, 31 years his junior: Marilyn Monroe. Marilyn famously turned down his proposal but remained a client and  it was eventually Hyde who landed her the 20th Century-Fox contract that made her a star for the ages. Mozelle Cravens, meanwhile, had left films when Republic failed to pick up her option. She reportedly passed away at the age of 90 in Napa, CA, in 2004.

                                                

Republic Pictures contract player GEORGE BYRON

A good-looking general purpose actor, George Byron* earned a Republic Pictures contract from 9-4-1942 to 3-3-1944. Alas, despite his option being picked up at least twice, the studio failed to cast him in anything of importance. Typically, in fact, was his brief appearance as an assistant to the eponymous hero in the opening chapter of CAPTAIN AMERICA.

* A George Byron is listed in the IMDb as hailing from Limerick, Ireland, but if this was the Republic player, he had lost any trace of an Irish accent. The same IMDb page also lists a series of credits for a George Byron 1931-1932. Again, it is doubtful if that is the same performer.

Republic Pictures contract player MARY BOVARD

Under contract to Republic Pictures 10-5-1936 to 11-30-1936, Mary Bovard played "girl" or "manicurist" or "student." She later contracted with much more prestigious MGM but continued playing "girl" "manicurist" or "student." Later she also did a few exploitation films such as the public domain title DELINQUENT DAUGHTERS (1944). The IMDb lists the following life dates  1917-2002 and a birthplace of Bloomington, IL.

Republic Pictures contract player DEAN BENTON

                                                                              

 

A pleasant-looking second lead, Dean (or, as he sometimes spelled it, Deane) Benton appeared opposite Bela Lugosi in the campy serial THE RETURN OF CHANDU (1934). He also lent his services to several exploitation thrillers, e.g. THE PACE THAT KILLS (1935), and co-starred with Lon Chaney, Jr. in THE LEGEND OF SILK LENNOX (1935), which is available legally and for free on the Internet Archive website. Benton continued in film until 1943. He was under contract to Republic Pictures from 11-23-1936 to 2-22-1937. He was barely used by the studio, alas.

Republic Pictures contract player BUDDY BAKER

Placed under contract with the studio 10-7-1938 to 4-6-1939, this boy actor's only surviving credit is ORPHANS OF THE STREET (1938) starring Robert Livingstone. He is simply listed as "boy" in Republic casting information. Buddy Baker appears here fir the sake of completion.

Republic Pictures contract player ANN BALDWIN

      

Herbert I. Yates, founder and CEO of Republic Pictures, had a, shall we say offbeat? taste in women, a fact that became quite detrimental  to the prospects of the studio. Take, for example, Miss Dorothy Herbert, a circus bareback rider who wowed them on a horse but was far from a raving beauty when standing still. But Yates was apparently very attracted to her and forced her upon the producers of the serial MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR SATAN (1940). Happily, that was that for Miss Herbert who returned to the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus where she belonged. Not so Vera Hruba Ralston, the equally equine looking Czechoslovakian figure skater, who Yates not only made Queen of the Lot until John Wayne put his foot down but actually married. The beginning of the end of Republic Pictures as it turned out.

I admit to having absolutely no proof, but I would suggest that Ann Baldwin was in the same category as Dorothy Herbert and Vera Ralston. Again, not a raving beauty and certainly no actress in the accepted use of the word. But there she was, under term contract to the studio from 7-10-1939 to 4-9-1940. During that period she played a secretary in the opening chapter of one of Republic's finest chapterplays, DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (1940), and shared screen time with both Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. She is memorable in none of these films and appears to have left show business after the studio failed to renew her contract. 

Republic Pictures contract player CAROL ADAMS

Having begun her career in childhood with, among others, The Meglin Kiddies and in Our Gang silents under her real name of Lurlene Uller, this busy starlet was renamed Carol Adams while under contract to first Paramount then Republic Pictures. Presumably because the name Lurlene was more reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail, a revenooer hiding behind any other tree, than Los Angeles where she had been born in 1918. While with Republic, she appeared opposite Gene Autry in RIDIN' ON A RAINBOW (1941), where she was upstaged by diminutive songstress Mary Lee, who Republic unaccountably considered to have star potential; and starring with Roy Rogers in BAD MAN OF DEADWOOD (1941). She was under contract to the studio 5-15-1940 to 10-14-1941.

D. Emery Smith wrote a fine bio of Lurlene/Carol on the IMDb site, which I would like to reproduce here: 

[Lurlene Uller] was "discovered" at age 5, while playing in her aunt's yard, near the corner of Sunset and Gower and recruited to appear as a flower girl in "Navy Blues" (1923) with Dorothy Devore.

Lurline spent her early years appearing in various "Our Gang", "Mickey McGuire" and "Buster Brown" silent shorts and training with the Meglin Kiddies. In 1929, she began honing her prodigious dancing skills alongside adolescent Francis Gumm (Judy Garland) as a member of The Hollywood Starlets.

Uller spent her teen years performing song and dance on the vaudeville stages throughout California, She was eventually re-discovered at age 18, while dancing in a show at the Paramount theatre, and signed to a 2-year contract at 20th Century Fox. She worked as a contract player in over thirty 20th Century films. Uller was eventually renamed Carol Adams when she moved to Paramount Studio.

Her dancing and camera-friendly appearance brought her to the attention of casting directors on bigger and better motion pictures, soon appearing in "Rose of Washington Square" . Then came larger, credited roles in "Sally, Irene and Mary" "Dancing On A Dime", "Ice Capades" and "Sis Hopkins". By 1941 she was starring alongside Gene Autry in "Ridin' on a Rainbow" and Roy Rogers in "Bad Man of Deadwood".

During the war (WWII) she performed extensively for the troops and donated many hours to Bette Davis' USO efforts.

In 1944, Carol also appeared in several of James Roosevelt's "Soundies" (the precursors to music videos) including:"Rhythm on the River", "Jukebox Joe's", and "Doin' the Hotfoot".

At the age of 26, after appearing in 60+ films, Carol met and married a young studio executive, who later became head of the Art Department at Paramount Studios. She retreated from show business to become dedicated housewife and mother.

Lurline Uller/Carol Adams passed away aged 94 in 2012.

Republic Pictures contract player EDGAR ALLAN

Edgar Allan played one of the eponymous hero's fellow young g men in the 1937 Republic serial DICK TRACY; and he had bits in such studio potboilers as THE MANDARIN MYSTERY (1936; an Ellery Queen mystery now in public domain and available for free at the Internet Archive site), BEWARE OF LADIES (1936), JOIN THE MARINES and MICHAEL O'HALLORAN (both 1937). Edgar Allan was underTerm Contract with Republic Pictures 10-5-1936 to 4-4-1937, after which he disappeared from the industry.

                                                                           

An Introduction to Sound Serials Part I:

From my unpublished "Next Week at This Theater"

"Most of us actors wanted to do our own stunts … and most of the stuntmen wanted to be actors” … actor Pierce Lyden

"There were times when I would have to pretend to shoot a man off a balcony. Then, when the scene was over, I would change wardrobe and go up on the balcony and fall off" … stunt man Tom Steele

Thanks to Jack Mathis and his life's work, the four volume "Valley of the Cliffhangers," "Valley of the Cliffhangers Supplement," and "Republic Confidential Volumes 1 and 2," we have an accurate accounting of how the leading chapter play producer, Republic Pictures, created their 66 serials, and although minutiae probably varied (costs certainly did), both Universal and Columbia most likely employed similar methods. Republic, as we shall see, inherited much of their serial-making expertise from Nat Levine's Mascot Pictures, which had been incorporated into the new Republic Pictures in 1935.

By 1936, with the tremendous success of Universal’s Flash Gordon and with Republic’s purchase of the screen rights to Chester Gould's popular comic strip Dick Tracy, serials were once again becoming a force to be reckoned with, a fact that brought Columbia Pictures into the fold the following year. It may be useful to quote Jack Mathis at some length here:

“Although the snobbish class distinction between features and serials remained a lasting stigma, chapter play profits helped make possible many a highfalutin production. As the Golden Age of the sound serials approached mid-life in 1940, major studios gazed enviously at the 100% to 300% grosses above their negative costs being regularly accrued by the cliffhangers. So astonishing were the percentages that [Republic studio head] Herbert J. Yates defied any feature produced on an equal investment to match these figures, a challenge echoed by his competitors Harry Cohn at Columbia and Nate Blumberg at Universal."

An amazing result, really, for a product sold on the free-for-all States Rights market for as low an amount as $10 an episode (in its hey-day Mascot charged as little as $5, and even lower than that if competition from Universal proved especially tough).

During the first decade of its existence, Republic's annual release usually consisted of two "streamline" 12-chapter serials and two "super" 15-chapter serials to satisfy the need of theaters for a full season of weekly entertainment. (Columbia stuck with 15 chapters whether or not the story demanded it, which it truly never did.) Running times for the opening chapter was set at 30 minutes in the first decade of operations (20 thereafter), with each subsequent installment running 15-18 minutes until the mid-1940s when chapter-lengths were standardized to an exact 13:20. Like no other Hollywood producer, Republic anticipated television and 13:20 plus commercial breaks would come to exactly 15 minutes, the standard length of syndicated television programs in the early 1950s.

Titles were a management decision but likes and dislikes of exhibitors and audience reaction mattered greatly. With the exception of literary adaptations, titles adhered more to exploitation possibilities than anything else (a harbinger of things to come in the teen-market craze of the 1950s) and the writers then had three months to come up with a proper story and screenplay to fit title and concept.

Filming at Republic and on location took three to eight weeks according to the length of the serial, with editing accomplished at one week per chapter. Scoring, dubbing, printing and other post-production tasks were then added before a release date was set. This strict sausage factory method of serial-making meant that first-run serials actually began playing in theaters before post-production of the entire serial had been completed. In many instances, the opening chapter of a new serial followed right after the resolution of the current presentation, ensuring that kids everywhere would be profitably hooked for another 12 to 15 weeks.

to be continued...

Sheila Stuart (Oregon Trail)

Sheila Stuart plays the bit role of a nurse in the 1945 Sunset Carson oater Oregon Trail, whose leading lady -- almost needless to say -- is Peggy Stewart (no relation). Sheila was under contract to Republic Pictures 7-24-1944 through 1-23-1945. This appears to have been her only Western -- she played bits in mostly comedies and musicals -- and I have included her, well, because I own the photo.

For the sake of completion, this is what Republic offered Sheila Stuart to say and do in Oregon Trail: (To a recuperating Sunset Carson:) “You'll have to ask the doctor” and (showing in Peggy Stewart): “There's someone to see you.” She says both lines with conviction. More conviction, in fact, than the many lines uttered by one Steve Winston, who plays the much more important role of the town newspaper editor. Winston, who had drifted around Hollywood for a couple of years going nowhere fast, made his sole Republic appearance here and one can only surmise that his presence was to offset the amateurish line readings of star Sunset Carson. But Carson's aw shucks style is actually charming and fits his character whereas Mr. Winston is merely wooden and off-putting. Much more infectious is the veteran Mary Carr, of Little Rascals fame, who plays Peggy Stewart's grandma and at one point sizes up the hunky Sunset with what appears to be a wee bit of geriatric lust. Not too coincidentally, perhaps, Mrs. Carr was the mother of the film's director, Thomas Carr.

Helen Ericson (Courageous Avenger)

Helen Ericson actually sees quite of bit of action for a no-budget western heroine in Courageous Avenger (1935). The fiance of hero Johnny Mack Brown, Helen can only watch as her brother (stuntman Wally West) is killed by Warner Richmond and his gang before suffering the indignity of actually being kidnapped herself by said Mr. Richmond. Johnny saves her, of course, but it is touch and go for a moment there -- what with the endless riding to and fro endemic to these cheezy independents -- before the happy couple can get to the altar and then off on their long-awaited honeymoon.

When I say "independent," I probably should clarify that Supreme Pictures, the producer of Courageous Avenger, was an A.W. Hackel company that would merge with Republic Pictures later that year. From 1936 onwards, the Bob Steele and Johnny Mack Brown westerns would thus be released by Herbert Yates' upstart Republic, awarding these films a perceived veneer that they could not really live up to.

Helen Ericson (1915-1984), meanwhile, had worked in a five and dime store in her hometown of Worcester, MA, when her actor brother, Frank, persuaded the producers of the New York revival of “Of Thee I Sing” (1933) to put her in the chorus of that successful show. She appeared in the original Broadway production of “As Thousands Cheer” before casting director Max Arnow brought her to the attention of first Warner Bros. then Fox, who signed her to a contract. After playing mostly the typical starlet roles, she was chosen as “Light” in the Shirley Temple version of The Blue Bird (1940), but that Wizard of Oz wannabe proved less than popular and she retired to marry Chicago fur magnate Philip Berman, with whom she would become a mother of two and a grandmother of five.