Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe II was an American two-time Olympic swimmer and film and television actor. He won the 1932 Olympic gold medal for 400-meter freestyle swimming event, which launched his career on the silver screen and later television. He starred in a variety of popular feature films and movie serials released between 1933 and the 1950s, portraying the top three syndicated comic-strip heroes of the 1930s: Tarzan, Flash Gordon, and Buck Rogers.
Producers Releasing Corporation was the smallest and least prestigious of the 11 Hollywood film companies of the 1940s. It was considered a prime example of what was called "Poverty Row": a low-rent stretch of Gower Street in Hollywood where shoestring film producers based their operations. However, PRC was more substantial than the usual independent companies that made only a few low-budget movies and then disappeared. PRC was an actual Hollywood studio – albeit the smallest – with its own production facilities and distribution network, and it even accepted imports from the UK. PRC lasted from 1939 to 1947, churning out low-budget B movies for the lower half of a double bill or the upper half of a neighborhood theater showing second-run films. The studio was originally located at 1440 N. Gower St. from 1936 to 1943. PRC then occupied the former Grand National Pictures physical plant at 7324 Santa Monica Blvd., from 1943 to 1947. This address is now an apartment complex.
Jean Rogers was an American actress who starred in serial films in the 1930s and low–budget feature films in the 1940s as a leading lady. She is best remembered for playing Dale Arden in the science-fiction serials Flash Gordon (1936) and Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars (1938).
Al St. John was an early American motion-picture comedian. He was a nephew of silent film star Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, with whom he often performed on screen. St. John was employed by Mack Sennett and also worked with many other leading players such as Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Mabel Normand. His film career successfully transitioned from the silent era into sound, and by the late 1930s and 1940s he was working predominantly in Westerns, often portraying the scruffy comedy-relief character "Fuzzy Q. Jones". Among his notable performances in that role are in the "Billy the Kid" series of films released by the Producers Releasing Corporation from 1940 to 1946 and in that company's "Lone Rider" series from 1941 to 1943.
The Law Commands is a 1937 American Western film directed by William Nigh and starring Tom Keene, Lorraine Randall, Robert Fiske and Budd Buster. It was produced by the Poverty Row company Crescent Pictures.
Sally of the Subway is a 1932 American pre-Code crime film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Jack Mulhall, Dorothy Revier and Blanche Mehaffey. It was produced as a second feature for release by Mayfair Pictures.
Passport to Paradise is a 1932 American pre-Code drama film directed by George B. Seitz and starring Jack Mulhall, Blanche Mehaffey and Eddie Phillips. It was produced as a second feature for release by the independent company Mayfair Pictures. The film is now considered to be lost.
The Oil Raider is a 1934 American action film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and starring Buster Crabbe, Gloria Shea and George Irving. It was produced on Poverty Row as a second feature and was distributed by independent company Mayfair Pictures.
The Billy the Kid series of 42 Western films was produced between 1940 and 1946, and released by Poverty Row studio Producers Releasing Corporation.
Budd Leland Buster, usually credited as Budd Buster, was an American actor known for B western films. He sometimes was credited as George Selk in his later work.
Toll of the Desert is a 1935 American western film directed by William Berke and starring Fred Kohler, Jr., Betty Mack, and Roger Williams.
The Bounty Killer is a 1965 American Technicolor and Techniscope Western film directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet, written by Ruth Alexander and Leo Gordon, and starring Dan Duryea and Rod Cameron. The supporting cast features Audrey Dalton, Richard Arlen, Buster Crabbe, Fuzzy Knight, Johnny Mack Brown and Tom Kennedy. Broncho Billy Anderson, the cinema's first Western film star, makes his final appearance in the film. The film was released on July 31, 1965, by Embassy Pictures.
Fighting Lady is a 1935 American drama film directed by Carlos F. Borcosque and starring Peggy Shannon, Jack Mulhall and Marion Lessing. The film was a low-budget Poverty Row production, distributed in some regions by Majestic Pictures.
Mayfair Pictures was an American film production and distribution company active between 1931 and 1934 during the early sound era. It grew out of Action Pictures, another low-budget studio location on Poverty Row. It was established by the producer Ralph M. Like and was located at the former Charles Ray Studios in Hollywood.
The Scarlet Brand is a 1932 American pre-Code Western film directed by J.P. McGowan and starring Bob Custer, Betty Mack and Robert D. Walker.
Lester F. Scott Jr. (1883–1954) was an American film producer of the silent and early sound eras. He specialized in producing western films, many of them directed by Richard Thorpe.
George W. Weeks (1885–1953) was an American film producer. During the early 1930s he was involved with Sono Art Pictures and Mayfair Pictures. In the 1940s he released his films, including the Range Busters series featuring Ray "Crash" Corrigan, through Monogram Pictures.
The Last of the Clintons is a 1935 American western film directed by Harry L. Fraser and starring Harry Carey, Betty Mack and Victor Potel. It was the last film released by the Poverty Row studio Ajax Pictures before it closed down.
The Forty-Niners is a 1932 American western film directed by John P. McCarthy and starring Tom Tyler, Betty Mack and Fern Emmett. It was a Monarch Production by a Poverty Row independent film company.
Riddle Ranch is a 1935 American western film directed by Charles Hutchison and starring David Worth, June Marlowe, and Julian Rivero. It was made as an independent second feature on Poverty Row. It was primarily designed as a vehicle for the horse Black King.
