ASTOR PICTURES
Astor Pictures Corporation was in the truest sense of the words not a true poverty row studio.They did not have a studio at all.Their primary business was in the distribution and re-releasing of films.Probably one of their more famous re-releases was “Tumbleweeds” starring William S. Hart.This movie had been produced by Hart in 1925.In 1939 he released it through Astor adding music,talking prologue and sound effects.The reason I have included Astor in Movie history is because they did distribute(some as re-releases)many second features in the late 1930’s and early 1940’s and even into the 1950’s.Some of these were East Side Kids features and some action programs such as “Social Error” starring stuntman David Sharpe made in 1936.A producer who released several films through Astor during the 1940’s and 1950’s was Al Zimbalist.

CHESTERFIELD MOTION PICTURE COMPANY INVINCIBLE PICTURES CORPORATION

Chesterfield Pictures had a rather long life for a poverty row studio,starting with silent films in the mid 1920’s and continuing until the mid 1930’s.It did not have it’s own studio,leasing,as many B-companies did,space from Universal and other major companies.Chesterfild merged with a faltering Invincible Pictures(Depression Woes) in 1932 and put out some very entertaining prtoductions.The management duo of George Batcheller and Maury Cohen were reponsible for most of Chesterfield-Invincible’s output.Some of the staff(directors,writers and editors)was very profiecient at their respective crafts and went on to bigger and better things.Two of the better directors were Richard Tharpe and Charles Lamont.The talented staff of writers included Karen DeWolfe,Paul Perez and Charles Belden.The man at the cutting table for the most part in the 1930’s was Roland Reed who was a very talented individual.Mr. Reed eventually became very sucessfull in television production.Chesterfield-Invincibles production was better than aveage for poverty row,and had it not been for the depression,the company might have had a longer life.It stopped production in 1935.
MAJESTIC PICTURES

Majestic Pictures was a different kind of independent film maker in the respect that their product was produced with a very polished look.They spent mor e for their actors ,directors and other staff and it showed.Some of the actors who worked at Majestic at one time or another wer Pat O’brien,Fay Wray,Evelyn Brent,Ned Sparks,Conrad Nagel and Jack Hoxie.Majestic Pictures was formed in the early 1930’s and survived until the mid thirties.Larry Darmour was one of the major producers at Majestic as was Harry ShermanSome of the better known directors were Frank Strayer and Lewis Collins.During it’s last years,Phillip Goldstone became the executive producer. Several films Majestic might be best remembered for are “The Vampire Bat” and “The Sins Of Nora Moran”

SUPREME PICTURES CORPORATION
Supreme Pictures was formed in 1934 by A.W. Hackel. Their Entire product during their six years of business life was westerns except for one film. This film was Am I Guilty and was to be the first of a series that did not materialize.All of Supreme’s output was filmed at rental studios or on location. Bob Steele and Johnny Mack Brown accounted for the entire western output.Sam Newfield and Robert Bradbury were the primary directors at Supreme. Supreme Pictures ceased to exist after 1940 but A.W. Hackel produced films for other copanies for many years

SPECTRUM PICTURES
Spectrum Pictures was formed in 1933.It survived until the end of the 1930’s. Their primary product was westerns starring Bill Cody And Fred Scott.Most of Spectrums product was made by independent producers with Spectrum acting as the releasing outlet. Stan Laurel(Of Laurel and Hardy) produced several features for Spectrum. Two other important producers for Spetrum were Ray Kirkwood and Jed Buell. Singing cowboy Fred Scott was Spectrum’s answer to Mascot’s Gene Autry. All of the films of Spectrum were made on very tight budgets but were still highly entertaining.
TIFFANY PRODUCTIONS- Late 1929-1932 Not Tiffany Stahl
Tiffany Pictures was a neat little B-movie unit that produced many pictures from the late silent period through the early sound era.Most of their product was released by the major studios. After the sound era began , they released through states rights organizations. Tiffany produced some early sound features in Technicolor, but this proved to be very expensive and they discontinued it’s use after the depression became more severe.During it’s short life in Hollywood, Tiffany produced over sixty features. During the sound era Tiffany produced many romantic melodramas.Tiffany also produced some better than average westerns starring Bob Steele, Rex Lease and Ken Maynard. As the depression became more severe, Tiffany found it could no longer afford to produce features and began making “Chimp” Short Subjects(These were short subjects with chimps dressed as people).Most of Tiffany’s product was good in the respect that it appealed to the people of thet ere.
VICTORY PICTURES CORPORATION
Victory Pictures existed between 1935 and 1940. Victory was started by Sam Katzman who had as primary stars during this time Tom Tyler, Tim McCoy and Herman Brix(later became Bruce Bennett). Victory’s western and action output was joined by two serials, Shadow of Chinatown starring Bela Lugosi and Blake of Scotland Yard , starring Ralph Byrd.The very prolific director,Sam Newfield directed many of Victory’s productions.After Victory’s demise, Katzman continued as a producer for other companies for many years.
MONOGRAM PICTURES-LONE STAR PICTURES
When the Monogram logo appeared on the screen,everyone knew they were in for a good bit of action and adventure. Monogram was founded by W. Ray Johnston in the early 1930’s. They produced many low budget features from 1930 thru 1935. At this time Trem Carr was in charge of production. Another independent producer, Paul Malvern, released his Lone Star western productions thru Monogram.Monogram and Lone Star were fortunate to have a good father and son combination of Robert Bradbury , writer and director, and Bob Steele,western actor, on their roster. Bradbury scripted almost all of Monogam’s and Lone Star’s western output during the early years. During this early period, Monogram also produced melodramas, classics, mysteries and action features. In 1935 Johnston and Carr were invited to merge Monogram with several other independent comapanies to form Republic Pictures. After a short time in this new venture, Johnston and Carr decided to pull out and restart Monogram.This proved to be a smart move as they probably would not have enjoyed as much independence at Republic under Herbert Yates. Some of the early stars at Monogram who went on to greater fame were, Preston Foster(Sensation Hunters 1933),Randolf Scott(Broken Dreams 1933),Lionel Atwill(The Sphinx 1933), and John Wayne who made many Lone Star westerns.In 1946 Monogram wanted to take on a much more polished image, and started the Allied Artist subsidiary. In 1953 Monogram changed the name of the company to Allied Artist. Monogram was the king of the motion picture series.They produced the following series and more; Charlie Chan, The Trail Blazers, The Range Busters, The Cisco Kid, The Teen Agers, BombaThe Jungle Boy, Joe Palooka (From the comic strip), The East Side Kids and The Bowery Boys.Monogram was a well run organization and survived where others had failed.
Mascot Pictures
Mascot Pictures was founded 1n 1927 by Nat Levine. Mr. Levine had been a personal secretary to Marcus Loew(Loews Inc.) He, along with a small group of investors saw big money to be made in the motion picture business.Their primary output during their early years was serials(chapter plays). Mascot did produce some features during the silent era.As sound films came in during the late 1920’s, Mascot made many more serials and entered the B-western market.These ventures proved very profitable for Mascot and in 1933 they purchased the old Mack Sennet studios at 4024 Radford Avenue. It must be said here that during it’s existence, Mascot at one time or another, employed all of the more popular western or action stars of this era. In the autum of 1935, Mascot, along with several other independent producution companies and Herbert Yates(Consolidated Film Industries) formed Republic Pictures and Mascot was no more. Mr. Yates and Levine had been friends before the merger,but afte several years as one of Republic’s top executives, Mr. Levine left the firm and gradually faded from the movie making business. For a more comprehensive history of Mascot Pictures and some interviews with people who were associated with Mr. Levine and Mascot I highly reccomend you go to this site :
www.surfnetinc.com/chuck/levine.htm
Lippert-Screen Guild
Robert Lippert owned a chain of theaters and produced films thru his Action Pictures firm before he became associated with Screen Guild Productions in 1945. Lippert became an officer at Screen Guild along with Joseph Blumenfeld.Much has been said about the quality of Screen Guild’s output being very bad. Having seen much of their output, I can say this was true most of the time, but not always.They made a variety of films with action and suspense as their main ingredient. They also made streamliners(Shortened features,about 45 minutes) in an attempt to sell more of their product to theaters. In 1949 Screen Guild wasdissolved and Mr. Lippert began releasing his productions thru his own company, Lippert Pictures.Lippert Pictures produced a much more polished product than did Screen Guild. Lippert produced some features in extended length so as to later sell them as television shows. Lippert Pictures even began producing features that could maintain top billing in some theaters.(Example-Rocketship X-M). It is to Mr. Lippert’s credit that he could continue to produce and release features even tho television had cut deep inroads into the film industry. Lippert Pictures was in business until 1955 at which time Mr. Lippert formed Regal Pictures and released these thru Twentieth Century Fox.
SONO-ART WORLD WIDE PICTURES
Sono-Art was formed in April 1929 by J. Douglas Watson. It’s distribution offices wer located in New York City on Broadway. Most of the films Sono-Art World Wide produced were made at Universal Studios,International Film Studios and many smaller studios.In their entire existance they never owned their own studio. As B-Movie companies went, they made an excellent product. They had a stable of directors which many major film companies would have been proud of. Some of these were James Cruze, George Crane, Mark Sandrich, Walter Lang and one of the finer action directors, Spencer Gordon Bennett. Several of their producers were Trem Carr and E.W. Hammons. Most of their features were very good, especially their early efforts prior to 1932. Sono-Art picked up Tiffany’s product after that company went out of business. In 1932 E.W. Hammons replaced J.D. Watson as head man and the name was changed to Sono-Art World Wide Pictures. Some of their early players included Bob Steele, Ken Maynard, Chester Morris, Jack Oakie, Grant Withers, Frankie Darro, Betty Compson, Eric Von Stroheim, Lola Lane, Myrna Loy, Zasu Pitts, Mae Clark, Bela Lugosi and many others.Prior to 1932 their product was good enough to play as the main feature in many theaters. After 1932 their films did not have nearly the polish of their earlier efforts due mainly to a lack of money. In November of 1933 after over sixty films,Sono-Art World Wide could no longer weather the storm of the depression and closed their doors forever.
PRODUCERS RELEASING CORPORATION (PRC)
Before we can start any history on PRC, we must go back to Producers Distributing Company and Producers Pictures Corporation. These companies were formed in 1939 by Ben Judell. Judell’s prime interest at this time was to make pictures that could fill the void left by the demise of many b-movie production companies especially Grand National Pictures. Judell hired Sigmund Neufeld and placed him in charge of western film production, which was to be PDC’s primary output at this time.PDC had a very impressive list of directors; Sherman Scott, Victor Halperin, Robert Tansey and more. PDC produced some pictures, built a western set in Arizona and spent a lot of money. In early 1940, Judell found himself deeply in debt and facing bankruptcy. Sigmund Neufeld changed the name to Producer’s Releasing Corporation when he took it over from Judell. He could not pull the company out of debt and it continued to flounder. One of the major creditors, Pathe Corporation, took over PRC and continued to use the PRC name.Henry Briggs was named cheif officer in the company by the new owners. Aiding Briggs was Leon Fromkess(formerly associated with Monogram Pictures) and George Batcheller(Formerly of Chesterfield Pictures).There was some turmoil at PRC, as Briggs and then Fromkess resigned their positions as President due to disputes with Pathe.PRC merged with Eagle Lion Film Corporation, a British company owned by J.Arthur Rank in 1947 and ceased to exist anymore as Producers Releasing Corporation. PRC during it’s life did produce some series such as Billy the Kid. Early on this series starred Bob Steele and later starred Buster Crabbe. PRC put out a fair product and produced just about any picture you might want want to see such as westerns, horror, action, melodramas and musicals.On occasion PRC produced movies such as The Enchanted Forest, which could command top billing in many theaters.I liked the products of PRC very much.
PROGRESSIVE PICTURES CORPORATION
Progressive Pictures is mentioned on these pages even tho their output was small and rather limited. Early production at Progressive was controlled by Willis Kent who relied mainly on the states rights to distribute his product. Under Kent, Progressive released six features from January 1933 until May of 1934 at which time Progressive lay dormant until 1938 when it was reactivated by Ben Judell. Their entire output under Judell was exploitational films such as Delinquent Parents, Rebellious Daughters and Slander House. After a short rebirth, Progressive ceased operation in 1938.
REPUBLIC PICTURES
Republic Pictures was the brainchild of Herbert Yates. Yates had been in and out of movie production for many years before he decided to merge his Consolidated Film Industries with Nat Levine’s Mascot Pictures, W. Ray Jonston’s Monogram Pictures and M.H. Hoffman’s Liberty Pictures to form Republic Pictures. Johnston was the first president and Levine the vice-president. Yates did not get along with Johnston and as he was the biggest investor in the new organization removed Johnston as president and replaced him with Levine. Johnston did not stay long after this and departed Republic to restart his Monogram Pictures Company.Levine’s influence was felt greatly, as the first products looked very much like Mascot’s product,cheap and made rapidly. Republic released their first films in the third quarter of 1935 and were on their way to become a major force in the picture industry. Some may disagree that Republic was a B-Movie company because some of their products were very good. Some were even good enough to warrant considerations for Academy Awards, but the bulk of their output was definitely “B”. As time went on Republic built it’s own very impressive studio. Republic had all of the most popular cowboys(singing and non-singing), villians and charactor actors. During it’s life, Republic was undoubtably the king of serials and westerns. By the early 1950’s Republic was feeling the pinch of television and succumbed to the small screen monster shortly after.
PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTING CORPORATION
Principal Distributing Corporation was formed in 1932 with it’s primary purpose at that time to produce films for Sol Lesser’s Principal Theatres Corporation. As Mr. Lesser was in business both as a film exhibitor and also one of his own film suppliers, Principal’s product was consideably higher quality than most other “B” production companies. Early in it’s existance, Principal’s output consisted of documentaries and imports. In 1933 they produced a very good serial entitled “Tarzan The Fearless” starring Buster Crabbe, a former olympic swimming champion. It was also released as a feature incorporating some of the more action filled chapters. In 1934 Principal released “The Return Of Chandu” starring Bela Lugosi. It was also released in condensed form as a feature, “Chandu On Magic Island”. The next year found Principal releasing, “the Lost City”, starring William “Stage” Boyd, Kane Richmond, Claudia Dell and George “Gabby” Hayes.This was definitely not their best film and Principal did not release it as a feature. Several smaller independent firms released it as a feature several years later. During the time Principal was releasing the above serials , they also produced some very good travelogs. Principal’s feature output at this time (1932-1938) consisted of westerns, dramas and features made for some of the major studios. Sol Lesser was not your typical “B” producer as his films were always of excellent quality. Mr. Lesser became head of productions at RKO Radio Pictures in 1941. Later in his motion picture career, Mr. Lesser taught at the University Of Southern California’s School of Cinema.
WILLIS KENT PRODUCTIONS
Willis Kent was born in 1879. He was a very prolific producer of low budget features from the mid 1920’s until the mid 1940’s. The products he put out were mostly westerns and exploitational films. He tackled such diverse subjects such as loose sex, drug abuse and alcohol abuse in his many exploitational films. His films had a very polished and professional look despite being made on very limited budgets. Kent had no studios and rented space from various sources. He wrote many of his own storylines and was very active in all his productions.
PURITAN PICTURES
Puritan pictures had their executive offices at 727 Seventh Avenue, New york City, New York. They only existed for a few short years, but during this time they produced and distributed some excellent features, including Tim McCoy westerns and some action melodramas such as “I”ll Name The Murderer” and “The Reckless Way” .The primary producer at Puritan during it’s early years Was C. Burr. Other producers at Puritan during it’s short life were Sigmund Neufeld(A familiar name on poverty row), Nat Ross and Franchon Royer. Some of their directors were Ford Beebe, Elmer Clifton and Sam Newfield, all familiar names on low budget features. During it’s short existance, 1935-1938, Puritan stood out with an above average product.
AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL PICTURES
American International Pictures is listed here because their initial offerings were definitely B-Movies.They wer the last of the true B production companies. American-International Pictures was the brainchild of James A. Nicholson,a salesman of low budget and re-released features and Samuel Z. Arkoff. They created American Releasing Corporation in 1954. After a rather slow start,the company started to make rather good low budget features for the drive-in and teenage crowd. By 1956 American Releasing was doing a good business as a production and releasing company and was renamed American International Pictures. They were a well managed company and became a force to be reckoned with by the major film companies of this time. Over the years AIP was known for giving new life to some older actors such as Vincent Price, Boris Karloff and many others as well as finding new faces such as Jack Nicholson and Robert DeNIro. American International renewed public interest in Horror and Science Fiction films. Almost all of their films of the 50’s and 60’s were made on really low budgets which showed in the poorer quality of most of their productions. As AIP moved into the mid 60’s and later, the quality of their productions increased greatly. They produced many feature in color and had good writers , directors and actors who made some very good films. As the decade of the 70’s progressed, AIP began to over extend it’s budget and was absorbed By Filmways Corporation. The company Nicholson and Arkoff had formed as American International Pictures ceased to exist after 1980. James Nicholson died in 1971 and Samuel Arkoff in 2000. American International Picture’s product filled a great void left by the demise of so many B-Movie production companies who came before them.