Flash Gordon, the comic strip, began January 7, 1934. Flash Gordon, the serial, opened April 6, 1936. Figuring three or four months for production, and a couple of weeks for negotiations and the courage to splurge on a serial, of all things, the Flash Gordon property was not quite two years old when Hollywood came calling. Different sources quote different budget numbers for the serial, between $350,000 and $1 million. Either way, it was the most expensive serial produced up to that time, and its purpose, very simply, was to lure adults back into the serial audience. The popularity of Alex Raymond’s comic strip was such that the serial was booked into ‘A’ theatres that otherwise frowned upon the genre.

Aside from the blatant eroticism  and spectacle -Universal worked in standing sets from bigger budget pictures like Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and The Mummy to add scope and scale that would have been beyond even the already lavish budget–Flash Gordon also benefited from the strong storyline established in the comic strip. The clichés of serials gone-by had grown stale even to the younger set; Flash Gordon still had it’s share of traditional thrills, but with a plot that didn’t spend three-fourths of its energy on treading water, it reinvigorated the entire serial industry. And it started a relative frenzy of licensing rights for comic strip and pulp heroes. Tailspin Tommy , Chandu the Magician and of course Tarzan had all preceded Flash on-screen; Ace Drummond would follow later in 1936. But 1937 exploded with adaptations of popular comic strips, first with Raymond’s other two strips, Jungle Jim and Secret Agent X-9, followed by Dick Tracy, Radio Patrol, Tim Tyler’s Luck and Zorro Rides Again; the following year saw The Lone Ranger, Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars, The Spider’s Web, Red Barry, Dick Tracy Returns and Hawk of the Wilderness. Though not always faithful to their source material, these serials brought the whole concept of what a serial story could be to a fast boil, raising plot to a level not quite equal to, but not far below, action as a key to a serial’s success. The Golden Age of Serials had begun.

Flash Gordon, though, was not the sole reason for this resurgence.  Herbert Yates, owner of a film processing lab that serviced a raft of poverty row studios, had reams of moguldom. Using outstanding lab bills as leverage, he forced a merger of six smaller studios. The most important from the standpoint of serial production was Mascot Pictures, which had been turning out serials since the late 1920s. Though operating on a shoe-string, Mascot had a reputation for originality –The Phantom Empire (1935) is still the only singing cowboy-lost world-science fiction film I’m aware of–and a higher quality product than its competitors. This reputation would be enhanced and expanded under the new studio, which was to be known as Republic Pictures. At the time the merger was being worked out, the 1936 schedule was probably, for the most part, already in the pipeline, allowing the new studio to get off to a running start with their first four serials: Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island, Darkest Africa, Undersea Kingdom, and The Vigilantes are Coming. The first was an action-adventure entry designed to capitalize on the contemporary fame of its star, Ray Mala; Darkest Africa sought to do the same with wild animal trainer Clyde Beatty, who had starred in a previous Mascot serial, The Lost Jungle.  Buoyed by the success of The Phantom Empire and possibly influence by a science-fiction zeitgeist, the stock lost city story was dressed up with elements of science fiction and the incredible flying bat-men. Undersea Kingdom ventured even further into that territory, with robots, death rays and an alien civilization beneath the sea. The Vigilantes are Coming, while not science fiction, is just as wild conceptually, with a small army of Russian Cossacks trying to invade California in order to seize its vast gold supplies and establish it as a Russian colony! They are opposed by a mysterious masked figure known as The Eagle.

Compared to the serials of 1930-1935, however enjoyable some of them may be on their own terms, the serials of 1936 and after are almost a different animal. This is particularly evident if you watch the three independent serial releases for the year, Custer’s Last Stand, The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand, and The Black Coin. Produced by the same company, they share the same traits: plodding pace, incoherent storyline, fist-fight free-for-alls in which it’s clear most of the actors are just swinging at the air, clichés that had seen their best day when dirt was new. Their storylines epitomize the rut into which serials had worked themselves. The not dissimilar Blake of Scotland Yard (1937) was the last of this independent breed.

There presumably had always been a noticeable difference between the serials produced by different companies, just as there were differences, for instance, in the big-budget pictures produced by, say, MGM and Warner Bros. Not enough silent serials survive to really be able to address that notion. There’s a bit of a gap, too, in the earliest sound serials. But by the time Columbia Pictures entered the serial market in 1937, the distinct styles start to show clearly. Universal relied more on plot development, and lots of cheap stock footage; Republic stressed action and production values. They probably used as much stock footage as Universal, but they were better at hiding it. Columbia, as the new dog on the block, took some time to sniff out the territory, and then muscled its way in to eat with the big dogs. The Spider’s Web(1938) is a near pitch-perfect adaptation of the popular pulp hero, even to the extreme body-count. It stands easily alongside the best efforts of Republic and Universal. But where the other studios were trying to lift serials up to an adult audience,  Columbia’s executives decided they would embrace the young ‘uns. Although there would be a few serials that would be played straight  – The Secret Code and The Phantom are solid examples– Columbia serials would come to be known for their comedy. James Horne, a director who learned his chops at the Hal Roach studios directing Laurel & Hardy, is usually given the blame for this. It’s unlikely that he had that much say, and it’s obvious that the scripts are written in a campy, tongue-in- cheek manner. When, in a particularly egregious example, two thugs in The Shadow are seen listlessly playing patty-cake in the background, it might just be Horne’s disgust rather than his background. If you can let go of preconceptions, some of the serials, like The Spider Returns (1941) and Capt. Midnight (1942) are a lot of fun. Batman (1943), directed by B-movie vet Lambert Hillyer, is silly without ever descending into the nauseating camp that the television show indulged in.  (It’s interesting to note that when Columbia created their own masked heroes, the Black Falcon in Flying G-Men and the Black Commando in The Secret Code, they played things straight.)

By 1939, licensed characters have the upper hand: The Lone Ranger Rides Again, Buck Rogers, Mandrake the Magician, Dick Tracy’s G-Men, The Green Hornet, and Zorro’s Fighting Legion will all be on any serial fan’s list of favorites. Interestingly, considering the wealth of story material these properties had to offer, Republic seemed to go out of its way to buy a property and then dispense with all but the marketable name. The Lone Ranger serials so incensed the Trendle organization by Republic’s disregard for the carefully crafted Ranger legend that it had most of the prints destroyed once the rights reverted. In The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), one of the contenders for best all-time serial,  only the names of the dual hero, the costume  and the Shazam gimmick echo the comics; Spy Smasher (1942) is recognizable only by his costume; Captain America (1944) makes one wonder why Republic even bothered with licensing. Their original heroes like the Copperhead and the Masked Marvel were just as interesting as the neutered comic book characters.  The Dick Tracy serials, among the best the studio ever made, could just as easily be  released as Brant Heller’s G-Men or Red Cracker vs. Crime, Inc. for all they have to do with the Dick Tracy comic strip. But along with the truly spectacular stunt and miniature work, the excellent scripts and solid production values, there is Ralph Byrd. (As Buster Crabbe was born to play Flash Gordon and Tom Tyler born to play Capt. Marvel and the Phantom, Byrd was born to play Tracy. After that, the rest doesn’t seem to matter so much.

Serials were produced too quickly and cheaply to allow for much experimentation, especially in something as complex as story construction. The writers had roughly four hours of screen time to fill, and now that storyliline expectations had been ratcheted up, there was no time to get all artsy. There would be no noir serials, no Laurel & Hardy serials, no stream of consciousness serials (though some of the later mash-ups from Columbia come awfully close. The Green Hornet (1940), drawing on the concept of the radio show, devoted each chapter to a different racket. There is an overarching storyline to connect them all together, and the requisite cliff-hanger endings, but there is a completeness to each chapter. The Lone Ranger reversed the game of trying to guess who was the villain by presenting six possible candidates for the mysterious masked man, with one getting picked off every other chapter or so, to keep you guessing. The idea was resurrected for The Masked Marvel (1943). Columbia reached back to fondly remembered silent serials for The Green Archer (1940) and The Iron Claw (1941), relying on the amped-up histrionics to appeal to the modern audience.

One element that heavily impacted serial script writing was the use of stock footage, that is, footage shot at an earlier time that is re-purposed in a later production. It’s been around since the earliest days of film. Every tv show has a stock library of drive-bys, building entrances, hallway establishing shots, and so on. Think of it as an early form of Green policy.

Serials, relying as they did on action and restrained as they were by low budgets, drank deep at the trough of the stock libraries. Entire storylines might be built around available footage. Universal just grabbed whatever was handy, as often as not from a silent film or a newsreel; the abrupt jump in quality wasn’t considered a problem. Columbia took a little more care, but only a little. Republic, however, elevated the use of stock footage to an art. When the studio heard that electric transmission towers in one of the outer valleys were going to be demolished, using explosives to bring them down, camera men were dispatched to cover the destruction from as many angles as possible. The crisp clear footage found its way into numerous cliff-hangers throughout the studios existence.

This, believe it or not, requires a lot of writing talent, even to achieve mediocre results, but the Republic writers seemingly thrived on the challenge. Perhaps the best example is Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc.(1941), the fourth and final entry in the series, and in many peoples minds, including my own, the best. It’s been called Dick Tracy’s Greatest Hits by fans because although the story is original, involving a weirdly masked master criminal who can turn invisible, almost all the action scenes and cliff-hangers are culled from the three previous Tracy serials. If you watch this one first, it is seamless, or as seamless as a serial can be; the story never labors to reach the predestined sequences. The  logistics necessary to construct a nearly four hour original film, using mostly pre-exisitng material, which further had to be broken down into 15 discrete units and still be reasonably coherent were probably not exceeded until the writers of LOST started plotting out their six season storyline.

And then there’s the matter of clff-hangers, those interrupted moments of tension meant to compel the viewer’s attendance the following. The stock situations evolved early on: the wagon goes over a cliff, the room fills with water, the bomb goes off, the rope unravels, the death ray flashes, the railroad car comes uncoupled on a steep incline, the trap door springs. Having to come up with 10 to 14 incidents per serial necessarily resulted in repetition, as well as posing the challenge of steering the hero/heroine into harm’s way . In a particular failure of imagination, three consecutive chapters of Columbia’s The Shadow have the roof caving in on the hero. On the other hand, one of the more unusual cliff-hangers occurs in the same studios The Spider Returns, where Richard Wentworh falls through a trap door to land in a basement that conveniently has been tricked out with a floor that slowly swings down, door-like, revealing a blazing fire pit below. As in most other respects, Republic led the way creatively: chapter one of Daredevils of the Red Circle has the hero  trying to outrun a tidal wave of a flood in a traffic tunnel; Dick Tracy’s speedboat is crushed between the hulls of two drifitng cargo ships, Spy Smasher is gunned down in no uncertain terms.

There were still plenty of westerns, fueled more by the star than the story, and plenty of lost cities in Africa. The clichés weren’t dead, they were just shamed a bit. With the aid of their near-kin, smaller budgets, they began to rise again. The war had supplied lots of topical story ideas, but after it was over, serials, even those by Republic, found themselves sliding down into kiddie-land again, this time for good. Production dwindled; from twelve serials a year during the first few years of the war, output inched downwards to ten, nine, seven, five until the last gasp in 1952. The market was still there, but just barely; popular serials were re-released, sometime under new titles, mostly not. Republic regularly cut its best serials into feature versions that could be recycled into Saturday matinee slots; Universal did it intermittantly; Columbia apparently never went down this road, possibly because their storylines had a lot more running around in them, even by serial standards.

By the 1950s, television was luring the audience away, and in fact, serials found brief new life as they were sold in packages to TV stations around the country. Flash Gordon, retitled Space Soldiers was packaged with Space Soldiers’ Trip to Mars and Space Soldiers Conquer the Universe, to the delight of a new, albeit younger, audience. Universal had long ago abandoned licensed characters, and in 1947, threw in the towel. Republic, with its tremendous library of quality footage, managed to keep up an air of respectability as they moved into the atomic age, but the men who had crafted Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. had moved on, and their replacements weren’t their equals.

Columbia was last man standing. They actually farmed their serials out to Sam Katzman, who took his cut right off the top of the budget. Katzman stuck with the comic book heroes for their marquee value, though one wonders if he didn’t make DC’s Congo Bill and The Vigilante just to latch on to Superman, Blackhawk and a Batman sequel. The intended sequel to The Phantom -really just an attempt to reuse all that footage for a new production– ran into rights issues and a crude substitute was fashioned to complete The Adventures of Captain Africa (1955). It’s an incoherent mess. Katzman kept churning out western and science-fiction serials; the former fare better when viewed today as the stock footage adds a gloss of prodcution value; the cheap effects of The Lost Planet or Capt. Video wouldn’t pass muster on a local kids show today. And credit must be given for the off-trail The Adventures of Sir Galahad and  The Adventures of Capt. Kidd.

The genre itself was tired. Superman (1948) and Atom Man vs. Superman (1950) might have produced a little blip in the pulse, but it was because of the character rather than the serial itself. Cheaply made, with its crudely  animated flying sequences, Superman is no Flash Gordon.

Although it occurs seven years before the final fade out, the demise of the serial, for me, is best exemplified in a scene from The New Adventures of Batman and Robin (1949), the first serial I ever saw. It was a four hour marathon, released in the wake of the Batman tv show, and I’ve watched it once or twice since. It’s a later chapter; Batman and Robin are standing near their car, someplace out in the San Fernando Valley; it’s full daylight, and it looks hot. There is someone else with them. Even as a kid I was aware that these were actors, and that they really didn’t want to be there. Robert Lowery, paunchy, tilting his head back to be able to see out of the eye-slits of his cowl, seems grumpy, and tired of waiting. Vicki Vale walks into scene from behind the camera, and the other character asks who she is. Lowery/Batman answers, in an obviously ill-tempered ad lib, “Oh she’s just some photographer who runs around taking pictures that nobody ever looks at.” The quote isn’t exact, but it’s close enough. Nobody cares, not Lowery, not director Spencer Gordon Bennet,  and not the screen writer, since the scene is obviously just improvised by a cast and crew impatient to get it all over with. Telling a story is the least thing on anybody’s mind. I already knew that the hero would make it through the cliff-hanger, and in most cases, I even knew how.

So tell me, why should I come back next week?

Serials, 1936-1956, arranged by release date where known. The Gallery follows the list. (Note: I used Buck Rainey’s Serials and Series: A World Filmography, 1912-1956, as my source for these dates, mainly because I have a copy and don’t have some of the other books on the subject. The dates don’t always agree, but without access to primary sources, I’m not going to be the one to sort it all out. )

1936
1/13-The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (Universal, 12 ch.)
2.-Robinson Crusoe of Clipper Island (Republic, 14 ch.
3-Darkest Africa (Republic, 15 ch.)
4/6-Flash Gordon (Universal, 13 ch.)
6-Undersea Kingdom (Republic, 12 ch.)
7/6-The Phantom Rider (Universal, 15 ch.)
10/10-Shadow of Chinatown (Victory, 15 ch.)
10/19-Ace Drummond (Universal, 13 ch.)
10.-The Vigilantes are Coming (Republic, 12 ch.)
?-Custer’s Last Stand (Stage and Screen, 15 ch.)
?-The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand (Stage and Screen, 15 ch.)
?-The Black Coin (Stage and Screen, 15 ch.)

1937
1/18- Jungle Jim (Universal, 12 ch.)
2/11-Secret Agent X-9  (Universal, 12 ch.)
3-Dick Tracy (Republic, 15 ch.)
5/20-Wild West Days    (Universal, 13 ch.)
6/5-The Painted Stallion  (Republic, 12 ch.)
8-Jungle Menace  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
8-Radio Patrol      (Universal, 12 ch.)
9-S.O.S. Coast Guard    (Republic, 12 ch.)
11-The Mysterious Pilot  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
11-Tim Tyler’s Luck    (Universal, 12 ch.)
12-Zorro Rides Again   (Republic, 12 ch.)
?-Blake of Scotland Yard  (Victory, 15 ch.)

1938
3-The Lone Ranger  (Republic, 15 ch.)
3-The Secret of Treasure Island  (Columbia, 15 ch.)
5-Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars  (Universal, 15 ch.)
5-Flaming Frontiers  (Universal, 15 ch.)
6-The Fighting Devil Dogs  (Republic, 12 ch.)
6/30-The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok    (Columbia, 15 ch.)
10-The Spider’s Web   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10-Red Barry   (Universal, 13 ch.)
12-Dick Tracy Returns  (Republic, 15 ch.)
12-Hawk of the Wilderness  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1939
1-The Lone Ranger Rides Again  (Republic, 15 ch.)
1- Scouts to the Rescue  (Universal, 12 ch.)
2-Buck Rogers (Universal, 12 ch.)
2-Flying G-Men (Columbia, 15 ch.)
5-Mandrake the Magician  (Columbia, 12 ch.)
5-The Oregon Trail    (Universal, 15 ch.)
7/27 -The Phantom Creeps  (Universal, 12 ch.)
7/31-Overland with Kit Carson    (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
7-Daredevils of the Red Circle  (Republic, 12 ch.)
10-Dick Tracy’s G-Men  (Republic, 15 ch.)
11-The Green Hornet  (Universal, 13 ch.)
12/16-Zorro’s Fighting Legion  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1940
2-Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (Universal, 15 ch.)
6/28-Adventures of Red Ryder (Republic, 12 ch.)
7/2  -Winners of the West  (Universal, 13 ch.)
7/19-Deadwood Dick   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
9/20-King of the Royal Mounted  (Republic, 12 ch.)
10-The Green Hornet Strikes Again  (Universal, 15 ch.)
11-The Green Archer (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
12-Mysterious Doctor Satan  (Republic, 15 ch.)
?-Terry and the Pirates    (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
?-Drums of Fu Manchu  (Republic, 15 ch.)
?Junior G-Men   (Universal, 12 ch.)
?The Shadow   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1941
1/31-White Eagle     (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
3-Adventures of Captain Marvel   (Republic, 12 ch.)
3-Sky Raiders   (Universal, 12 ch.)
5-The Spider Returns   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
6-Jungle Girl  (Republic, 15 ch.)
7/1-Riders of Death Valley  (Universal, 15 ch.)
10/4-King of the Texas Rangers  (Republic, 12 ch.)
12-Holt of the Secret Service (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
12-Don Winslow of the Navy (Universal, 12 ch.)
12-Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (Republic, 15 ch.)
?-The Iron Claw  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
?-Sea Raiders  (Universal, 12 ch.)

1942
2/15-Captain Midnight (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
3/31-Gang Busters  (Universal, 13 ch.)
3-Spy Smasher    (Republic, 12 ch.)
5/24 -Perils of the Royal Mounted  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
5-Junior G-Men of the Air  (Universal, 12 ch.)
6/22-Perils of Nyoka   (Republic, 15 ch.)
9/27-Overland Mail   (Universal, 15 ch.)
9-The Secret Code  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10/10-King of the Mounties  (Republic, 12 ch.)
12/17-The Valley of Vanishing Men    (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1943
2-G-Men vs. the Black Dragon   (Republic, 15 ch.)
3/6-The Masked Marvel  (Republic, 12 ch.)
4/17-Daredevils of the West  (Republic, 12 ch.)
7/16-Batman   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
7-Don Winslow of the Coast Guard  (Universal, 13 ch.)
7-Adventures of the Flying Cadets (Universal, 13 ch.)
8-Secret Service in Darkest Africa    (Republic, 15 ch.)
12/24-The Phantom     (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
?-The Adventures of Smilin’ Jack (Universal, 13 ch.)

1944
1/29-Captain America (Republic, 15 ch.)
4The Great Alaskan Mystery (Universal, 13 ch.)
5/12-The Desert Hawk  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
5-The Tiger Woman     (Republic, 12 ch.)
7/25-Raiders of Ghost (Universal, 12 ch.)
8/26-Haunted Harbor  (Republic, 15 ch.)
10/20-Black Arrow  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10-The Mystery of the Riverboat  (Columbia, 13 Ch.)
12/16-Zorro’s Black Whip  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1945
1-Manhunt of Mystery Island  (Republic, 15 ch.)
1-Jungle Queen  (Universal, 13 ch.)
2-Brenda Starr, Reporter  (Columbia, 13 Ch.)
4-The Monster and the Ape  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
4/18-The Master Key  (Universal, 13 ch.)
6-Federal Operator 99  (Republic, 12 ch.)
8-Secret Agent X-9  (Universal, 13 ch.)
9-Jungle Raiders (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10/6-The Purple Monster Strikes   (Republic, 15 ch.)
10-The Royal Mounted Rides Again  (Columbia, 13 Ch.)
12-Who’s Guilty? (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1946
1/22-The Scarlet Horseman (Universal, 13 ch.)
1/26The Phantom Rider  (Republic, 12 ch.)
2-Daughter of Don Q  (Republic, 12 ch.)
3/23-Hop Harrigan  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
4/27-King of the Forest Rangers    (Republic, 12 ch.)
5-The Crimson Ghost (Republic, 12 ch.)
5-Lost City of the Jungle  (Universal, 13 ch.)
7/11-Chick Carter, Detective  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
7/23-The Mysterious Mr. M  (Universal, 13 ch.)
10/24-Son of the Guardsman  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1947
1/18-Son of Zorro   (Republic, 13 ch.)
3-Jack Armstrong  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
3/21-Jesse James Rides Again  (Republic, 13 ch.)
5/22-The Vigilante  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
6-The Black Widow  (Universal, 13 ch.)
9-The Sea Hound  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10-G-Men Never Forget (Republic, 12 ch.)
12-Brick Bradford   (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1948
4-11-Tex Granger  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
4/24-Dangers of the Canadian Mounted (Republic, 12 ch.)
6/24-The Adventures of Frank and Jesse James (Republic, 13 ch.)
7-Superman  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10-Congo Bill  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1949
1-Federal Agents vs. Underworld, Inc. (Republic, 12 ch.)
1-Adventures of Sir Galahad (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
2-Bruce Gentry (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
6-Batman and Robin (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
6-King of the Rocket Men  (Republic, 12 ch.)
8/6-Ghost of Zorro (Republic, 12 ch.)

1950
1-Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (Republic, 12 ch.)
1-The James Bros of Missouri (Republic, 12 ch.)
4/6-Cody of the Pony Express  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
5-The Invisible Monster  (Republic, 12 ch.)
6-Atom Man vs. Superman (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
10-Pirates of the High Seas  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
12-Desperadoes of the West  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1951
1-Flying Disc Man from Mars (Republic, 12 ch.)
5/31-Roar of the Iron Horse (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
8/14-Govt. Agents vs. Phantom Legion (Republic, 12 ch.)
9-Mysterious Island  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
9-Don Daredevil Rides Again  (Republic, 12 ch.)
12-Captain Video (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1952
1-King of the Congo (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
2-Radar Men from the Moon  (Republic, 12 ch.)
7-Blackhawk  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
11/6-Son of Geronimo  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
7-Zombies of the Stratosphere  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1953
4/15-Gunfighters of the Northwest (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
5-The Lost Planet (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
7-Canadian Mounties vs. Atomic Invaders (Republic, 12 ch.)
9-The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
?-Jungle Drums of Africa   (Republic, 12 ch.)

1954
1-Trader Tom of the China Seas (Republic, 12 ch.)
7/19-Man with the Steel Whip  (Republic, 12 ch.)
11/11-Riding with Buffalo Bill  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)

1955
2-Panther Girl of the Kongo  (Republic, 12 ch.)
6-Adventures of Captain Africa (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
6-King of the Carnival  (Republic, 12 ch.)

1956
1/6-Perils of the Wilderness  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)
8/4-Blazing the Overland Trail  (Columbia, 15 Ch.)