Bookview, issue 229, Wm.Tienken

Non Fiction Book Reviews #229

CLIFFHANGER:

A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE MOTION PICTURE SERIAL

by Alan G. Barbour

In 1912 came the screen's first serial. It was produced by the Edison Company and was titled What Happened to Mary?. In 1913 came the sequel Who Will Marry Mary?. It was in 1914 that the serial established itself a an important genre with the production The Perils of Pauline. Released in twenty episodes the serial immediately captured the imagination of the public as star Pearl White engaged in thrill after thrill. Pearl White had been working in films since in 1910, but her place in cinema factory was firmly established when she accepted a $250-a-week salary from Pathe in 1914 and became the serial's most famous heroine. She had rivals: Helen Holmes and Helen Gibson. And there were a small group of male action stars who really provided the genuine thrills. Including Eddie Polo, William Desmond, Jack Dempsey, and even Harry Houdini. Of the more than 270 silent serials produced, fewer than twenty, in whole or part, have managed to survive celluloid decomposition. During the time of silent film serials there was dozen of companies turning out the non-talking cliffhangers. But with the transition to sound there was only Universal and Mascot. Universal had a better physical plant and more money to work with but had little imagination. After 1934 Universal took more of an interest and began producing better serials. Westerns with Buck Jones and Mack Brown and comic strips favorites including Flash Gordon, Tailspin Tommy, and Buck Rogers. Mascot serials were done on shoestring budgets but had imagination. Among the many stars featured in Mascot serials during the early thirties were: Bela Lugosi, Harry Carey, Tom Tyler, Tom Mix, and football great Red Grange. In 1932 John Wayne signed with Mascot. In 1936 Republic Pictures began to produce a new series of action serials that in a few years made the Saturday afternoon serial a commercial cinema force. Republic was formed by the merger of Mascot, Monogram, and Liberty Pictures. In 1937 Columbia Pictures entered the field, beginning with a jungle adventure starring Frank Buck. Columbia continued making serials for twenty years. The continuing rise in production costs and the emergence of television, combined to force the cessation of serial product in 1956 after an uninterrupted run of more than forty years. In the thirties and forties there were thousands of small theaters that could earn a profit by running serials and low-budget films and B-Westerns. But early television offered the same type of material for nothing. Within a few short years the once-thriving Saturday matinee market had vanished Universal was the first studio to see the writing on the wall, and wrapped up their serial production in 1946 with The Mysterious Mr. M. It was nine years later when Republic finally called a halt to their production of serials. Republic had been in the serial business for twenty years. As Columbia was the last to enter the serial field, so, too, it was the last to leave, ending twenty years of active production in 1957. Now all that exist are the memories of the thrills and chills of the serials. More important than the actors in most Republic serials were the special effects created by Howard and Theodore Lydecker. Their spectacular special effects added many thrills to the serials. The secret of Republic's miniatures was that they were meticulously scaled relatively large and were photographed outdoors using natural light. To star as a serial hero an actor had to be willing to work fast, willing to receive little pay, closely resemble a stuntman on the lot who could do action sequences, and was willing to accept the stigma of working on a product that was considered juvenile pap, he stood the chance of making the grade in a serial. Clayton Moore portrayed a variety of good guys and bad guys in serials. Moore was arising actor appearing in major productions and then arrive at Republic doing bit parts. After duty in World War II he returned to Republic in 1946. Moore was cst as a villain and was soon playing the lead in serials. His real fame came in the fifties when he portrayed the Lone Ranger in television. Kirk Alyn brought his winning smile and physical presence to a number of exciting serials at both Republic and Columbia. The two notable heroes he portrayed were Superman and Blackhawk. What's a hero without a villain? Charles Middleton, a character actor with exceptional skill, was regularly cast as the lead heavy in scores of B-Westerns. Another character actor of some standing who graced the serials was Lionel Atwill, usually associated with his many appearances in horror films. Bela Lugosi, who became so closely identified with the character Dracula routinely played villains in countless serials. And of course there were important female contributions to the serial rouges' gallery. For the fan of serials he is fondly remembered as "The Kings of the Serials." This is Buster Crabbe. Born Clarence Linden Crabbe on February 7, 1908 in Oakland, CAlifornia. He grew up in Hawaii where he developed his considerable swimming skills. He was a member of the 1928 United States Olympic Swimming Team. In 1932, Crabbe won a Gold Medal for the 400-meter freestyle. At that time he was a prelaw student at the University of Southern California. For money he worked from time to time as a stunt double and a bit player. In 1933, needing money he left college and went to Paramount. Crabbe starred in King of the Jungle and then portrayed Tarzan in Tarzan the Fearless. He went on to portray Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, and Red Barry. Then for seven years Crabbe starred in a long series of low-budget Westerns and features. In 1947 he returned to serials with his last serial being made in 1952. So instead of becoming a lawyer Buster Crabbe achieved immortality. A delightful exploration of film history .

TARZAN OF THE MOVIES:

A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF MORE THAN FIFTY YEARS OF EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS' LEGENDARY HERO

by Gabe Essoe

Edgar Rice Burroughs was born on September 1, 1875 in Chicago, Illinois. ERB was a drifter until he was thirty-six, failing in every enterprise he attempted. He flunked the examination for West Point, and was later discharged from the U. S. Cavalry because of a weak heart. ERB was a cattle drover in Idaho, an Oregon miner, a railroad cop in Utah, a door-to-door salesman, accountant, and business consultant. While drifting through the unsatisfactory real world, he would console himself with a fantasy world in which he was handsome, virile, and capable of success, the idol of whole civilizations. ERB began reading pulp fiction and was appalled at the poor quality of the stories. Although he knew nothing of writing, he felt certain he could produce material more entertaining than what he read. All-Story Magazine purchased his first story, "Under the Moon of Mars" for four hundred dollars and appeared in the February 1912 issue. On the success of his first story, ERB began writing a new adventure tale. Tarzan first appeared in All-Story, October 1912 and was an immediate sensation. Next came a widely popular newspaper serialization of the Tarzan stories. In 1914 A. C. McClurg & Co. published the Tarzan stories in book form. By the time of his death in 1950, Edgar Rice Burroughs ahd written sixty-seven novels, twenty-six of which dealt with Tarzan. With Tarzan ERB had founded an industry. On June 27, 1918 the first Tarzan motion picture was released starring Elmo Lincoln in the title role. Tarzan of the Apes became one of the first movies in silent screen history to gross over a million dollars. A sequel, Romance of Tarzan, was released later that year and was equally successful. by 1968 there has been fourteen actors to portray Tarzan in forty motion picture. In 1968 Ron Ely brought Tarzan into millions of homes via the television screen. In 1919, with royalties from early Tarzan vehicles, ERB moved his family to California and bought a 540-acre estate he name Tarzana Ranch. The community surrounding his ranch came to ERB on July 9, 1928, to ask permission to call their city Tarzana. He agreed. By 1930 Burroughs organized Edgar Rice Burroughs, Incorporated to publish and market his own literary wares. To market Tarzan further, he formed a radio division of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., in 1931, and produced a serialized Tarzan radio show. 364 fifteen-minute episodes starring former Tarzan Jim Pierce. In the mid-thirties ERB's income from comic strip syndication was nearly $5,000 monthly. Way back in 1913 ERB registered "Tarzan" a a trademark which, over the years, he licensed out to several hundred different manufactures. In 1912 ERB created Tarzan which paved his way to wealth and fame. On June 6, 1916, ERB signed a personal contract with Bill Parsons granting him the movie rights to Tarzan of the Apes. In 1917 filming was to begin with Winslow Wilson to play Tarzan. But when the United States entered World War One, Winslow Wilson joined the Army. Elmo Lincoln an athletic character got the role. His real name was Otto Elmo Linkenhelt who had gotten his first break six years earlier in D. W. Griffith's The Battle of Elderbrush Gulch. It was also Griffith who changed his name. Tarzan of the Apes was filmed near Morgan City, Louisiana and young men played the apes. It was a critical and commercial success and a sequel was made. In the third Tarzan film, The Revenge of Tarzan, six-feet-and-a-half-inches tall fireman Joseph C. Pollar portrayed Tarzan. Released on July 20, 1920 it was profitable. This was to be Pollar's only film. On May 15, 1920, production began on Son of Tarzan and was scheduled to be fifteen chapters. Hawaiian actor Kamuela C. Searle played Korak until chapter fifteen when he died from injuries suffered during the filming. Final scenes had to be shot with a double. The final chapter was finished on January 27, 1921. Filming on Adventures of Tarzan began on January 1, 1921 with Elmo Lincoln returned as Tarzan. It was to be his farewell performance as the Apeman. In the serial Frank Merrill doubled the bulky Lincoln in stunt scenes. Eight years later Merrill would portray Tarzan. In 1926 production on Tarzan and the Golden Lion began. This was the last silent Tarzan feature. Jim Pierce portrayed Tarzan. In 1928 Pierce married ERB's daughter Joan. In 1932 Pierce and Joan portrayed Tarzan and Jane in the Tarzan radio show. In 1928 Universal produced the serial Jungle Tales of Tarzan with Frank Merrill as the Apeman. In 1929 came the sequel Tarzan the Tiger with Frank Merrill. In 1931 MGM obtained the exclusive rights to Burroughs to a Tarzan property with an option for an additional one. Olympic gold medal winner Peter Johnny Weissmuller played Tarzan in a sixteen-year reign. During his time as tarzan Weissmuller was never injured by any animal in the films. Sol Lesser produced an independent Tarzan picture in 1933 title Tarzan the Invincible. Olympic swimmer Clarence Linden Buster Crabbe played the Apeman. MGM ignored Lesser's production and went on with their Tarzan movies. In 1934 ERB joined with three partners and produced The New Adventures of Tarzan with Herman Brix. Sol Lesser then produced Tarzan's Revenge in 1938 with Glen Morris. Tarzan's New York Adventure, released in 1942, was the last of the MGM series. Sol Lesser took over producing the Tarzan movies in 1943 with Johnny Weissmuller still as Tarzan. In 1949 Alexander (Lex) Crichlow Baker became the tenth Tarzan in Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), Tarzan's Peril (1951), Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952), and Tarzan and the She Devil (1953). In 1954 came the eleventh Tarzan Gordon Wershkull, better known as Gordon Scott, in Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955), Tarzan and the Lost Safari (1957), and Tarzan's Flight for Life (1958). In 1958 Sol Lesser sold his production company and the Tarzan rights for two million dollars. In 1959 MGM remade their 1932 classic, Tarzan the Apeman with Denny Miller s the Apeman. The Tarzans' that followed were Gordon Scott, Jock Mahoney, and Mike Henry. Then in 1967 Tarzan came to television. A fascinating history of fifty years of Tarzan on the screen.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS:

THE MAKING OF A TRADITION

by Lee Mendelson

On February 13, 2000 Charles Schulz's final Peanuts comic strip appeared. It would be number 18,170 in over forty-nine years of drawing nonstop. On February 12, 2000 Charles Schulz died in his sleep. In 1963, Lee Mendelson had formed an independent production company and had produced a documentary on Willie Mays that was broadcast on NBC-TV network. A few weeks later, he was reading a Peanuts comic strip and was fascinated by it and its creator. By 1963, thirteen years after its debut in a handful of newspapers, Peanuts had already become the most famous comic strip in the world. And Peanuts was also enormously successful in merchandising. Mendleson contacted Schulz about producing a documentary about his comic strip. With Schulz's agreement the documentary was produced with two minutes of animation by Bill Melendez and music by Vince Guaraldi. For over a year-and-a-half Mendelson had been trying to sell the Charles Schulz film to the networks with no success. Then, in April of 1965, Time magazine did a story about Charles Schulz and the Peanuts gang and featured all the characters on the cover. The McCann Erickson Agency in New York had a client, Coca-Cola, who was looking for a Christmas special. Mendelson got together with Schulz about a Charlie Brown Christmas show. Coca-Cola approved the outline for A Charlie Brown Christmas and wanted the special ready for early December. Mendelson had six months to complete the animated half-hour special. Charles Schulz wrote the script and Bill Melendez, who by 1965 had formed his own animation company, did the story board. A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack would combine jazz and tradition music with Vince Guarldi as the composer. It was decided that child actors would provide the voices for the Peanuts gang. A Charlie Brown Christmas was finished a week before the broadcast, It was previewed for Time magazine and TV Guide who were very positive about the first Peanuts special. Shortly after the show aired it was learned that A Charlie Brown Christmas had finished second (to Bonanza) in the national ratings. A few months later it won the Emmy for the Best Network Animated Special. The December 2000 airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas marked its 35th consecutive CBS-TV. The music from the show has sold over four million records. Charles Schulz was the son of a barber and a housewife in St. Paul, Minnesota. As early as kindergarten he was drawing and impressing teachers. Schulz had tow love during his school years: cartooning and golf. He was painfully shy and not fond of school. He disliked the way the art class was taught, he felt intimated by the other students, who he felt were more talented. It was his fear of not measuring up that drove Schulz to study art through correspondence courses after graduating after high school. The Peanuts characters were based on Schulz's childhood memories as well as on observations for people close to him. Charlie Brown represented Schulz's childhood impressions of himself and is plainness. After high school, Schulz was determined to get his cartoons published. In spite of a letterbox full of rejection slips he persisted in submitting his work to ll the major magazines. Then came World War II, and Schulz served three years in the army as an infantryman. When his tour of duty was over, he returned to Minnesota and resumed his cartoon work. In 1950, Schulz signed with the United Feature Syndicate to distribute his weekly cartoon strip Li'l Folks. The cartoon strip was renamed Peanuts and became a daily strip. By December 1965, when A Charlie Brown Christmas brought Peanuts to television for the very first time, Schulz was becoming a household name. And the Peanuts gang were well on their way to becoming icons of American popular culture. Charles Schulz, producer Lee Mendleson and animator Bill Melendez created forty-five television specials, four feature films,and eighteen Saturday morning cartoons. Bill Melendez was born in Hermosillo, Mexico, in 1916, and grew up in Arizona and California. He began his animation career with the Walt Disney Studio in 1938 where he worked on feature-length animated films as well as many Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck short cartoons. Through most of the 1940s he worked at Warner Bros. Cartoon Studio. Melendez then moved on to directing industrial films, television productions, and commercials. Bill Melendez holds the record for the world's most prolific director of animated television commercials, having created more than 1,000 spots. He first collaborated with Schulz on a Ford commercial in 1959, and has been the only animator permitted to work with the Peanuts characters. The music of composer Vince Guaraldi had been a vital part of the Peanuts television specials since the first broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas. Guaraldi first worked with Mendelson in 1963 on the documentary about Charles Schulz. His soundtrack for the television special A Charlie Brown Christmas went platinum (selling one million copies), and remains one of the top-selling holiday albums every year. On February 6, 1976, just a few hours after finishing the soundtrack to his fifteenth Peanuts special, Vince Guaraldi died of a heart attack at age forty-seven. A Charlie Brown Christmas was the very first Christmas special. It brought the Peanuts gang to television. In addition to breaking the mold by using jazz music, A Charlie Brown Christmas broke new ground by using real children for the voices instead for adult actors. A fascinating read that will delight fans of all ages.

OZ BEFORE THE RAINBOW:

L. FRANK BAUM'S THE WONDERFUL WIZARD OF OZ ON STAGE AND SCREEN TO 1939

by Mark Evan Swartz

L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published in 1900. Since the publication of the book it has been adapted in all spheres of popular culture, including advertising, cartoons, comic strips, plays, radio, motion pictures, greeting cards, popular music, and television. The 1939 MGM musical film, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, has probably been seen by more people than any other film. Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York on May 15, 1856. He was not a healthy child as he had a congenital heart defect and was educated at home. His father was a successful business man who. along with his business enterprises, owned several theaters. EArly in 1881 Baum studied acting, and at the same time appeared under the name Louis F. Baum in productions at a theater in New York City. In 1882 Baum formed his own theatrical troupe nd had his first taste of real success with a musical play of his own creation. He toured the play through the United States and Canada. Also in 1882 he married. In 1883 Baum joined the family's business and went on the road selling oil. By 1887 L. Frank Baum left the oil business and relocated his family to Aberdeen, in the Dakota Territory. He opened a variety store that closed in fifteen months. The Baums then moved to Chicago and Baum became a traveling salesman. Ordered to give up the life of a traveling salesman he founded a trade periodical for window dressers called Show Window. In 1887 his first book called By the Candelabra's Glare: Some Verse which was illustrated by William Wallace Denslow was published. His next book Father Goose, His Book became the best-selling book of 1899. Baum soon realized that he liked writing for children. In 1900 The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was published and so great was the success of the book that Baum, try as he might, was never able to escape the pull of his fairyland exerted on both himself and his public. In fact Oz took possession of his life. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz proved to be the best-selling children's book of the 1900 Christmas season, and soon it went through several printings. By 1913 Baum reluctantly published the seventh Oz book, The Patchwork Girl of Oz. For the remainder of his life he regularly produced a new Oz titles, with two works published posthumously. After Baum's death from heart failure in 1919, Maud Baum granted Ruth Plumly Thompson, a children's writer, the right to continue the Oz chronicle. Others wrote Oz books after her. In 1901 Baum and composer Paul Tietjens began to work on a musical stage production of The Wizard of Oz. Fred Hamblin came on board as producer although he didn't care much for either the book or the music of The Wizard of Oz. Celebrated director Julian Mitchell joined and was also dissatisfied with the book and the music. Collaborators were called upon to help with the revisions on the entire play as the entire lay was remodeled. Cutting out much of the music that written. On June 2, 1902 at Chicago's Grand Opera House The Wizard of Oz opened. The Wizard of Oz was successful. Although it differed dramatically from Baum's original dramatization. Baum was unhappy with the stage version of his book. It was the cast the spectacle, and the promotion that really drew audiences to the musical. Townsend Walsh, the business manager, was a mastermind of publicity, who made sure that the show and its performers became household names by having articles appearing in newspapers. The show sold out seek after week and was very popular with children and families. On September 22, 1902 the tour began almost immediately after the final Chicago performance, and was to end n late December. The tour went through the Midwest of the United States and Canada. For the tour a special train was needed and Walsh made sure that the press reported on that. The show did extraordinary well in Chicago and the Midwest, but it would have to succeed in the East if it was to reach its full commercial potential. By mid-December 1902 a massive publicity campaign for the New York City engagement of The Wizard of Oz began, as the play was to open on January 15, 1903. For publicity fifteen hundred lithographs, one hundred stands, two hundred eight-sheets, and several hundred three-sheets were shipped to New York. And ten thousand half-sheet snipes, or bills, also were ordered. Also important were articles about the show and the performers were planted in the newspapers. Due to behind-the-scenes problems The Wizard of Oz didn't open until January 20. Despite the critics reviews, the audiences loved the musical. The receipts for the first twenty-two weeks averaged $12,000 weekly, and the show's financial grosses were setting the theatrical world on its ears. Many saw the musical more than once. By the time the show ended its run on October 3, it was the longest-running musical of the season. On September 7, 1903, while the first company was still appearing in New York City, a second company made its debut in a theater in Brooklyn. It was successful and then moved onto other cities in New York. The original company embarked on a five month tour of the east coast. On March 21, 1904 the original company returned to New York City and was a tremendous hit all over again. On May 23, 1904, following the New York run, the company returned to Chicago. And it was a great hit again. By 1912 the original producers went onto other productions. There were numerous productions of The Wizard of Oz staged by other stock companies. In 1908 Baum went on tour with a multimedia show called Fairylogue and Radio-Plays that continued the first film based on the novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Fairylogue was extremely costly to produce and by the end of December of 1908 Baum, in difficult financial straits, gave up hope of touring the show further and abandoned the project. In 1910 the Selig Polyscope Company produced a one-reel The Wonderful of Oz movie. The Selig company then completed three additional films based on the Baum book to which it had the rights. In 1914 Baum was one of the founders of the Oz Film Manufacturing Company in Hollywood. Three feature-length films, each five reels in length, were quickly produced in 1914. Baum supervised and wrote the scenarios. The Patchwork Girl of Oz, His Majesty the Scarecrow of Oz, and The Magic Cloud of Oz were quickly produced but suffered from the same terrible fate. As an independent company they were unable to get distribution. The Oz Film Manufacturing Company ceased to exist. In 1925 Chadwick Pictures Corporation produced The Wizard of Oz, a seven-reel production. As an independent production the the movie got poor distribution and failed. Then in 1939 came MGM's The Wizard of Oz and the rest is history. An invaluable history of the early Oz stage shows and films that is an essential read.