Movie/TV/Radio
Serials
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surrounding them.
Silent Serials (1912-29) The earliest silent chapter
plays (the first was What Happened to Mary, shot by
Edison in 1912) were sometimes synchronized with
magazine installments and aimed at an adult audience.
Real-life daredevils like Pearl White and Joe Bonomo
often performed their own no-camera-trick stunts.Of over
300 silent serials filmed, fewer than a dozen seem to
have survived in complete form.
Mascot Serials (19??-35) produced some memorable late
silent and early sound cliffhangers featuring John
Wayne, Rin Tin Tin, Boris Karloff, Frankie Darro and
Harry Carey.
Universal Serials (19??-46) Universal had made many
silent serials and westerns featuring Buck Jones and
John Mack Brown before producing the Flash Gordon
series, the most successful serials ever, and wartime
serials featuring the Dead End Kids.
Republic Serials (1936-55) are the most
fondly-remembered of the "golden age." Many featured the
adventures of The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Nyoka the Jungle
Girl, Spy Smasher, King of the Mounties, Dick Tracy and
Rocketman or similar characters.
Columbia Serials (1937-56) Columbia waited until 1937
to enter the serial ballgame, with Frank Buck's Jungle
Menace, which they soon followed up with The Spider's
Web and serials which featured exotic locations and
settings and popular comic book characters Superman and
Batman.
Independent Serials have been filmed since serial-making
began, with sometimes questionable results. Young Eagles
and The Amazing Exploits of the Clutching Hand are
generally regarded as not so amazing. Some, like The
Return of Chandu featuring Bela Lugosi, are still worth
watching, as are unique homemade efforts such as Captain
Celluloid and the Film Pirates.
French, British, German and Other Non-US
Serials The
first American serials were influenced by the success of
French serials such as Gaumont's Fantomas. After the
demise of the US theatrical serial, Doctor Who in
England carried the cliffhanger torch for an additional
30 years and became the longest-running series of
serials ever created featuring the same character.
Early TV Serials
Batman (1966-68) was most
influential in rekindling interest in serial-style
entertainment and comic book heroes in general. Other
early and modern series retained serial elements and do
to this day.
Serial Stars
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