Slapstick films are comedy films using slapstick humor, a physical comedy that includes pratfalls, tripping, falling, practical jokes, and mistakes are highlighted over dialogue, plot and character development. The physical comedy in these films contains a cartoonish style of violence that is predominantly harmless and goofy in tone.
Adventures of Superman is an American television series based on comic book characters and concepts that Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster created in 1938. The show was the first television series to feature Superman and began filming in 1951 in California on RKO-Pathé stages and the RKO Forty Acres back lot. Cereal manufacturer Kellogg's sponsored the show. The first and last airdates of the show, which was produced for first-run syndication rather than for a network, are disputed, but they are generally accepted as September 19, 1952, and April 28, 1958. The show's first two seasons were filmed in black-and-white; seasons three through six were filmed in color.
Phyllis Coates was an American actress, with a career spanning over fifty years. She was best known for her portrayal of reporter Lois Lane in the 1951 film Superman and the Mole Men and in the first season of the television series Adventures of Superman.
Audrey Gwendoline Long was an American stage and screen actress of English descent, who performed mainly in low-budget films in the 1940s and early 1950s. Some of her more notable film performances are in Tall in the Saddle (1944) with John Wayne, Wanderer of the Wasteland (1945), Born to Kill (1947), and Desperate (1947).
Clyde Beatty was a famed animal trainer, zoo owner, and circus mogul. He joined Howe's Great London Circus in 1921 as a cage boy and spent the next four decades rising to fame as one of the most famous circus performers and animal trainers in the world. Through his career, the circus impresario owned several circuses, including his own Clyde Beatty Circus from 1945 to 1956.
Mangani is the name of a fictional species of great apes in the Tarzan novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and of the invented language used by these apes. In the invented language, Mangani is the apes' word for their own kind, although the term is also applied to humans. The Mangani are represented as the apes who foster and raise Tarzan.
Africa Screams is a 1949 American adventure comedy film starring Abbott and Costello and directed by Charles Barton that parodies the safari genre. The title is a play on the title of the 1930 documentary Africa Speaks! The supporting cast features Clyde Beatty, Frank Buck, Hillary Brooke, Max Baer, Buddy Baer, Shemp Howard and Joe Besser. The film entered the public domain in 1977.
John Arthur Doucette was an American character actor who performed in more than 280 film and television productions between 1941 and 1987. A man of stocky build who possessed a deep, rich voice, he proved equally adept at portraying characters in Shakespearean plays, Westerns, and modern crime dramas. He is perhaps best remembered, however, for his villainous roles as a movie and television "tough guy".
Darkest Africa (1936) is a Republic movie serial. This was the first serial produced by Republic Pictures and was a loose sequel to a Mascot Pictures serial called The Lost Jungle, also starring Clyde Beatty. Mascot, and other companies, had been taken over in 1935 by Consolidated Film Laboratories and merged to become Republic. Producer Nat Levine was formerly the owner of Mascot Pictures.
Jungle Drums of Africa is a 1953 12-episode American serial film shot in black-and-white. It was an original commissioned screenplay by Ronald Davidson produced by Franklin Adreon and directed by Fred C. Brannon for Republic Pictures. The story is set in Kenya, and involves the efforts of an American uranium processing company's representative and a woman medical missionary, to thwart the efforts of agents of a "foreign power", abetted by a disaffected native witchdoctor, to gain control of a large uranium deposit on lands owned by the latter's tribe. This serial features black American actors in major roles, including that of a college-educated chieftain.
Jungle Menace (1937) is the first serial released by Columbia Pictures.
Tarzan and the Lost Safari is a 1957 action adventure film featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' famous jungle hero Tarzan and starring Gordon Scott, Robert Beatty, Yolande Donlan and Betta St. John. Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone, it was the first Tarzan film released in color, Eastman Color. The nineteenth film of the Tarzan film series that began with 1932's Tarzan the Ape Man and the first produced by MGM since 1942, it was filmed in Nairobi, British East Africa. The character of Jane does not appear in this motion picture. Released April 12, 1957, it was followed by Tarzan and the Trappers in 1958.
Jad-bal-ja, the Golden Lion is a fictional character in Edgar Rice Burroughs's Tarzan novels, and in adaptations of the saga to other media, particularly comics.
Soldiers of Fortune is a syndicated half hour American television adventure series that ran from 1955 to 1956. It starred John Russell as Tim Kelly, and Chick Chandler as his sidekick Toubo Smith, who were international adventurers. Episodes take place in different countries. Many of the film crew had worked at Republic Pictures studios with the show filmed on Republic's backlot then used by television's Revue Productions. The series ran for 52 episodes, and was constantly rerun on American television into the 1960s.
Off to See the Wizard is an American television anthology series, partially animated but mostly live action, produced by MGM Animation/Visual Arts and telecast on ABC-TV between 1967 and 1968 that was narrated by Hal Holbrook.
Richard M. Dumont is a Canadian voice actor, writer and director who has worked in both Canada and the United States.
Sky Commando is a 1953 American war film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Fred F. Sears and starring Dan Duryea, Frances Gifford and Mike Connors. The Cold War period provides the background, although the plot concerns a flashback to World War II aerial action.
The Best of Walt Disney's True-Life Adventures is a 1975 American compilation documentary film produced by Walt Disney Productions, directed by James Algar and released by Buena Vista Distribution on October 8, 1975. The film is composed of highlights from the Academy Award winning True-Life Adventures series of 13 feature length and short subject nature documentary films produced between 1948 and 1960.
Outlaws of Texas is a 1950 American Western film directed by Thomas Carr and written by Daniel B. Ullman. The film stars Whip Wilson, Andy Clyde, Phyllis Coates, Terry Frost, Tommy Farrell and Zon Murray. The film was released on December 10, 1950, by Monogram Pictures.
Kimba the White Lion, originally known as Jungle Emperor Leo in Japan, was a 1965 television series produced by Mushi Production. This series was based on the manga written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. The series was broadcast by the Fuji TV Network from October 6, 1965, to September 28, 1966; as such, it was the first full-colored Japanese anime broadcast on TV. This series consisted of 52 episodes and won a few awards like Special Award of the 4th TV Editors' Award 1966 and the Cultural Award of Children's Welfare under the Ministry of Health and Welfare 1966. Since its first airing, there have been sequel TV shows, films, and remakes made.
