Author Archives: Jerry Blake

Serial Stars Elsewhere–Charles Quigley Family Reminiscences

Posted on by under Serial Actors Elsewhere

(Like the Frank Shannon piece below, this was originally attached to the subject actor’s bio page).

Charles N. Quigley, son of serial star Charles Quigley, has kindly permitted me to reproduce here several reminiscences concerning his father’s acting career–reminiscences which he originally sent to me via e-mail, and which are too interesting not to share with other serial buffs. All that follows, save my interjections and comments in bold type, are Mr. Quigley’s own words. Continue reading →

Serial Stars Elsewhere–Frank Shannon on Stage

Posted on by under Serial Actors Elsewhere

I had previously attached these press clippings from Frank Shannon’s distinguished pre-Dr. Zarkov stage career to the biography page on Shannon.  I am starting a new series of blog posts concerning the non-serial activities of serial actors, and figured it would make sense to use these for the inaugural offering; perhaps they will be new to some readers. Continue reading →

The Case of the Silly Pictures: Superman versus Captain Marvel (With Republic in the Middle)

Posted on by under Articles

Much of the information in this article may be old news to many serial buffs, but I thought the following account of Republic’s failed attempt to make a Superman serial, and the tangled legal aftermath, might be of interest to my readers. If nothing else, it gives me a chance to write about my hobby (movie serials) and my profession (law) at the same time. Continue reading →

Serial DVD News–King of the Kongo Restoration Project

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Restorationist Eric Grayson, also known as “Dr. Film,” is working on restoring the 1929 Mascot part-silent/part-sound serial King of the Kongo (starring Walter Miller and Boris Karloff). The serial has long been missing the soundtrack for its talking portions–some of which, however, still exists separately from the film print, having been recorded on disc. Eric is working on reuniting all that remains of the soundtrack with the best possible print; his latest update is here:

Update on King of the Kongo

 

Serial DVD News: More on VCI’s Deal with Universal

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April 17, 2019: A tip of the hat and another big thanks to Clifford Weimer, the webmaster of the old-movie site In the Balcony, and a contributor to special features on past VCI serial DVDs. He has provided some more concrete details on the upcoming VCI releases at this link. Particularly exciting is his hint that nine more Universal serials, never before available on video, may be in play; I’m having visions of a good and complete print of The Lost Special finally becoming available, or–even better–some of the long-lost early Universal titles like The Airmail Mystery and Danger Island surfacing for the first time since their original release. Let us wait and see.

Serial DVD News: VCI Obtains Universal’s Original Materials

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April 5th, 2019. The estimable Tom Weaver–serial, B-film, and horror-movie expert extraordinaire–has broken some great news for serial buffs over in two threads on the Classic Horror Film Board Forum. Robert Blair of VCI has informed him that Universal is going to give VCI access to the original film elements for its serials; VCI plans to use these for new DVD releases of those serials (the linked threads refer to Blu-Ray, not DVD, but as you can see from a second post on the second thread linked, at least the first two announced releases, The Roaring West and The Red Rider, are DVD and not Blu-Ray). Continue reading →