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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics:  The Story of Republic Pictures

In many of the films actress Anne Jeffreys made for Republic Pictures she played a damsel in perilous situations.  Neither the studio nor the performer could imagine how much those movies would affect the lives of young, ticket buyers.  A letter from a fan written to the motion picture studio in the summer of 1945 expressed what many males were thinking about the talented Ms. Jeffreys.

“The first time I saw her [Anne Jeffreys] in a movie her lovely image was secured permanently,” the admirer wrote.  “She was not only staggeringly beautiful, but kind and warm, and understanding.  If she only knew how many times I’ve swept her off a teetering bridge just before it collapsed; how many hoodlums I flattened with my powerful fists as they tried to force you, kicking and screaming, into their black limousine or into a stagecoach, for God knows what evil purpose; how many times, as you cradled my head in your arms (after I just saved your life AGAIN) and tearfully asked ‘Are you all right?’  I’ve replied:  ‘It’s nothing, just a bullet wound in the chest.’

Born Anne Carmichael on January 26, 1926, in Goldsboro, North Carolina, Anne was one of Republic Pictures most versatile leading ladies.  She played everything from a mobster’s girlfriend to a singing cowgirl.  As a child she displayed outstanding musical talent.  Her first professional appearance was on a radio program of mixed songs at Durhum, when she was ten.  Anne’s mother was encouraged to take her daughter to New York to audition for various theatre companies.  There she sang before a number of vocal celebrities; all agreed Anne was an operatic find and offered to finance her further musical education.  Anne preferred however, to pay her own way by becoming a John Powers model.

The young North Carolina girl studied her music diligently, ultimately winning a scholarship with the Municipal Opera Association.

The Metropolitan, goal of all opera singers, seemed just around the corner when Mrs. Jeffreys decided her hardworking child had earned a vacation.  Mother and daughter boarded a bus for Hollywood.

Even in a community well people with charming blondes, Anne’s blonde beauty attracted the attention of cinema talent scouts.  Carefully trained by Lillian Albertson, a studio drama coach, Anne Jeffreys began appearing in motion pictures in 1942.  In the beginning she played a number of background characters in such popular Republic Pictures as Moonlight Masquerade and The Flying Tigers.  In 1943 Anne finally got her chance to costar in two movies opposite Bill Elliott and Gabby Hayes.  The pictures, Calling Wild Bill Elliott and The Man from Thunder River, were westerns.  Newspapers across the country reported on the studio’s decision to cast Anne in the film’s main female role.

Anne’s debut in the Bill Elliott films was applauded by moviegoers everywhere and Republic Pictures was praised for the decision to use the gifted songstress in such an inventive role.

“Singing cowboys are not new to the Hollywood scene, but blonde and gorgeous Anne Jeffreys can honestly claim the distinction of being the first singing cowgirl,” an article in the August 7, 1943 edition of the Hollywood Reporter noted.  “She is Wild Bill Elliott’s leading lady in all his Republic Pictures now.  In each of the pictures in the Elliott series Anne breaks into song at one point or another.”

To learn more about the films leading lady Anne Jeffreys made for Republic Studios read Cowboys, Creatures and Classics:  The Story of Republic Pictures.

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

There were many talented female contract players at Republic Pictures. In the mid-1940s, the studio had more than 120 actors in its stable of gifted individuals. Some of those actresses became household names because of their work in front of the camera, and others rose to fame as a result of their off-screen exploits. The following is a look at a few of the studio’s most recognizable and popular women thespians, their careers, and the roles that made them stars.

One of Republic Pictures’ most popular actresses was one of the motion picture industry’s most troubled. Her name was Gail Russell. Russell, a beautiful brunette with dark, blue eyes, was a gifted talent who dreamed of becoming a commercial artist. She was born Elizabeth L. Russell in Chicago on September 21, 1924. Throughout her childhood, she was painfully shy and often hid under her parents’ piano whenever guests came to their home. The young girl only felt completely comfortable when she was sketching various people and places in her sphere of influence. She began drawing at the age of five years old and was considered exceptional by most who saw her sketches and paintings.

When she was in her late teens, her mother, Gladys Russell, encouraged her to set aside her drawing pencils and venture into films. Russell was fourteen when her parents moved to Los Angeles so their daughter could pursue their dream of her becoming a star. She attended Santa Monica High School, and as soon as she graduated, she auditioned for Paramount Pictures and signed a contract with the studio for fifty dollars a week.

Russell’s shyness followed her as she began her career. Acting instructors were hired to help her overcome her timidity, but it never completely subsided. It did add to her haunting persona, and she was cast in roles where that part of her personality could be highlighted. As her star rose in the industry, her fear of performing became more pronounced. With each film it took more effort to overcome her lack of self-confidence and commit to the part. While filming The Uninvited in 1944, Russell chose to deal with her paralyzing self-doubt by drinking. Alcohol did not quiet her nerves; it merely made her more anxious. By the end of the production, she had become dependent on liquor and was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The Uninvited was a critical success, and the film was nominated for an Academy Award. Russell became even more popular thanks to the film. She went on to work with such stars as Alan Ladd and Joel McCrea, Jane Wyatt and Adolphe Menjou. The work was continuous and the pace grueling. Russell dealt with the frantic schedules the same way she did with her shyness, by drinking.

In 1946 Russell starred in the first of four films she made for Republic Pictures. John Wayne co-produced The Angel and the Badman and specifically requested Gail Russell to play opposite him in the western written and directed by James Edward Grant. Wayne was moved by her quiet, unassuming personality. He treated her with the respect and kindness she’d not known from many other leading men or producers. The two became good friends while working on the film. Wayne was protective of Russell. He recognized vulnerability in the actress some could have taken advantage of. He was a father figure to Russell, and she considered him to be a fiercely honest individual.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

Between 1936 and 1956, Republic released a string of unique horror serials that promised audiences they would quake with fear when they came face to face with the studio’s terrifying lineup of ghouls, freaks of nature, and the walking dead.

Drums of Fu Manchu premiered in the spring of 1940. The creepy chapter play featured a race of bald-headed, fanged slaves known as “Dacoits” who had been lobotomized into doing the bidding of the immortal and insidious Doctor Fu Manchu. Fu Manchu hopes to conquer Asia and subsequently the world but needs specific artifacts from the tomb of Genghis Khan to achieve his goal. In Los Angeles, California, he convenes a meeting of the S-Far, an international conspiracy group that helps him draw up his plans. When archeologist Dr. James Parker is killed so Fu Manchu can obtain rare scrolls in his possession, his son Allan joins forces with Sir Denis Nayland Smith of the British Foreign Office to avenge his father’s death.

The sixteen frightful-looking “Dacoits” who contributed many of the thrills to Drums of Fu Manchu were a product of the makeup artist Bob Mark’s wizardry. The normal-looking people became grotesque monsters in Mark’s hands.

Rubber caps entirely covered their hair, giving them the impression of baldness. These caps, which could be worn only once, were especially manufactured at the cost of five dollars each. They were fitted tightly over the “Dacoit’s” heads, and heavy, theatrical grease paint was applied over them. The scars, which represented the incisions where Dr. Fu Manchu had removed the frontal lobes of their brain, were made of a special rubber composition and were held in place by rubber cement. The makeup of Fu Manchu himself, an elaboration of the “Dacoit’s” makeup, took exactly 2.5 hours each day to apply.

The fifteen-part Fu Manchu serial was directed by William Witney. He considered Fu Manchu to be his finest work. Sam Rohmer created the character of the insidious Fu Manchu in 1913 for a series of adventure novels. Rohmer’s books were best sellers, and he used a portion of the profit made from the sales to develop a product he believed needed refining—mothballs.

There was a time in 1935 that Republic Pictures’ development department believed there was nothing left on dry land to scare the wits out of moviegoers, so they decided to seek out stories from the depths of the darkest oceans. Undersea Kingdom was a 1936 serial thriller that starred Ray “Crash” Corrigan.

Before becoming a costar in a number of Republic westerns, Corrigan was a bit player and stuntman who frequently donned a gorilla costume to act as a crazed ape whenever the studio called for one. Corrigan even had his own gorilla costume.

Corrigan’s character in Undersea Kingdom is a lieutenant right out of Annapolis whose assignment is to stop an evil tyrant ruler from taking over the world. Corrigan’s character is recruited for the job when a series of mysterious man-made earthquakes threaten to destroy civilization. He leads an expedition to the ocean floor in a rocket-propelled submarine and discovers the Undersea Kingdom of Atlantis. Soon the explorers find themselves caught between two warring factions led by the peace-loving High Priest of Atlantis and the evil warlord Unga-Khan, whose diabolical plans include conquering the surface of the world.

Corrigan’s super-human athletic abilities combined with the genius of the rocket-sub inventor make them targets in an action-packed battle for survival against ray-guns, tanks, and robots.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

On December 7, 1941, radios buzzed with news that several hundred Japanese planes attacked a US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, killing more than twenty-four hundred Americans as well as damaging or destroying eight Navy battleships and more than one hundred planes. Though it would be some time before people learned the full scope of the damage, within days a once distant war in Europe and the Pacific became a central part of life in the United States, affecting politics, business, media, and entertainment.

Hollywood went to war along with the rest of the country. Prominent actors enlisted in the armed forces; actresses joined the Red Cross and volunteered their services to the USO. Notable motion pictures executives took part in the effort, too. Darryl Zanuck from 20th Century Fox got into the Army Signal Corp., and Jack Warner of Warner Brothers was assigned to the Army Air Corp. Studio heads unable to join the military fought the battle from behind their desks producing films about the scene overseas and the gallant men and women protecting our freedom. By the summer of 1942, more than 125 pictures had been completed, or were in the process of being shot, that reflected war and its various angles or dealt with men in the fighting forces. Those pictures depicted the sterner side of the national and international war scene in not only dramas, features, and short subjects but also in comedies, cartoons, and even musicals.

Hollywood was instrumental in shaping the resolve of the American public during the gloomy days of World War II. President Franklin Roosevelt used American’s love affair with the movies to keep the public firmly behind the war effort. He was instrumental in creating the Office of War Information. The Office of War Information created campaigns to enhance public understanding of the war at home and abroad; to coordinate government information activities; and to act as a liaison with the press, radio, and motion picture industry. The Office of War Information was heavily involved in regulating Hollywood studios as they churned out war films at breakneck speed. Films like Warner Brother’s Confession of a Nazi Spy and 20th Century Fox’s The Purple Hearthelped galvanize the American public against two brutal enemies.

Republic Pictures also contributed to the awakening of the country’s citizenship as to whom the fight was against and why. Republic’s Flying Tigers, also known as Yank Over Singapore, was released on October 8, 1942. The movie was a tribute to the American Volunteer Group of pilots who battled the Japanese against overwhelming odds long before Pearl Harbor. According to the November 15, 1942, edition of the Hutchinson News, “Thrills abound in the picture which is a continuous series of stirring air duels between the outnumbered Americans and the Japanese.”

John Wayne has the principal role as leader of the American Volunteer Group. Anna Lee is a nurse in a hospital nearby. Paul Kelly, John Carroll, and Edmund MacDonald are pilots. The Hutchinson News noted that “some of the fight and injury scenes are strong medicine.”

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

Scene from the Crimson Ghost – 1946

Moviegoers throughout the 1930s and 1940s enjoyed film adventures from heroes on exotic animals to those in space crafts. Such was the case with The Purple Monster Strikes, the original Republic Martian invader serial. The Purple Monster was actually not a monster at all, nor was he purple. The villainous character was in reality a Caucasian, Martian space soldier. He was part of the advance guard preparing a vast invasion of earth, dressed in a blue, tight-fitting outfit, trimmed with scaly gold metallic material, and wearing a matching gilded hood. Among the Purple Monster’s alien abilities was the power to become a transparent phantom and enter the body of another, controlling his actions, thereby donning the ultimate disguise.

The Purple Monster Strikes was the first post-war serial of 1945. Republic was prohibited from using the term “rocket ship” when referring to the spacecraft the Purple Monster used in the film. Universal Studios had a copyright on the word which was used quite extensively in their serial Flash Gordon.

Billed as 1941’s “sensational serial surprise,” Republic introduced a chapter play that combined monsters designed to take over space with earthly fiends. Entitled The Mysterious Doctor Satan, the villain is a mad scientist who wants to rule the world and planets from other galaxies with an army of mechanical monsters. Audiences were treated to fifteen shivering, shuddering, surprising episodes of Dr. Satan manipulating the hideous robots he creates to rob and terrorize the nation into submission. Dr. Satan’s sworn enemy is a beefy man in a copper mask appropriately known as Copperhead. Copperhead assumes the identity from his deceased father who was a fugitive from crooked justice in the Old West. The misunderstood hero is determined to protect society from the depredations of Dr. Satan, and, at the same time, wipe out the stigma attached to the name Copperhead.

According to Jack Mathis’ book Valley of the Cliffhangers, The Mysterious Doctor Satan was intended to be a series that would feature Superman as the fighter against evil. At the last moment, DC Comics, the owners of the Superman character, refused to let Republic use the radio and comic series star. Instead of abandoning the project, the writers replaced Superman with Copperhead, a character of their own creation.

A popular character Republic Pictures was allowed to introduce in one of its chapter plays was Captain Marvel. Also known as Shazam, the superhero was created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker for Fawcett Comics. Captain Marvel was the most popular comic book superhero of the 1940s. He was also the first to be adapted into film. The film was entitled Adventures of Captain Marvel.

In an interdepartmental memo passed from various executives at Republic to Herbert Yates, the project was touted as having “massive potential to be a box office hit.” The twelve-part series premiered in March 1941.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

A popular character Republic Pictures was allowed to introduce in one of its chapter plays was Captain Marvel. Also known as Shazam, the superhero was created in 1939 by artist C. C. Beck and writer Bill Parker for Fawcett Comics. Captain Marvel was the most popular comic book superhero of the 1940s. He was also the first to be adapted into film. The film was entitled Adventures of Captain Marvel.

In an interdepartmental memo passed from various executives at Republic to Herbert Yates, the project was touted as having “massive potential to be a box office hit.” The twelve-part series premiered in March 1941. The plot of the chapter play was described in the following way:

To a remote section of Siam, jealously guarded by unconquered native tribes, comes the unwelcome Malcolm Scientific Expedition seeking knowledge of the ancient Scorpion Dynasty. Billy Batson, assistant to a radio expert, is the only one of the parties who does not enter a forbidden chamber. As a result, he is awarded the power to transform himself into a superman, Captain Marvel, upon uttering the word “Shazam.”

After a dozen spine-tingling chapters, Billy is bound and gagged so he cannot utter the word. He tricks the Scorpion into releasing the gag in order, as he pretends, to explain to him the secret of his invulnerability. Once released, he cries, “Shazam” and becomes Captain Marvel. He is able to free himself and his friends and expose the Scorpion once and for all.

Adventures of Captain Marvel was a huge success for Republic Pictures. Critics called the production “roaring good entertainment.” Many film aficionados consider the serial to be the best ever made.

The collaboration between Republic Pictures and Fawcett Comics continued after the release of the Captain Marvel serial. In 1942, the two entities brought the character Spy Smasher to the screen. Spy Smasher is a costumed vigilante and freelance agent who battles a Nazi villain known as the Mask. The Mask heads a gang of saboteurs determined to spread destruction across America. According to author and film historian Alan G. Barbour, the Mask was the first in a long line of stereotypes that pictured hard-faced Nazis as propagandist tyrants.

Spy Smasher was a twelve-part serial that was shot in thirty-eight days. Production began on December 22, 1941, just a few days after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Spy Smasher wore a cape, leaped from bridges onto fast-moving cars, outgunned Nazi devils, and escaped from all types of death traps, from burning tunnels to compartments slowly filling with water. Spy Smasher used a number of gadgets, among them being various laser beams and his fire-resistant cape, to foil the Nazis’ plans.

Daredevils of the Red Circle was a twelve-part serial that included a cape-wearing villain. The suspenseful, spine-tingling, mystery film told the tale of diabolical mastermind Harry Crowel, a.k.a. Prisoner 39013. Crowel escapes from prison and, aided by a seemingly endless supply of henchmen, sets out to destroy all holdings of industrialist Horace Granville, the man who put him in prison. One target is an amusement park, home of three Daredevils of the Red Circle who perform death-defying stunts. When head Daredevil Gene’s kid brother is killed in Crowel’s attack, the three heroes swear to capture Prisoner 39013. Unbeknownst to them, he is holding the real Granville captive and, with a near perfect disguise, has taken his place. A mysterious cloaked figure known as the Red Circle aides the daredevils in their crusade.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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In April 1946, thrill seekers were looking forward to the release of The Catman of Paris. The gruesome mystery melodrama involved a man suffering from a loss of memory who was accused of being a feline killer operating in Paris.

The tagline read: “Walks like a man. Attacks like a cat. Who is the Catman of Paris.” The plot involved author Charles Regnier returning to 1896 Paris after exotic travels, having written a best seller that the Ministry of Justice would like to ban. That very night, an official is killed on the dark streets . . . clawed to death! The prefect of police suspects a type of cat, but Inspector Severen thinks there is nothing supernatural about the crime and thinks Regnier is responsible for the murder. Regnier denies he had anything to do with the crime but begins to doubt himself when he has a hallucinatory blackout during a second killing.

Vienna-born stage actor Carl Esmond played the troubled author Regnier. Lenore Aubert, the female lead in the movie, was also from Vienna. The press packet Republic Pictures circulated to theaters and media across the country contained plenty of information about the film as well as background information about the picture’s stars. Aubert’s story of how she made it from Vienna to Hollywood could have been a movie on its own.

According to the November 8, 1946, edition of the Mount Carmel Item, the actress had just finished making her third movie when the Nazis occupied her homeland. She and her mother fled to France where they hoped to begin a new life. There she continued studying and acting for a year until the downfall of Paris.

“The experience Miss Aubert underwent in getting from France, through Portugal, to Spain would alone defeat most people,” the Mount Carmel Item article read. “However, Miss Aubert realized her one hope for happiness could be found in America. After six months of ceaseless efforts, she was able to get a priority on a Portuguese boat.”

Critics were complimentary of Aubert’s performance and the film itself, calling both “satisfying” and “entertaining.”

Chills, thrills, suspense, and murder awaited moviegoers who dared to see Valley of the Zombies starring Republic’s contract players Robert Livingston and Lorna Gray. Debuting in May 1946, the film was about a prominent brain surgeon who is killed; law enforcement suspects the culprit was his associate Dr. Terry Evans. Doctor Evans and his sweetheart nurse embark on a quest to prove his innocence. In trying to clear himself, the doctor and his girlfriend visit hospitals, morgues, embalming establishments, and an eerie estate where a few more murders have been committed for good measure. While searching the estate, the doctor and nurse happen onto a gruesome figure that is a zombie. The zombie’s condition can only be reversed with large quantities of blood. The caretaker of the undead individuals traverse the woods and mental hospitals at night looking for unwilling blood donors.

Directed by Philip Ford, nephew of award-winning western director John Ford, Valley of the Zombies was void of any valleys and, apart from one undead creature, any zombies. It was a picture that was produced quickly to cash in on the zombie craze.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures.

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

Zombies of the Stratosphere was one of three movies Republic produced dealing with a Mars invasion. Another profitable serial the studio made was Panther Girl of the Kongo. When wildlife photographer Jean Evans discovers a giant crab-like creature in the jungles of southern Africa, she sends word to a big game hunter and friend Larry Sanders for help. The pair soon learn these large crustaceans are the work of a mad scientist who wants to scare the population away from the area to operate a diamond mine. Jean, nicknamed the Panther Girl by the tribal locals because she shot a panther that had been terrorizing the village, and Larry are determined to find the mad scientist and stop him. Along the way, the pair must battle oversized sea urchins, wild animals, creepy henchmen, and inclement weather. They must survive gun battles, falls into quicksand, the roaring rapids, poison darts, and angry gorillas.

Panther Girl of the Kongo starring Phyllis Coats was the most expensive serial Republic Pictures produced in the 1950s. A great deal of footage used to make this film had been originally shot in 1941 for the movie Jungle Girl. Frances Gifford, the star in Jungle Girl, was the first female lead in a Republic serial, and Phyllis Coats was the last female lead in a Republic serial. In fact, Phyllis Coats wore the same outfit in Panther Girl that Frances Gifford wore in Jungle Girl.

The director of Jungle Girl was studio favorite William Witney. From 1935 to 1956, Witney practiced the philosophy Herbert Yates taught which was “make em’ fast and make em’ cheap.” Witney was a specialist in outdoor action and stunt direction. He directed or co-directed more Republic serials than any other company hire. He is considered the greatest action director in B movies.

Witney traveled to Los Angeles from Lawton, Oklahoma, to visit his sister and brother-in-law in 1933. His brother-in-law was a director for Mascot Pictures, and he got Witney a job at the studio as an office boy. After Mascot merged with Republic in 1935, Witney was promoted to script clerk and then to film editor.

In 1937, while Witney was working in Utah on a western serial, the director was fired, and twenty-one-year-old Witney was asked to take his place. Witney went on to direct the studio’s principal western, science fiction, and horror serials. From the Drums of Fu Manchu to the Mysterious Doctor Satan, he was able to masterfully put action sequences together for the screen

Among Witney’s fans are directors Steven Spielberg and Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino gave Witney high praise for his rough and believable action scenes and visual style. Witney’s Republic serials served as the inspiration for Spielberg’s Indiana Jones movies.

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

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Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures

The serial work producer Nat Levine was doing was extremely popular. Audiences flocked to theaters each week to find out how cowboy heroes like Johnny Mack Brown, Ken Maynard, and Tom Mix fared against the bad guys and to learn if equine stars like Rex, the King of Wild Horses, and canine actor Rin Tin Tin managed to save their pal Smiley Burnette from the villainous Harry Woods. Levine wanted to expand his moviemaking and looked to acquire the Mack Sennett production lot and facilities in order to make it happen. He approached Monogram Pictures’ executives Trem Carr and W. Ray Johnston about a merger. Neither was interested in combining his resources to purchase Mack Sennett. Both men felt the cost to run such a business would be too much to sustain. Yates heard about Levine’s proposal and offered to finance the deal. With Yates’ considerable wealth behind the enterprise and the promise that the two could share the responsibility of studio chief, Carr and Johnston decided to participate. The owners of Liberty and Majestic Studios also agreed to merge with Mascot and Monogram. The talent and resources of each small motion picture company were pooled and a distribution arm was also added to the corporation.

Republic Pictures was born in June 1935. As the money behind the venture, Yates wasted no time in asserting his authority. Although Johnston and Carr were installed as managers, Yates made it clear that he would make all major decisions regarding the company. The two executives were outraged by the mogul’s behavior but were compelled to stay with the new studio because they now lacked the means to start their own business. Nat Levine clashed with Yates, too, but chose to keep quiet in favor of making movies. He churned out a number of modest yet successful films during the first four years Republic was in operation.

Undeterred by the conflicts with his managing staff, Yates announced in a press conference with his top personnel that Republic Pictures would produce fifty-two films a year. Edward A. Golden, general sales manager for the studio, added that the company would strive to make exceptional pictures and cited problems with finances in the industry as a whole for the reason some companies delivered inferior products. Johnston shared his belief that not only financing played a part but that the lack of quality material was a contributing factor to bad movies being made. Johnston outlined Republic Pictures’ program to produce classics and the works of famous authors and urged American authors to “write better stories for screen production.”

Throughout the summer of 1935, Republic Pictures and its qualified staff made news. Stories about the ambitious independent studio’s line of pictures and the controversial comments about the industry appeared on the front pages of the newspapers. Johnston, an actor in his early days in Hollywood and a member of Franklin Roosevelt’s motion picture code authority, had definite thoughts about the salary lead actors at Republic should expect to earn. “Stars of today are paid according to their drawing power,” he told the Associated Press. “What they get is all right if they bring it back through the box office. Many of them don’t do that, however. We at Republic Pictures will pay according to the draw.”

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Herbert Yates, a tall, compact man in his mid-fifties, stood staring out the window of his magnificent office at Republic Pictures in Studio City, California, surveying the domain spread before him. A scene from a western film was being rehearsed in the middle distance. The usual, turbulent activity surrounded it: extras, makeup women, cameramen, grips, assistants, set designers, etc. Yates lit a cigar the size of a baby’s leg and held it tightly in his teeth. He took a long puff and blew the smoke out the corner of his mouth and checked the pockets of his charcoal gray, Brooks Brothers suit for the additional cigars he had tucked away. He patted them reassuringly, then rolled the fat stogie from one side of his mouth to the other.

Yates had acquired his taste for cigars while working as a salesman at the American Tobacco Company. Paired with a stiff bow tie, a receding hairline, and a dour expression, the cigar added a layer of seriousness to his persona. As head of a burgeoning, motion picture studio, he felt the look was necessary. He wanted to appear menacing. More often than not, his business approach was “never underestimate the power of good, old-fashioned intimidation.”

Herbert Yates founded Republic Pictures in 1935, but his history working in the movie industry began twenty years prior to the creation of the studio. Yates’ introduction to cinema came by way of a film-processing business called Hedwig Laboratories. He learned all about developing celluloid and relationships with some of the most profitable filmmaking executives in the field. He parlayed his knowledge into his own processing venture called Consolidated Film Industries. In a short time, Consolidated Film Industries became the leading laboratory in southern California. They processed negatives and made prints for the majority of movies produced by studios such as First National Pictures, Warner Bros., and Fox Film Corporation. Consolidated Film Industries proved to be extremely profitable for Yates, and he sought other areas of the industry of which to be a part. He acquired record companies and financed ventures for director Mack Sennett and comedic actor Fatty Arbuckle.

Within eight weeks of advancing funds to Sennett and Arbuckle, Yates received a 100 percent return on his investment. The speed in which his funds were replenished intrigued him. Yates saw the profit to be made in producing motion pictures, and it whetted his appetite for further opportunities.

To learn more about the many films Republic Pictures produced read

Cowboys, Creatures and Classics: The Story of Republic Pictures