Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Republic Pictures contract player ADELE WILDE

                                                          

                                                           

Adele Wilde was under contract with Republic from 8-26-1937 to 11-25-1937. During this period she appeared in EXILED TO SHANGHAI, a comedy starring Wallace Ford. Her performance was unbilled.  

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).


Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Film and television actress CAROLINE RICHTER


Born in Memphis, TN, in 1935, Caroline Richter played southern-drawl comedy blondes on screen and TV 1958-1967, including several of Jerry Lewis' so-called comedies. On the TV Western front, she appeared,twice, on BONANZA.


Television actress LUCY PRENTIS

Television actress Lucy Prentis appeared in guest roles on such TV series as ALFRED HITCHCOCK  PRESENTS, PERRY MASON and  THRILLER between 1960 and 1965.

                                                      
  

Television actress SHARON LANDA


Sharon Landa appeared as Marlene Randolph on 77 SUNSET STRIP (1961).

Television actress DORIS LEE

Doris Lee appeared on THE JACK BENNY PROGRAM in 1962.


Film and television actress MARILYN LINDSEY

Marilyn Lindsey appeared in quite a few movies between 1951 (WESTWARD THE MOVIE) and 1961 NORTH TO ALASKA, usually playing dance hall girls, etc.

                                            



Monday, September 16, 2013

MIKEL CONRAD at PRC and Beyond

Born in 1922 in Columbus, OH, and educated at Columbus High School, Mikel Conrad, according to his publicity, had some theatrical training prior to turning up as a stuntman/bit role player at PRC in 1947. He supported both Eddie Dean and Lash LaRue there before moving to other grade-B productions at Columbia Pictures and elsewhere. Mikel Conrad, who should not be confused the later television actor Michael Conrad, reached a zenith, if you can call it that, writing, producing, directing and starring in one of the earliest of the 1950 sci fi flicks, THE FLYING SAUCER (1950). He also starred in the equally low budget UNTAMED WOMEN (1952), where he washes ashore on an island inhabited by the title characters. Conrad left show business around 1956 and passed away in Los Angeles in 1982.

                                                    


Universal-International contract player RACE GENTRY


A local Los Angeles boy (born 1934), John Papiro was named Race Gentry by the same beefcake specialist, super agent Henry Willson, that also conjured up Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue and Ty Hardin. Like Hudson, Gentry came out of the Universal-International charm school and actually played Rock's character as a teenager in his screen debut, THE LAWLESS BREED (1953). The name, according to Universal publicity, was chosen because of the young man's off screen fondness for cars and car racing. He later appeared in the stock car melodrama THUNDER IN CAROLINA (1960), but by then he had dropped the silly moniker and was now billed as John Gentry.

Universal-International contract player BRAD JACKSON

Born in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1928 as Hermann Budlow, Brad Jackson was a member of the Universal-International talent roster in the early 1950s along with the likes of Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie and Mamie Van Doren. According to studio publicity, his father had been a good friend of legendary escape artist/magician Harry Houdini and a young Hermann/Brad had begun his performing life as a boy magician in his own right. His screen and television career, with included such Universal westerns as WAR ARROW (1953) and TAZA, SON OF COCHISE (1954), and television Westerns like DEATH VALLEY DAYS and THE LONE RANGER, lasted until the late 1950s.

                                             

Friday, September 13, 2013

GERRY GANZLER and POWDER RIVER RUSTLERS (Republic, 1959)


Gerry Ganzer played Nancy Olson's room-mate in SUNSET BLVD. (1950), a walk on, really, but her only claim to fame. She was quite a bit more visible as RROCKY LANE's leading lady in POWDER RIVER RUSTLERS, but, being a series Western filmed at dusty Iverson where even "the girl" had to find a bush to hide behind when nature called, that didn't mean a whole lot in the scheme of things. 

SHIRLEY DAVIS and PRINCE OF THE PLAINS (Republic, 1949)

Another MONTE HALE single-Western leading lady, Shirley Davis co-starred in  PRINCE OF THE PLAINS. Shirley is caught between her father (George Carleton), a bank clerk forced into committing a crime by gang leader Rory Mallinson, and none other than a young Bat Masterson (Hale). Sadly, we know absolutely nothing about Shirley Davis and hope you can help. Here she is in an official Republic Pictures portrait:  
  
                                                                

BETTE DANIELS and SAN ANTONE AMBUSH (Republic, 1949)

Bette Daniels was another B Western heroine with only one film to her credit: SAN ANTONE AMBUSH, a MONTE HALE oater in which she played the genre cliche of the girl with a wayward brother (James Cardwell). Who was Bette Daniels? We just don't know, but here she is:


Thursday, September 12, 2013

SANDRA CORDAY and THE TRIGGER TRIO (Republic, 1937)


Most B Western "leading ladies" had very little to do other than look pretty. It is no wonder, then, that low budget producers saved what they could on "the girl," who was usually drafted from the studio starlet pool or, in quite a few cases, appeared to be someone or other's girlfriend. In the latter case, the girl in question never really had a screen career as such but appeared in this particular production and little else. We do not know if Sandra Corday was "somebody or other's girlfriend," but she only turns up in one single film, or at least as far as could be determined: The Three Mesquiteers' THE TRIGGER TRIO (1937). This particular series entry has fallen into public domain and may be viewed for free on the Internet Archive site. A viewing that will reveal to you that Sandra Corday was no worse, but also no better, than your average Western gal, and easily upstaged by both a dog and a kid.

Republic Pictures contract player GLORIA RICH

Singer Gloria Rich was put under contract by Republic 8-30-1937 to 8-31-1938. She apparently came from the Major Bowes radio program and later performed with the Dave Apollon Orchestra.

                                                                                            

Republic Pictures contract player LOIS RANSON


Lois Ranson was under contract to Republic 3-15-1040 to 9-14-1941 but her best role came in the Oscar-nominated CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP (United Artists, 1941), where she played a high school girl seduced by a married man. According to the IMDb, Lois Ranson was born in Los Angeles in 1921. It appears that her final film role came in THE RENEGADE (PRC, 1943), a Billy the Kid oater starring Buster Crabbe and Al St. John.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

LOUISE CURRIE R.I.P.

Louise Currie, "the Katharine Hepburn of Gower Gulch," died September 8. She was 100! Most fans remember Louise from her Monogram and PRC films with, among others, Bela Lugosi; serial fans, however, treasure her appearances in two classic Republic cliffhangers,  ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (1941) and THE MASKED MARVEL (1943). She was a spirited heroine in both. 


                                  
 

Louise and her four leading men, one of whom is the eponymous hero, THE MASKED MARVEL. But which one? Clockwise: David Bacon, Rod Bacon (no relation), Richard Clarke and Bill Healy.

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 LUCIE KAYE

Lucille "Lucie" Kaye was under contract to Republic from 2-8-1937 to 8-7-1937. Her only credit while at the studio came in JIM HARVEY -DETECTIVE (1937), as the ingenue opposite Tom Brown. She later played a minor role in one of Glenn Ford's earliest films at Columbia Pictures, CONVICTED WOMAN (1940).


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Warner Bros. contract player GEORGE HAYWOOD

George Haywood was a bit player/extra and most likely stand-in at Warner Bros. 1940-1946. According to the IMDb, Haywood was born in St. Louis, MO, in 1917.


MGM contract player CHARLES BRADSTREET

                                                                

Charles Bradstreet appeared in unbilled bits at MGM 1945-1946. Noted horror and science fiction profiler Tom Weaver furnished the IMDb with the following:

 "When Charles Bradstreet accompanied his brother to try-outs for a play, a script was thrust into Charles' hands, he was asked to read the part, and he was ultimately given the lead (a Los Angeles production titled 'Come to My House.'). Later, while managing a bar called Billingsley's (frequented by Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby et al.), he was offered a movie contract at Columbia - then was rejected by studio Harry Cohn, who knew that Bradstreet had once thrown his (Cohn's) nephew out of Billingsley's! Bradstreet did later land an MGM contract, playing a series of small roles there, then freelanced. He played his best-known role in ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN (1948), accepting it (even though he thought it was a step backwards career-wise because he was friendly with its director, Charles T. Barton. According to Bradstreet, he was offered the chance to play Tarzan and the lead in TV's GUNSMOKE  but turned down both offers. When 'the glamour went out of acting' for him, he got into real estate."

Charles Bradstreet played the second lead to Michael O'Shea in PAROLE, INC (1948), a low budget thriller now in public domain and available for free on the Internet. The former actor passed away at the age of 86 in Los Angeles in 2004. 

Goldwyn Girl VIRGINIA THORPE

Virginia Thorpe was one of the Goldwyn Girls in the Danny Kaye musical THE KID FROM BROOKLYN (1946).


MGM contract player JOAN THORSEN


Joan Thorsen turned up in MGM musicals 1943-1946, including THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946) as one of the title characters.

RKO starlet NANCY MARLOW

Nancy Marlow played chorus girls, receptionists, and hat check girls at RKO 1944-1947. The IMDb lists a birthdate for her as June 1, 1923 but offers no city or state.  She listed herself as "Nancy Marlowe," with an added "e," in the 1946 ACADEMY PLAYERS directory. 

                                           

Friday, September 6, 2013

The star that never was: THEODORA LYNCH


Soprano Theodora Lynch was heard on the soundtrack for Walter Wanger's' Yvonne de Carlo starrer SONG OF SCHEHERAZADE (1947) and she sang "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans" in NEW ORLEANS (1947). There were a couple of minor acting parts as well including an appearance on the television western series ADVENTURES OF WILD BILL HICKOK (1951) but her background appears to have been more adventurous than any film role. An anonymous tidbit on the IMDb tells us that, 

"Lynch was taking voice lessons in Italy at the time of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Because she had also been reporting on the war for a New York newspaper, she was suspected of being a spy for the American government and was placed in a prison camp. In 1942, she was released and allowed to return to the United States."

Further investigation reveals that Theodora Lynch  actually was the highly sociable Louise Dudley Lynch, third wife of Boston scion William "Big Bill" Gaston, a man-about-town type previously married to stage and screen star Kay Francis and star-crossed socialite/actress Rosamund Pinchot. In 1939 she became the fifth and final wife of oil tycoon J. Paul Getty, Sr.  As Teddy Getty Gaston, she describes her life with Getty in the newly published "Alone Together: My Life With J. Paul Getty" (written with Digby Diehl and published September 3, 2013). As of this writing, the nearly 100-year-old is still with us and she, or someone close to her, keeps in contact with the world via Facebook!

                                             

  

Hal Roach contract player PATTI MORGAN

Patti Morgan had a walk-on in the 1947 Hal Roach "streamline" comedy THE FABULOUS JOE. This may well be the Australian-born former fashion model Patricia Joan Morgan who enjoyed a more prominent screen career in the United Kingdom. Patricia Joan Morgan passed away  at the age of 72 in London, England in 2001.

                                          
  

Warner Bros. contract player JOANEE WAYNE

Although contracted by WB, Joanee Wayne earned her best chance in a Columbia college kid musical, TWO BLONDES AND A REDHEAD (1947).

MGM contract player DALLAS WORTH

The delightfully named Dallas Worth performed chorus girl assignments in such Metro productions as THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946). 
 
                                             

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: 



Wednesday, September 4, 2013

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.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

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.

Monday, September 2, 2013

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. 

Sunday, September 1, 2013

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.