Monogram Pictures

Did You Know?

• Monogram's antecedent was W. Ray Johnston's Rayart Pictures, which specialized in silent western and action features.
• In 1929, Rayart released the first feature-length talking western, Overland Bound, starring Leo Maloney and Allene Ray.
• Monogram served as a launching pad for new stars including Preston Foster, Randolph Scott, Ginger Rogers, Lionel Atwill, Alan Ladd, and Robert Mitchum.

Film series

In 1938, Monogram began a policy of producing film series with familiar actors. Frankie Darro, a prominent tough-kid actor, joined and remained until 1950, often co-starring with Mantan Moreland. Juvenile actors Marcia Mae Jones and Jackie Moran also appeared in series. Boris Karloff starred in Mr. Wong mysteries, leading producer Sam Katzman to cast Bela Lugosi in a follow-up series. Katzman's East Side Kids series, inspired by the Dead End Kids, initially used six unrelated juveniles but later added Bobby Jordan, Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, and Gabriel Dell from the original gang. This series ran from 1940 to 1945, after which Gorcey transformed it into The Bowery Boys, the longest-running feature-film comedy series with 48 titles over 12 years. Monogram also revived proven properties like Charlie Chan, The Cisco Kid, and Joe Palooka, which were box-office hits. Less successful were series based on Snuffy Smith and a comedy team of Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard, and Maxie Rosenbloom. Westerns formed a major part of Monogram's output, with early work from writer/director Robert N. Bradbury and his son, cowboy actor Bob Steele. Independent producer Paul Malvern released 16 Lone Star westerns starring John Wayne through Monogram. The studio later adopted a trio format with teams such as The Rough Riders, The Range Busters, and The Trail Blazers. When Universal let Johnny Mack Brown's contract lapse, Monogram signed him and kept him busy through 1952.

Improved productions

Steve Broidy, who had been vice president and general sales manager since 1940, became president of Monogram in 1945, while founder Ray Johnston moved to chairman of the board until 1963. Under Broidy, the studio nearly achieved major success with Dillinger (1945), a crime drama that earned over $1 million and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. The only Monogram release to win an Oscar was Climbing the Matterhorn, a two-reel short subject in 1947. Monogram followed Dillinger with exploitation melodramas on topical themes, such as Black Market Babies and Allotment Wives, both from 1946. In May 1945, Monogram announced plans for 28 features and 16 westerns over 1945–1946, followed by 32 features and 16 westerns the next year, some with higher budgets. The studio's slogan in 1946 was 'Make Way for Monogram,' but it never achieved the status of a major studio like Columbia. As larger studios cut B-picture production, Monogram's low-priced films became more in demand, with major first-run chains and independent theaters using them regularly. The Charlie Chan pictures were the first Monogram products programmed by big-city chains, giving the studio valuable exposure. Postwar, major-studio talent began accepting work at Monogram, improving the casting and box-office value of its films.

Allied Artists' major productions

The studio allocated more funds to action films costing $200,000–300,000 and increased its Cinecolor movies to 12 special films per year. Sets from major productions were often reused for minor ones, notably in The Bowery Boys comedies. Riot in Cell Block 11 (1954) became Allied Artists' biggest hit to date, surpassing The Babe Ruth Story (1948). Jack Slade (1953) was also popular. In the mid-1950s, the Mirisch family held great influence at Allied Artists, with Walter as executive producer, Harold as head of sales, and Marvin as assistant treasurer. The studio signed prominent producers and directors who had left other studios, including Roy Del Ruth in 1947 and Walter Wanger in 1951. In May 1954, Allied announced a three-picture deal with John Huston, starting with The Man Who Would Be King, which was delayed and abandoned but finally produced in 1975. In 1953, Variety reported that Allied would make more location films. In September 1954, the studio announced one A picture per month, including The Human Jungle, Tonight's the Night, Danger Point, Target Earth, The Bob Mathias Story, The Big Combo, Shotgun, An Annapolis Story, and The Black Prince. Other bigger-budgeted films included The First Texan, The Phenix City Story, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In March 1955, Allied had a $25 million production plan over 18 months. By July 1955, five films were finished, and deals were made for co-productions with Erna Films of Austria, including Sissi, and films in England. In October 1955, Steve Broidy announced that Allied would become more like United Artists and had deals with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Post-Mirisch

Steve Broidy was set on making Allied Artists profitable again, and he believed that chasing only blockbusters was a mistake. Instead, he brought back the kind of topical exploitation films that had worked for Monogram in the mid-1940s. Roger Corman, who had sold his first script to the studio, went on to produce and direct several pictures there. The double feature of Not of This Earth and Attack of the Crab Monsters brought in close to a million dollars. Corman also worked on Teenage Doll, War of the Satellites, and The Wasp Woman, and invested in films like Crime and Punishment U.S.A., The Cry Baby Killer, and Hot Car Girl. That last title was part of a wave of teenage exploitation movies. Attack of the 50 Foot Woman was another big hit for the studio. The 1958 slate included Oregon Passage, Never Love a Stranger, Bullwhip, Man from God's Country, Macabre, Queen of the Universe, War of the Satellites, Dateline Tokyo, The Pagans, Invasion of the Gorgons, The Bride and the Beast, Teenage Mother, Hong Kong Incident, and the last Bowery Boys film, In the Money. Although the studio said the Bowery Boys series would go on, it instead sold the whole series to television. In early 1959, Allied announced plans for 36 films, six of them with budgets of a million dollars or more, beginning with The Big Circus.