American Cinematographer - April 1994 - 79

In

a

twist on the

typical serial
rhubarb, Autry
battles sword-

wielding
soldiers and

sledge-hammer¬
swinging robots.

KMPC Radio, which occupy the former Warner
Bros. Studio on Sunset Boulevard. Autry is also

Riesenfeld, Charles Dunworth; recorded by International Sound

principal owner of the California Angels, an Ameri¬
can
League pro baseball team, and a stockholder in
the Los Angeles Rams pro football team. In 1988 he
founded the Gene Autry Western Heritage Mu¬
seum, an outstanding institution in Los Angeles
dedicated to the history of the American West.
That this multimillion-dollar empire was
founded upon a $500 job in a $70,000 serial from
Poverty Row is almost as mind-boggling as The
Phantom Empire itself. "I was very fortunate," Autry
has said. "Everybody thought we were crazy. I had
no idea what that
picture would do."

Recording Company; titles and opticals by Consolidated Film
Industries. Running time, 242.30 minutes.
Gene, Gene Autry; Frankie, Frankie Darro; Betsy, Betsy
King Ross; Queen Tika, Dorothy Christy; Argo, Wheeler Oakman;
Mai, Charles K. French; Rab, Warner Richmond; Professor
Beetson, Frank Glendon; Dr. Cooper, Edward Piel Sr.; Oscar,
Lester (Smiley) Burnette; Pete, William Moore; Cowboy, Frankie
Marvin; Saunders, Jack Carlyle; Radio Technician, Don Brodie;
Muranians, Wally Wales, James C. Eagles, Fred Burns, Jay
Wilsey, Stanley Blystone, Richard Talmadge, Frank Ellis, Henry
Hall, Yakima Canutt, Bruce Mitchell, Rodney Hildebrand, Jim
Corey, Wally West, George Magrill, Bob Card, Captain J. King

tor, William

Witney; musical themes, Henry Hadley, Hugo

Ross.
A Mascot serial in 12

chapters; produced by Nat Levine;
directed by Otto Brower, Breezy Eason; supervised by Armand
Schaefer; story by Wallace MacDonald, Gerald Geraghty, Hy
Freedman; continuity by John Rathmell, Armand Schaefer; pho¬
tography, Ernest Miller, ASC, William Nobles, ASC; edited by Earl
Turner; associate editor, Walter Thompson; sound engineer, Terry
Kellum; musical director, Arthur Kay; songs: "In a Vine Covered
Cottage" ("That Silver Haired Daddy ofMine"), "Uncle Noah's Ark,"
"Just Come on In," "I'm Oscar," "No Need to Worry," ""Uncle
Henry's Vacation," "Moon-eye View of the World" by Gene Autry,
Smiley Burnette; settings by Mack D'Agostino, Ralph M. DeLacy,
Jack Coyle; special effects, Howard Lydecker Jr., Billy Gilbert;
photographic effects, Ellis "Bud" Thackery, ASC; added photogra¬
phy, William Bradford, ASC; costumes, Iris Burns; assistant direc¬

April 1994

Chapter titles: 1) The Singing Cowboy; 2) The Thun¬
Lightning Chamber; 4) The Phantom Broad¬

der Riders; 3) The

cast; 5) Beneath the Earth; 6) Disaster From the Skies; 7) From

Death to Life; 8) Jaws

of Jeopardy; 9) Prisoners of the Ray; 10)
Chains; 12) The End of Murania.

The Rebellion; 11) A Queen in

Feature version entitled Radio Ranch

adapted by Gerald
Geraghty and Maurice Geraghty; released May 2, 1940 by Mas¬
cot Pictures; released simultaneously in New York by Times Films
as Men With Steel Faces.
Running time, 70 minutes.
The author is much obliged to Gene Autry,
late Frankie Darro, Jan Alan Henderson, Michael

the
H.

Price, the late Lester Shorr and the late Bud Thackery for

information used in this article.

American

Cinematographer

77
American Cinematographer - April 1994

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