Roy Rogers in TruColor and Uncut (2 Viewers)

[Bob Gu]

FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS-1939, B&W, 58-59 minutes.

I have FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS on an Alpha single DVD and on Roy Rogers Vol. 4 from Sinister Cinema on DVD-R. Both are soft 53-minute syndicated versions, with a generic THE END and no Republic logos. The Sinister has an MCA logo at the end. The Alpha has a slight blue tint.

It's 1861 and the Pony Express is operating a vital information and money lifeline from the East to St. Joseph Missouri and onto California.

Roy is a Pony Express rider.

Raymond Hatton is Roy's pal.

Mary Hart/Lynne Roberts is Roy's love interest.

Ethel Wales helps Ray Hatton with the comedy.

Hatton has fun with Mary Hart, too.

Another early role for George Montgomery.

There's an outlaw gang, about, led by Noble Johnson.

Rebel spies are trying to disrupt the Pony Express.

Mary's brother, Don Dillaway, is a Rebel spy.

Dillaway's boss is Edward Keane.

Keane actually wants to take California over for himself. His plan is to intercept Military orders carried by the Pony Express to California military commands and replace those orders with false orders sending the troops away from the area he plans to attack. Keane brings Noble Johnson's outlaws into the plan but keeps Dillaway in the dark.

The outlaws and Rebels know exactly when and where to strike against the Pony Express, because Roy and Ray keep spilling the beans, all over town, about the various secret Pony Express special doings. Payrolls, secret dispatches, and bearer bonds, in transit.

Roy and Chris-Pin Martin with wounded Ray Hatton.

FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS is fast paced and has plenty of action! Trigger has more to do than usual and saves the day!

Mary Hart, Roy Rogers, Ethel Wales, Fred Burns, William Royle, and Raymond Hatton.

So, there are four- or five-minutes missing. I have no idea what's missing. I didn't notice any obvious gaps.

Here's a publicity still, where Roy seems to be helping Mary Hart down from the stagecoach. But this does not happen in the movie. In the actual scene in the movie, Edward Keane starts to help Mary down. Then someone shoots a gun. The stage horse team is startled and runs away with the stagecoach and Mary inside. Roy stops the stage and takes Mary back to town where her brother helps her out of the stage.

Time-warp note: There's a saloon scene that has a piano playing in the background and still playing when, outlaw, Bud Osborne leaves the saloon and goes outside, and encounters Mary Hart. Parts of the tune sound exactly like the Christmas Holiday favorite, "Sleigh Ride", which was written in 1948??? FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS is a 1939 release. (Bud Osborne is the guy Roy is about to bop in the poster at the top.)

House Peters, Jr. with Raymond Hatton on Trigger.

YouTube: FRONTIER PONY EXPRESS.

 

[Bob Gu]

Republic Theater: "The Plainsman and the Lady"-1946, B&W, 87-minutes.

"The Plainsman and the Lady" is another Republic western based on the Pony Express. It's a standout Wild Bill Elliott "A" western. Republic Home Video released it on a nice VHS and it's on DVD in Germany with an English track listed.

I especially like the way music is used and Don 'Red' Barry as the black outfitted 'dog heavy' for Joseph Schildkraut's head bad guy. In Wild Bill's encounters with Barry the pair never have any back-and-forth dialog.

The much-maligned, Vera Ralston is good in it too as Wild Bill's love interest. She may be "The Lady", in the title, but I think it really refers to Gail Patrick, "The Lady" who is an ally of Schildkraut and provides Wild Bill with strong opposition.

Raymond Walburn and Vera Ralston.

Gail Patrick played many 'other woman' roles in movies and was the producer of the classic "Perry Mason"-TV series.

Wild Bill Elliott, Gail Patrick, and Joseph Schildkraut.

"The Plainsman and the Lady" was re-released as "Drumbeats Over Wyoming", and most of the publicity stills online show the "Drumbeats" title.

Andy Clyde has a nice sidekick role and some fun scenes with all the cast. Clyde was still sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy at this time.

Andy Clyde, Vera Ralston, Gail Patrick and Will Bill.

Here's Don Barry, again, with Wild Bill, Rocky Lane, Sunset Carson, Dale Evans, and Bob Livingston, all guest starring with Roy, in BELLS OF ROSARITA.

"The Plainsman and the Lady" on Dailymotion.

 

[Bert Greene]

Caught up with another of Republic's rather elusive 'Higgins Family' series films, "Earl of Puddlestone" (1940), starring real-life family James, Lucile, and Russell Gleason. Apparently this was the last entry featuring the Gleason clan. As is typical, what I viewed was the old 53-minute tv-syndication print, whittled down from a 67-minute film. This time I tend to doubt the missing footage would improve things. It was pretty dire. A far cry from the earlier and genuinely agreeable "The Covered Trailer" (1939-Rep), which I discussed previously on this thread. This entry just seemed to fall flat in all departments, other than pacing. The premise had Grandpa (Henry Davenport) concoct a hoax about Higgins inheriting wealth and a title from a deceased English nobleman, in order to help with the family's poor standing in local society. Tiresome and contrived hijinx follow. Never really cared much for that cliched plot device in which a family's head is immediately turned by sudden wealth, anyway. Territory that was trod the previous year in the Charlie Ruggles comedy "Sudden Money" (1939-Par), also my least-favorite of Ruggles' long line of Paramount domestic comedies.

Republic tried to keep the Higgins Family series going, putting Roscoe Karns and Ruth Donnelly in the leads, with two final entries, "Meet the Missus" (1940) and "Petticoat Politics" (1941), neither of which I've seen. The only cast member retained thru the changeover was the appealing Republic starlet Lois Ranson, as Higgins' daughter Betty. I saw last year (on Boyd Magers' Western Clippings site) that Ranson had passed away, at age 99. She'd been a leading lady in one of the Three Mesquiteers westerns. Would have liked to have seen her in some more Republic westerns, perhaps graduating up to a Roy Rogers or Gene Autry film. Or, at least, a Don 'Red' Barry item (if pretty Lynn Merrick ever opted for a vacation). But, Ranson didn't seem to stick around in films for long. One of these days I do need to get around to seeing at least one of those Karns-Donnelly 'Higgins' films, but after viewing this "Earl of Puddlestone" stinker, I'll be sure to keep my expectations in check.

 

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Nice color photo cover of Lois Ranson.

 

[Bob Gu]

I never run across any of the "Higgins" series. A family comedy with a real family. Shades of Ozzie and Harriet!

James, Lucille, and Russell Gleason.

So, only nine of them. Seven with the Gleasons and two with Roscoe Karns and Ruth Donnelly,

Harry Woods with Roscoe Karns and Ruth Donnelly in "Petticoat Politics"-1941. The last one.

Alan Ladd was in the last two "Higgins" movies. Getty Images identified this still as being Ladd with Lois Ranson in "Petticoat Politics". But since Ranson seems to be dark haired on all the posters. I searched a little more and found that it is a still from the Republic "Weaver" series movie, "In Old Missouri"-1940, with June Storey the top-billed co-star.

June Storey, Alan Ladd, Marjorie Gateson, and Leonard Carey.

Alan Ladd with Dale Evans.

The Roy Rogers connection in all this is Lynne Roberts, AKA Mary Hart. I thought Roberts was only
"Mary Hart" in her Roy Rogers movies. In her three "Higgins" features she was Lynne Roberts in the first one and Mary Hart in the other two, according to the three posters.

Rare leg art photo of Lynne Roberts/Mary Hart.

 

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[Bob Gu]

Well, gosh, if 'Movie Western Hits' magazine says "Pack Train" is the best western of 1953, it must be true!

Other 1953 western releases.

No, contest. It must be "Pack Train".

"Pack Train" was released on DVD by Timeless Media, in "The Gene Autry Collection 3", with "Red River Valley", Saddle Pals", and "Apache Country".

Hey, what's this? Volume 3?

Oldtimers, out there might remember that Autry Entertainment released, through Image, most of the Gene Autry features as single DVDs. Image also released at least six, four movie collections that I believe re-released Autry features that Image had released as single DVDs. These six had 'Volume' as part of the title.

When Timeless Media took over the official Gene Autry feature releases they released 12 'Gene Autry Collections', with two features on two DVDs. (Four movies per collection.) These twelve collections released all the Autry features that Image did not release as single DVDs plus some re-releases of the Image singles, as part of the Timeless four movie collections.

 

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[Beckford]

"500 Others"?
Are they counting the horses and steers too?

 

[Bob Gu]

Here's one for regular stars with a claim of 800 life stories. I guess they count all the performers mentioned in each issue.

More with Roy. Stories about his family plus picture features on individual episodes of his TV series.

Player Index on the right. Are there 500 listed in this example? I don't feel like counting. Click to enlarge. Pictorial for Wild Bill Elliott's "Rebel City" on the left.

Contents.

Highlighting an episode of "The Roy Rogers Show"

Above examples may not be from the same issue.

This one drops the 500.

GritTV has another over the air digital station out there somewhere concentrating on western movies and TV shows. I can't find any trace of what cities it's on in, yet. But the schedule is up on the regular GritTV website.

It's called GRITXtra. The schedule includes the SFM Entertainment shows, "The Californians", "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp", "The Adventures of Jim Bowie" and even "The Real McCoys".

The GRITXtra schedule shows 20 episodes of "The Roy Rogers Show" on Mondays. So, when/if this station shows up, you could watch or record them all in 5 or six weeks. I don't know if they will have all 105 episodes to show.

Many of the episodes of "The Roy Rogers Show", on Tubi and YouTube seem to be full length. I don't know if they have all 105 episodes either.

"MACKINTOSH and T.J." can be watched for free on Tubi.

 

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From DELL Comics #776. Back cover above, Front cover below.

 

[Bob Gu]

SOUTHWARD, HO! -1939, B&W, 58 minutes.

I have a soft version on an Alpha double-feature, paired with a soft "SONG OF TEXAS"-1943. I talked about "SONG OF TEXAS" in Post #316, on page 16, of this thread.

The Alpha SOUTHWARD, HO! syndicated print is 53 minutes without the fore and aft Republic logos. It has a generic THE END plus the tech credits.

SOUTHWARD, HO! is the first Rogers movie with Gabby Hayes as Roy's sidekick.

The Civil War has just ended. Gabby and Roy are ex-Confederates, this time.

Roy and Gabby head to Texas, because Gabby has inherited a half interest in a Texas ranch.

The other half of the ranch was willed to Wade Boteler, a former Union officer. Roy and Gabby had a comedic encounter with Boteler earlier in the picture.

Mary Hart, Wade Boteler, Roy Rogers and Ed Brady. Mary/Lynne plays Boteler's daughter.

Hart, Boteler, Charles Moore, Roy, Gabby. Gabby doesn't want a partner.

Rogers and Hart.

Gabby is happy when Boteler is made military governor of the area. This means Gabby gets to run their ranch.

Boteler is to collect taxes from the locals to help rebuild the area.

Renegades intercept the troops that were sent to help Boteler. That scene is missing. Our only clue, in this cut print, that the troops are fakes and outlaws is a throw-a-way line, from Tom London, about the renegades having been thrown out of the army.

Bad guys Arthur Loft and Bob Woodward.

Without Boteler's knowledge the outlaws abuse the population and steal the tax money for themselves.

When Boteler realizes what the renegades are doing, he is murdered.

Then it's up to Roy.

There's an odd town gossip character, Ed Brady, in the story that carries tales to everyone. By the end of the movie, he seems to be in league with the bad guys.

Ed Brady with Roy and Gabby.

IMDB lists four songs for this movie. Found the missing one on YouTube.

SOUTHWARD, HO! -1939. 53-minute version, YouTube.

 

[Bert Greene]

Seeing Eilene Janssen pop up in the first episode (1952) of "Ozzie and Harriet," courtesy of MPI's newly-released dvd set, gave me the notion to revisit Republic's "Rough Ridin' Kids" film series, in which Janssen co-starred with Michael Chapin as the 'kid' hero duo of 'Red' and 'Judy' in four b-western entries. I find it a modest but fairly agreeable series, with the films nicely paced and exuding that crisp Republic sheen....

BUCKAROO SHERIFF OF TEXAS (1951)
THE DAKOTA KID (1951)
ARIZONA MANHUNT (1951)
WILD HORSE AMBUSH (1952)

When I saw Chapin at a show, he did mention that studio boss Yates did have in mind somewhat replicating the successful Roy Rogers and Dale Evans formula in pairing a boy and a girl in the series. There's some continuity shown by having character actor James Bell playing Red's grandfather and local sheriff in all the films. Although locales changed a bit (even if the sets did not), as the first film takes place in the Texas panhandle, while the last near the border. Plus, the third entry seemed to actually 'introduce' the character of Judy and her backstory, while the first film was more biographical towards Red. This latter film ("Buckaroo Sheriff") involved the murder of Red's father, played by actor Steve Pendleton (sometimes billed as Gaylord Pendleton), who was around in movies for decades. Recall him mostly from his starring role in the quirky, Florida-lensed indie "Untamed Fury" (1947), which PRC eventually got around to re-releasing. "Buckaroo Sheriff" also featured a rather lanky young Hugh O'Brian providing hero duties. Although Red and Judy seemed quite adept at riding fast and firing pistols, I guess the studio didn't really want the imagery of the kids blasting holes in the villains, and needed a few adult characters to do the dirty work.

Speaking of villains, stalwart Republic baddie Roy Barcroft figures in three of these four "Rough Ridin' Kids" films. He's even introduced in the final one in the middle of bullwhipping an old man! Always doing something dastardly, isn't he? Late-era b-western villain actor House Peters Jr. (usually busy at Monogram) also shows up in the second film. Chapin mentioned meeting Peters on the set, and they became lifelong friends. Peters seemed to be a grand guy, particularly well-liked by his colleagues. He eventually found a bit of immortality as 'Mr. Clean,' the bald mascot in the product commercials. Speaking of baldness, Chapin believed the red dye that Republic used weekly on his hair (to comport with his character's name of 'Red') led to his own future baldness. Anyway, I think all of my prints of these films are complete. The only question mark for me involves the last film, "Wild Horse Ambush." I have a lobby-card from the movie, showing Red and Judy with a young, roped calf. But I didn't see any such scene in the film. Might have just been a publicity shot, or the scene ended on the cutting-room floor before release, I guess.

 

[Bob Gu]

"Rough Ridin' Kids" is another Republic series I have never seen. Until today, that is. I found two of them online at the ok.ru site.

Michael Chapin, Eilene Janssen, with James Bell. Chapin was in UNDER CALIFORNIA STARS.

Steve Pendleton was with Roy in SUNSET IN THE WEST and YOUNG BUFFALO BILL.

Hugh Obrian.

From Western Clippings.

With Richard Avonde, another prolific character actor in 50s movies and TV.

Bert's missing scene? It is odd that the first three "Rough Ridin' Kids" were 60 minutes and the last, "Wild Horse Ambush", was 54 minutes. The 54-minute runtime is listed at IMDB and confirmed by 'Republic Confidential'. So, maybe edited out, to save a little on the film prints, if they knew they were not going to continue the series.

"The Dakota Kid"

Dakota Kid (1951)-Rough Ridin' Kids #2

Released July 1, 1951 The second entry in Republic's Rough Ridin' Kids series. Outlaw "The Dakota Kid" poses as a long lost relative to Sheriff White and becomes his marshall, all the while plotting against him. Will the wholesome gosh-darned goodness of Judy and Red, plus maybe a little...

ok.ru

"Wild Horse Ambush"

Wild Horse Ambush (1952) -Rough Ridin' Kids #4

Released April 15, 1952 The fourth and last entry in the Rough Ridin' Kids series.

ok.ru

 

[Bert Greene]

Still digging through the early days of Republic, watching one of those cheap indies that the studio released to fill out its first-year program, "Federal Agent" (1936), starring William Boyd and Irene Ware. It was a so-so programmer of the g-men/detective type, and the print quality rather dire. I'd mentioned about these 'pre-Hoppy' William Boyd cheapies that Republic released, although I think I said there were three of them, when there were actually four. The confusion arises because three were produced under the Winchester Pictures banner, while a fourth was a Select Production... yet they were all apparently made by 1930s producer George Hirliman. After these, Hirliman later released his product through short-lived Grand National. There, Hirliman was responsible for the short 'singing cowgirl' series starring Dorothy Page, as well as that 1936-37 four-film series starring Conrad Nagel and Eleanor Hunt as undercover government agents. Hunt was actually Hirliman's wife. Most people recall her prime fame being Eddie Cantor's leading-lady in "Whoopee" (1930), I'm guessing. I still get a weird kick out of how Hirliman touted his Cinecolor-filmed production "Captain Calamity" (1936) as being filmed in 'Hirlicolor.' Sounds like it could be dubbed 'color that makes you want to hurl.'

Even though the latter two William Boyd features were released in 1936, I do believe they were filmed before Boyd's work as Hoppy started (in 1935), although I'm not completely certain. Anyway, as for "Federal Agent," it's always nice to see Irene Ware in a film. I've always liked her. She was a lovely Princess Nadji in "Chandu the Magician" (1932-Fox). Although she'd been an Earl Carroll showgirl, of all things, I always thought she had an appealing reserve about her. But her career never really took off, and she seemed mostly mired in poverty-row fare. She's leading-lady in two of Sol Lesser's George O'Brien films, including the delightful "Whispering Smith Speaks" (1935), which is a favorite of mine. Not really a western, but a contemporary-set railroad film, it's great and lighthearted fun. Plus, it featured such flavorful location work, from attractive outdoors scenery along the rail line to a climactic motorcycle chase through the big city. Oh how I'd love to see films like this all sharp and clear, from pristine 35mm transfers on blu-ray, where I'd really savor the visuals. Unfortunately, this type of thing seems to rest on the lowest rung of the totem-pole when it comes to revivals (and that's even 'if' decent elements still survive). The second pairing of O'Brien and Ware was in "O'Malley of the Mounted" (1936), a remake of the William S. Hart silent. Haven't seen it in a while, but recall it as a fairly routine outing, one of the lesser Lesser's, so to speak.

If Irene Ware ever got a singular showcase in a film, it was probably in Chesterfield's little comedy-drama "False Pretenses" (1935). She was quite vivacious in it, and you'd think it could have given a boost to her career, but it didn't. An easy-going fluff of a film, although like all Chesterfield/Invincible movies, a bit too talky. It was helmed by director Charles Lamont, who seemed to make most of the better Chesterfield offerings during its waning days (and before he became such a mainstay at Universal).

 

[Bob Gu]

These movies and short-lived series look like fun. Many of the titles are on Alpha DVD or up at YouTube.

Irene Ware.

Eleanor Hunt.

Hunt with Conrad Nagel.

 

[Bob Gu]

The new offshoot station from GritTV called GritXtra still doesn't seem to have an over the air presence, that I can find. GritXtra is not listed on the OTA stations grid at rabbitears.info.

GritXtra streams on these platforms.

I have an old TV, so I tried to see if I could watch GritXtra online via Freevee, TLC, and Xumo. I could not find the GritXtra shows listed at freevee or TLC. Xumo actually has a clickable schedule grid up with the GritXtra schedule along with the other stations Xumo carries.

I tried to watch "Tombstone Territory", but it kept pausing. I might just be doing something wrong. But maybe you are supposed to register or download some software.

The GritXtra Monday schedule still shows 20 episodes of "The Roy Rogers Show" playing 4 P.M. to 4 A.M. Next Mondays' schedule shows the episodes are from different seasons. So, we still don't know if they are showing all the episodes.

The majority of the TV westerns on GritXtra have already been released on DVD. I'll try to take a look at "Jim Bowie" to see if the show has been cleaned up since the DVDs from 2006-7.

GritXtra is also showing, "The Cisco Kid" and "Fury". Are they showing all the episodes?

 

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[Bob Gu]

Interesting ads, Scott.

The text on the battery ad states that the Hoppy on the right is "the popular Hector DuBois". I don't know who he is, but the Hector picture seems doctored to mimic the shading on the real Hoppy picture. I was going to check further on DuBois but decided to research the Chicken of the Sea ad instead.

I wondered where is the Chicken of the Sea mermaid. So, she showed up shortly after that 1953 Hoppy ad.

Grace Lee Whitney appeared on the Edgar Bergen Charlie McCarthy radio show (1937-1956), as the COS mermaid for commercials.

Charlie McCarthy and Edgar Bergen with Marilyn Monroe.

Grace Lee Whitney.

The COS mermaid and G.L. Whitney's character on "Star Trek" have the same hairdo.

Keeping things western. Whitney with "Captain Pike" in the "Temple Huston" pilot. Available on WAC DVD.

With 'Bones' on "Death Valley Days".

Grace Lee Whitney: Cowgirl.