COOL SERIALS & LESSER KNOWN HEROES (1930's, 40's & 50's)

 

This electrifying Saturday Night Special is all about the serials!

Serials were a big deal in the 30's, 40's, and 50's, but these days they're about as popular as 8-track tapes. We've covered a lot of the cool ones that featured colorful characters like Captain Video, Commander Cody, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon, Captain Marvel, Superman, The Batman, and The Green Hornet, but there are some lesser known heroes I know we'll probably never get around to, but I'm about to remedy that a bit!

 

In 1934, Jack Muhall played a hero who was also a race car driver in a twelve chapter serial called "Burn-'Em-Up' Barnes."

 

In 1936, there was a character named "The Clutching Hand." "15 Thunderbolt Chapters," now how cool is that? 

 Republic Studios were responsible for many of these serials, and in the "The Fighting Devil Dogs" from 1938, the United States Marine Corp were the heroes.

In 1940, Republic Pictures decided to turn it around a bit, and used the name of the villain instead of the hero as the title for the serial!

Dr. Satan was "CRAZED WITH THE LUST TO KILL" or at least that was what the tagline said.

  The hero of this series was actually named Copperhead and was played by Robert Wilcox.

 

Villains were big in 1940, and "Drums Of Fu Manchu" was another 15 episode serial brought out by Republic. 

 

 

Also from 1940 was "The Green Archer," which seems like it's going to be a period piece, but isn't. Based on an Edgar Wallace novel, it's modern times, but older weapons are used by the hero, such as a box and arrow!

 

 1942 brought us a new hero, a fellow named "Spy Smasher." Seriously, who is going to fuck with a guy named "Spy Smasher?" 

 

 

If you're a spy guy, and you're not in the mood to get smashed, I suggest you get the Hell out of town!

 

"Secret Agent X-9" was a serial from 1945 that starred Lloyd (Sea Hunt) Bridges in 13 thrilling episodes.
 

You can actually buy a freakin' 27" X 40" replica of this poster from Walmart for $19.98, and while I normally would never give a plug to Walmart, that's one Helluva deal!

 

In 1966, they decided to try and recycle the 1946 serial titled "The Crimson Ghost" into "Cyclotrode X," and while I give them a lot of credit for trying, you have to admit "Cyclotrode X" sounds a lot like it could be the next Covid variant!

There were many more colorful heroes and villains in serials over the years like Dick Tracy, Tarzan, Zorro, The Masked Marvel, The Black Widow, Spy King, and Don Daredevil. The list goes on and on and on. Probably 90% of them can be found on YouTube or The Internet Archive so there's no excuses for not watching them instead of the drivel they choose to air on TV these days!

In 1947, television was pretty much responsible for the demise of the serial, now it's time to turn the tables.