This is a breakdown of Monogram's feature film library from 1931–1953, detailing who owns what as it stands today or in the recent past, as best can be determined. In no way is it complete or entirely accurate.
Monogram's library, as some presume, was not owned by Republic Pictures when the former was revived in 1937. As reported in Film Daily, January 7, 1937: “W. Ray Johnston announced yesterday that Sterling Pictures Corporation [a holding company] had acquired the trade mark, good will and negatives of the former Monogram Pictures Corporation ...”
Television rights to many Monogram titles were sold in the late 1940s and early 1950s to Eliot Hyman's Telinvest, Inc., a New York financing syndicate, the films distributed by his Associated Artists Productions, Ltd.
Formed in 1949, Associated Artists was sold in 1951 to Wall Street financier David Baird's Lansing Foundation, which in turn sold television rights to the Monograms and others to the newly formed Motion Pictures for Television, Inc., a merger between AAP and Flamingo Films, Inc., with Baird as a partner and Hyman a consultant.
The AAP library numbered over 500 features before being purchased by the Lansing Foundation. When Flamingo Films and AAP went their separate ways in early 1954, AAP's library had no more than 80 features, and excluded the Monograms which were under lease by MPTV.
Around April 1955, Eliot Hyman's AAP purchased outright 199 features from Allied Artists, although still under lease by MPTV at the time.
The sale was mentioned in the trades:
The Billboard, November 26, 1955:
NEW YORK, Nov. 19—An Internal Revenue precedent-setting ruling was issued this week. It provides that a motion picture company selling a feature film outright to a TV film distributor can report the income derived from the sale as a long-term capital gains. The ruling is reportedly based on the sale by Allied Artists six months ago of 199 Monogram features to Eliot Hyman. The features are being distributed by Motion Pictures for Television.
In order to obtain a capital gains profit from the sale of features to TV, a motion picture company, according to the ruling, must sell negative rights to the features. Tho this ruling will undoubtedly encourage Hollywood firms to unload their “B” features to television distributors, it will probably have little effect on getting them to part with “A” features.
Producers would be reluctant to let go of negative rights to their major productions because of the greater possibility of reissue of such films or a remake of the property.
Other conditions that would have to be met before a company can derive a capital gains benefit from the sale of a feature to TV under the rule issued this week are: The film company's primary business must be the distribution of feature films to theaters, and the feature being sold must have been distributed to theaters to the extent that its theatrical revenues are just about exhausted.
Motion Picture Daily, November 17, 1955:
The long-awaited [IRS] ruling, numbered 55-706, was made in connection with the sale by “X Pictures Corp.” of some 200 old films, produced and released originally during 1931 to 1946. The service would not name the “X” corporation.
The service said X Pictures Corp. was a widely-held firm engaged in the business of producing and distributing its own films and also distributing films owned by others. The corporation sold 200 of its old films to another corporation, presumably a television firm. It had never sold its films to theatres, but had rather rented them either for a fixed fee or on a percentage basis. It had never relinquished ownership of the films during this rental process. It had previously also leased its films to TV for a limited period, but again had retained ownership.
Motion Picture Herald, December 10, 1955:
Those who expected that the long-awaited ruling by the Internal Revenue Bureau on feature film sales to television would open a flood gate may be disappointed. While capital gains are possible under certain conditions, the seller must transfer the copyright. That indicates that television rights for capital gain treatment cannot be separated from full ownership.
Steve Broidy, former Allied Artists president, in a 1974 interview with Linda May Strawn, published in the book Kings of the Bs:
We were the ones that fought the Internal Revue Service and established the fact that the sale of a negative constituted a capital gain. We got the first ruling on that. I could see very clearly, and I hoped, that television would employ the technique of the serial. I wasn't foresighted enough to think of a series [emphasis on 'series']. I was thinking of it as a serial. I went to all the networks; I tried to sell them on the idea of serials. Well, they didn't know themselves what they wanted to do, or how they wanted to do it, as best evidenced by the fact that I tried to sell each one of networks 200 negatives for a total of $1,000,000, $5,000 apiece. There was a company called PRC that had sold 171 negatives for $1,750 apiece.
The failure of Monogram to sell to the networks would spawn the creation of Associated Artists Productions, Ltd., which would distribute far more than 200 Monogram titles to TV. A deal with CBS, however, was almost finalized:
Film Daily, April 22, 1948:
MONO. 3-YEAR-OLD PIX FOR VIDEO
Negotiations Underway with CBS Contemplate
Feature Availability on Weekly BasisMonogram confirmed yesterday that it is negotiating with CBS for television rights to its features three years or more old.
Discussions are continuing, informed sources said, and while there are several points yet to be cleared up, it is anticipated that the deal will be signed in the not too distant future.
A Monogram spokesman said it was expected pictures would be made available to CBS for video at the rate of one weekly if the deal is consummated.
Monogram is the first large Hollywood producer-distributor to negotiate directly with a television network for video rights to its product. Hollywood features thus far finding places on tele programs have come from secondary distributors.
In January 1955, Guild Films Co., Inc., through its MPTV Films, Inc. subsidiary, would now handle the sales, service and booking of MPTV's library. Matthew Fox, head of MPTV, retained financial interest in the sub-licensed catalog through his Western Television Corp., reported to be 600-700 features at the time.
MPTV's lease of Eliot Hyman's 199 Monograms ended in 1956:
The Billboard, August 6, 1955:
Next year, stations will have an even greater opportunity to use their imaginations in creating new shows from film when Associated Artists makes available 199 old Monogram features which stations can cut up and program in any way they desire.
The Billboard, August 11, 1956:
Most of the packages of feature films that pioneered TV distribution are still on the TV market. The 199 Monogram pictures are now back with Associated Artists. Eliot Hyman bought the negative rights a year ago, and AAP now has to decide what to do with them next.
The Billboard later reported that AAP now had 187 Monograms:
The Billboard, May 27, 1957:
AAP Offering 'Film Bargain'
NEW YORK—In an effort to beef up sales of its pre-Warner Bros. product, AAP, Inc., has packaged all that film as its “Gold Mine Library.” It is offering economical deals to stations that buy the entire group, which comprises 436 hours of programming.
“Gold Mine” includes 83 “Movieland” features, 187 Monograms and 12 Sherlock Holmes as well as serials, shorts and Westerns. It will be peddled by AAP's regular sales staff.
The smaller number of Monograms is perhaps because of this earlier item:
The Billboard, October 1, 1955:
Governor Gets Monogram Pix
NEW YORK, Sept. 24—Governor TV Attractions will take over distribution of 12 Monogram pictures formerly handled by Motion Pictures for Television. Nine of them star the East Side Kids. The other three are spook mysteries.
Governor gets them November 15, when the TV rights revert to the Savoy Picture Corporation, which is closely allied to Governor. Out of a similar situation last year, Governor took over a lot of product that had been handled by Unity Television.
Although unnamed, the East Side Kids films were Bowery Blitzkrieg, Boys of the City, East Side Kids, Flying Wild, Let's Get Tough!, Mr. Wise Guy, 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge, Smart Alecks, and That Gang of Mine. The others, The Ape Man, The Corpse Vanishes and, hardly a spook mystery, Spotlight Scandals.
Savoy Pictures Corp. formerly was called Savoy Films Corp., which reissued the nine East Side Kids' titles listed above in February 1949, including a tenth, Pride of the Bowery.
Savoy was one of the subsidiaries owned by Moe Kerman and Joe Felder, the latter the former branch manager of Monogram's New York exchange. At the time of Felder's appointment in 1937, the Boston exchange was being run by Steve Broidy, future president of Monogram.
Kerman and Felder also owned Favorite Films Corp., which was formed in 1945 after Felder left Monogram. Shortly before Favorite was founded, the two started Astor Film Exchange, Inc., the New York franchise of Astor Pictures Corp., which released Clancy Street Boys, Follow the Leader, Ghosts on the Loose, Kid Dynamite, Million Dollar Kid, and Spooks Run Wild in 1949.
The same year, Astor reissued the non-ESK titles, Black Dragons, Bowery at Midnight, Invisible Ghost, and Spotlight Scandals; Favorite reissued The Ape Man and The Corpse Vanishes.
Astor and Favorite reissued the other six East Side Kids' titles in 1950: Block Busters (Astor), Bowery Champs (Astor), Come Out Fighting (Favorite), Docks of New York (Favorite), Mr. Muggs Rides Again (Favorite), and Mr. Muggs Steps Out (Favorite).
The same year, Astor and Favorite reissued the non-ESK titles, Crazy Knights (Astor), Three of a Kind (Astor), Zis Boom Bah (Astor), Voodoo Man (Astor), Return of the Ape Man (Favorite), and Trouble Chasers (Favorite).
Some of the Astor reissues were sometimes associated with one of the company's 26 subsidiaries, Ajax Pictures Corp. Adding to the corporate confusion, most of the Savoy titles were associated with Favorite.
Astor itself, incorporated in 1933, was actually owned by R.M. “Bob” Savini, but Felder and Kerman owned the lucrative New York exchange, previously managed by Kerman before Felder came onboard in 1945.
Governor Television Attractions, Inc., formed in 1951, was run by Moe Kerman's son, Arthur, with most of its later library from another Kerman-Felder company, Regal Television Pictures Corp., which was formed in 1948.
Showmen's Trade Review, February 26, 1949:
Dead End [sic] Kids, Lugosi Added to Astor Reissues
Astor has acquired 35-mm., 16-mm. and television rights from Producer Sam Katzman on a total of 16 features formerly released by Monogram, President Bob Savini announced upon his return from Hollywood. The agreement, which marks the biggest reissue deal in Astor's history includes:
Dead End [sic] Kid series—“Clancy Street Boys,” “Spooks Run Wild,” “Kid Dynamite,” “Ghosts on the Loose,” “Million Dollar Kid,” “Follow the Leader,” “Block Busters,” “Bowery Champs.”
Bela Lugosi—“Bowery at Midnight,” “Black Dragons,” “Invisible Ghost,” “Voodoo Man.” (Lugosi is also starred in several of the “Dead End Kid” [sic] series.)
General—“Zis Boom Bah,” “Spotlight Scandals,” “Three of a Kind,” “Crazy Nights [Knights].”
Variety, February 23, 1949:
Savini's Oldies for TV?
Some 16 “East Side Kids” and Bela Lugosi films, originally released by Monogram, have been acquired by Astor Pictures Corp. Reissue deal was closed by Astor prez R.M. (Bob) Savini on the latter's recent trip to the Coast.
Agreement gives Astor all rights in perpetuity to the 16 oldies including 35m, 16m and television. These rights were formerly held by Sam Katzman, co-producer of the 16 pix.
When Astor went bankrupt in the 1960s, legal documents showed rights to these 16 titles included only the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and Spotlight Scandals did not include TV rights. A 17th title, Pride of the Bowery, included only TV rights in perpetuity in the U.S., Canada and the U.K.
Additional titles were reported in 1949, although were only 16mm rights since Savoy/Favorite had reissue rights to many of these films:
Home Movies, April 1949:
16mm Features
New 16mm features to be released by Astor Pictures Corp. include the following: “Flying Wild,” “Smart Alecks,” “Mr. Wise Guy,” “Let's Get Tough,” “Bowery Blitzkrieg,” “Pride of the Bowery,” and “Neath Brooklyn Bridge,” starring the East Side Kids; “Ape Man,” “Black Dragons,” “Corpse Vanishes,” “Invisible Ghosts,” [sic] and “Bowery at Midnight,” starring Bela Lugosi; “Spooks Run Wild,” starring the East Side Kids and Bela Lugosi, and “Zis Boom Bah,” a musical starring Grace Hayes, Peter Lind Hayes and Benny Rubin. They were formerly released by Monogram.
Astor Pictures would form its own television distribution firm in 1950, Atlantic Television Corp., headed by Bob Savini. The executive vice-president of Astor and the new television arm was Jacques Kopfstein, with Astor since 1941, who in 1954 would join Associated Artists as vice-president and general sales manager.
All the ESK films were produced by Sam Katzman under the company names Four Bell Pictures, Inc., Banner Pictures Corp., and Banner Productions, all operating as independent production units at Monogram.
Katzman's partner in Banner was Jack Dietz, who would later form a production company with Joe Felder and Moe Kerman in the early 1950s, Mutual Productions Corp. That company means nothing to the Monograms but it is certainly connects a few dots in their corporate connection.
Of the 34 Monogram titles produced by Sam Katzman under those company names, all were reissued beginning in 1949 by Astor, Favorite, and Savoy, the three companies corporately connected, as was Governor Television Attractions.
Jack Dietz was also involved in another company, Capital Productions, Inc., which produced Private Snuffy Smith and its sequel, Hillbilly Blitzkrieg. Both these Monogram titles were reissued by Astor in 1951.
Prime T.V. Films, Inc., formed in 1961 and dissolved in 1989, later handled the television distribution of nine of the ten ESK titles released by Savoy Films in early 1949. In the 1980s, the other 13 ESK titles were claimed by National Telefilm Associates, Inc. and Leo A. Gutman, Inc., formed in 1967 initially as an advertising agency—Gutman's background since the late 1930s. Gutman would enter TV distribution in 1972.
Prime T.V. Films also handled Banner's The Ape Man, The Corpse Vanishes, and Spotlight Scandals, the company acquiring the film library of Governor Television Attractions, which notably included Of Mice and Men, One Million B.C., Paramount's Bulldog Drummond series, the Topper series, and various Laurel and Hardy product.
Governor's president, Arthur Kerman, would run foul of the law after being indicted in 1962 for fraudulent TV contracts.
Leo A. Gutman, Inc. was purchased by King World Productions, Inc. (now part of CBS) in 1984, acquiring 66 features and two TV series. The deal included the 13 ESKs, 11 Charlie Chan titles produced by Monogram, and 14 Sherlock Holmes titles, 12 which were produced by Universal Pictures and acquired by AAP in 1954.
Gutman's 11 Charlie Chans had their copyrights renewed by Allied Artists, and Warner Bros. now claims the titles. The first six Charlie Chans from Monogram were purchased outright by AAP in 1955, although one title, Black Magic, released to TV as Meeting at Midnight, had its copyright renewed—probably mistakenly—by Allied Artists. Because of the renewal, Warner Bros. claims the film also.
Of Gutman's 13 ESKs, seven had their copyrights renewed by Allied Artists, the others in the public domain. Most of Gutman's Sherlock Holmes titles had their copyrights renewed by Universal, the others not renewed also. The copyright renewals are no surprise, since Gutman probably only had the TV rights in perpetuity.
In 1971 National Telefilm Associates acquired TV rights to the ESK films previously released by Astor's Atlantic Television Corp., in a 207-film deal with the debt-ridden Commonwealth United Entertainment, Inc., which through its predecessor, Landau/Unger Company, Inc., had acquired rights to Astor-Atlantic's film library in 1965.
What agreements Gutman based their TV rights is unknown. NTA inherited what Astor-Atlantic had: all domestic rights—TV, theatrical, narrow-gauge—in perpetuity to eight of the nine titles, and one with TV rights only.
The other four handled by Gutman were released to TV by M&A Alexander Productions, Inc., and not Atlantic. Allied Artists sold the copyrights of these (Come Out Fighting, Docks of New York, Mr. Muggs Rides Again, and Mr. Muggs Steps Out) to Hollywood Film Enterprises, Inc. in 1973.
Gutman's acquisition of the nine ESKs seems to correlate with the demise of Allied Artists, which perhaps assigned TV rights at that time to Gutman. The same perhaps for Hollywood Film Enterprises assigning TV rights to Gutman for their four ESKs, which were handled by M&A Alexander, a company independent for many years—it was distributing films to TV under a different name since the 1940s—but at the time fully absorbed into NTA.
The Monogram Charlie Chan titles released by Gutman also time with AA's demise.
These overlapping, conflicting rights are probably the reason the ESK films with good copyright have never been released on home video.
To summarize, the following ESK films were claimed by Leo A. Gutman, Inc., an asterix denoting a copyright owned by the former NTA: Block Busters*, Bowery Champs*, Clancy Street Boys, Come Out Fighting*, Docks of New York*, Follow the Leader*, Ghosts on the Loose, Kid Dynamite, Million Dollar Kid, Mr. Muggs Rides Again*, Mr. Muggs Steps Out*, Pride of the Bowery, and Spooks Run Wild.
The following ESK films were claimed by Prime T.V. Films, none with good copyright: Bowery Blitzkrieg, Boys of the City, East Side Kids, Flying Wild, Let's Get Tough!, Mr. Wise Guy, 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge, Smart Alecks, and That Gang of Mine.
The following Banner films were claimed by Prime T.V. Films, none with good copyright: The Ape Man, The Corpse Vanishes, and Spotlight Scandals.
The two blocks of the ESK series distributed in the 1980s by Prime T.V. and Leo A. Gutman were divided differently in the early 1950s. Atlantic Television Corp. distributed those in the 1949 reissue and TV deal (Block Busters, Bowery Champs, Clancy Street Boys, Follow the Leader, Ghosts on the Loose, Kid Dynamite, Million Dollar Kid, and Spooks Run Wild); Atlantic then acquired Pride of the Bowery in August 1950.
The other 13 ESK titles were distributed to television in the early 1950s by AAP and then MPTV.
It may seem a moot point to care about films in the public domain, but a company claiming a title without a valid copyright probably has the best film elements. To secure copyrights on all their Monogram titles except Spotlight Scandals, Prime T.V. Films added new music and editing to them in 1976, thus securing new copyrights.
The successor to the East Side Kids was of course the Bowery Boys, beginning in 1946 with Live Wires. The series was purchased from Allied Artists by Warner Bros. in 1974. All 48 titles were released to TV in 1962 by Allied Artists Television Corp.
Associated Artists Productions, Inc.—whose roots go back to 1949 as Associated Artists Productions, Ltd.—was acquired by Associated Artists Productions Corp. (formerly called PRM, Inc.) in 1956 through an exchange of stock, the TV sales subsidiary functioning under the name AAP, Inc.
United Artists Associated, Inc., soon to be a subsidiary of United Artists Corp., was created in 1958 to acquire all the assets of Associated Artists Productions Corp., UAA to handle all TV sales on behalf of UA. Thus in October 1958 AAP's Monogram library fell into new hands.
In October 1963, United Artists Corp. combined UAA, which handled the sale of theatrical films to TV, into its long-established—but rather inactive—United Artists Television, Inc. (initially called United Artists Television Corp.), which at the time of the amalgamation produced and sold TV programs.
The applicant for those films in AAP's former Monogram library that had their copyrights renewed was United Artists Television, Inc.
The filmography has 187 titles noted as those purchased outright by AAP, evidence that the 187 titles reportedly owned by the company in 1957 are what ended up with United Artists in 1958.
United Artists donated 16mm prints of their Monogram library to the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, and an inquiry to the organization's film archivist reveals it received 186 titles in November 1969.
Based on 187 Monograms, the other 12 titles are those in the Governor/Savoy deal: The Ape Man, Bowery Blitzkrieg, Boys of the City, The Corpse Vanishes, East Side Kids, Flying Wild, Let's Get Tough!, Mr. Wise Guy, 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge, Spotlight Scandals, Smart Alecks, and That Gang of Mine.
Reissue and TV rights to the block were handled by Savoy/Favorite and AAP, respectively, and Astor had 16mm rights to most, if not all, of the titles. Rights were sliced and diced among the three companies.
Although not listed with the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, I have noted Convict's Code (1939) as one of the films purchased by AAP, for multiple reasons: It appears in Copyright Office documents related to UA and MGM; it was one of 12 titles reissued by Classic Pictures, Inc. in 1950 and 1951, the other 11 titles confirmed to be those purchased by AAP; it was listed as a title available from AAP a year after MPTV's lease expired in 1956; and an early Broadcast Information Bureau publication lists the TV distributor as United Artists Associated.
More connected with TV, Associated Artists also released films theatrically. The earliest was in 1949, when it began reissuing at least 21 of its Monogram titles on the states' rights market, excluding two which were not part of the 1955 purchase: Marked Trails (1944), now claimed by Warner Bros., and Trigger Law (1944), reportedly a lost film.
Before AAP and Flamingo Films, Inc. merged to create Motion Pictures for Television, Inc. in mid-1951, Sponsor, July 17, 1950, reported that AAP had 368 features (98 noted as westerns) and 42 shorts. The features were mostly from Monogram and PRC, TV rights to a block of the latter company's titles purchased in late 1949.
Sponsor, November 2, 1950:
AFM CRACKS DOWN AFTER TV SALE OF OLD PICTURES—One reason why more movie features aren't available to TV brought into focus with action of Amer. Fed. of Musicians against Monogram. Film producer, who signed regular producers' contract with AFM in 1946 agreeing not to release musical scores for TV use unless waiver granted, recently sold TV rights to 144 pre-1946 pictures. AFM promptly ordered all music recording at studios halted. Not clear at time this was written was whether action was taken because AFM reasoned that old pictures were bound by 1946 agreement, or because one 1946 print was sent out for TV use erroneously.
Boxoffice, November 11, 1950:
AFM Places Monogram
On Union 'Unfair' ListHOLLYWOOD—Already far from harmonious, the relationship between motion pictures and television was marred by another sour note when the name of Monogram Pictures was placed on the “unfair” list of the American Federation of Musicians.
The action, stemming from James C. Petrillo in the AFM's New York headquarters, was taken because of the showing on video circuits of a number of Monogram features filmed since 1946. Some time ago Monogram disposed of nearly 150 pictures to Telinvest, a New York firm, which has been booking them on TV stations.
It is the AFM's contention that video screenings of pictures produced after 1946 are a violation of its contract with the Independent Motion Picture Producers Ass'n, of which Monogram is a member. Acting under Petrillo's orders, J.W. Gillette, AFM studio representative, accordingly notified Monogram that no AFM member will be permitted to work at the studio.
At midweek, efforts were being made by Monogram and IMPPA representatives to negotiate the difficulty with Petrillo's group.
Inclusion of the news items above illustrates that AAP was acquiring more Monogram features at the time, notably post-1946 titles, all of which would soon be handled by MPTV.
The Screen Actors Guild, in an agreement concluded in 1948, stipulated that films produced after August 1, 1948 and released to TV had to pay compensation to the actors involved. All the films acquired by Telinvest were made previous to SAG's cut-off date.
Allied Artists would form a TV subsidiary in late 1951, Interstate Television Corp., but previous to its founding AAP was essentially the company's unofficial TV distributor.
Although Eliot Hyman's company, probably under the Telinvest, Inc. banner, had made a few TV sales with some Monogram titles in the late 1940s, it appears not to have begun in earnest, at least by volume, until 1950.
Boxoffice, April 8, 1950:
Philadelphia TV Station Gets 232 Feature Films
PHILADELPHIA—WPTZ, Philco television station here, and Associated Artists Productions, film distributors, have concluded a deal which will provide WPTZ with 232 feature pictures for its daily TV program, “Hollywood Playhouse.”
The films are from five to 15 years old and include 32 westerns and 200 features. The majority were released originally through Monogram and the old PRC. Associated Artists previously released 66 westerns to the station.
The distributing company has been supplying full-length pictures to many other television stations in the east, and recently reached an agreement with WSAZ in Huntington, Va., which calls for the rental of 130 features.
The Billboard, April 15, 1950, called WPTZ's purchase the largest film deal ever consummated by a local TV station. The 66 westerns previously purchased by the station in 1949 were showcased in Frontier Playhouse, which by mid-1950 was the highest rated local program in the country. Hollywood Playhouse debuted in March 1950.
By April 1950 at least 39 TV stations had contracted for portions of AAP’s library, advertised as “the largest catalog of Hollywood-produced-film for television.”
At this time the PRCs, made between 1944-1946, were under exclusive license to AAP from Wilton Pictures, Inc., which held the TV rights. Madison Pictures, Inc., in no way related to Wilton, owned the reissue rights. The PRC block represented 81 titles of AAP’s 368-film library.
AAP's origins were mentioned in a newspaper article. Note that WPIX, New York, was launched June 15, 1948, so Eliot Hyman's first sale would have been after this time (not 1946):
New York Times, November 16, 1966:
Mr. Hyman, who was born and raised in New York, was associated with his uncles in a wholesale tire concern but in 1934 he and a friend started a microfilm business, which blossomed during the war and gave him “some very limited capital.” With this, he bought 18 “old westerns” in 1946 for $12,000. In three days he sold them to the television station, WPIX, for $89,000.
He liked the profits, but wasn't entirely convinced of the future of the business until one night, after a gin rummy game, Steve Broidy, then head of Monogram Pictures, offered to sell him 199 films for $1,250 each. He made the deal. Yesterday, he estimated that those films have earned “between $12-million and $15-million.”
The Billboard, November 13, 1954, in an item about the new AAP many months after it had split with MPTV, reported among other things that the company was negotiating for the foreign TV rights to 199 Monogram pictures. The news item also mentions the formation of AAP:
The 199 pictures that Hyman apparently wants for overseas sales are the same that Motion Pictures for Television has been and still is distributing to U.S. TV stations. Actually these pictures were brought into TV by none other than Hyman. This occurred in 1948 in a deal with Monogram, now Allied Artists, and marked the start of Hyman's first Associated Artists operation, which three years later sold out to MPTV.
To many industry observers, this chain of relationships suggest that under Hyman's new Associated Artists operation may some day ... get the U.S. TV rights to the 199 Monograms when MPTV's lease runs out.
The Billboard, August 11, 1956, in a retrospective history of feature films released to TV, says the films were acquired in late 1946:
The earliest milestone in the history of the business occurred at the end of 1946 when Eliot Hyman, who had previously been engaged in the microfilm business, acquired the TV rights to 199 films from Monogram Pictures. To sell them he set up Associated Artists Productions with a full-time sales staff of two men.
The first sales of these pictures in New York brought in $100 per title, this in a city whose TV stations today spend $10,000 for the best new feature films.
Meanwhile, promoters and distributors of reissues had begun to write TV rights into their contracts. They began selling the pictures to TV themselves thru the States-righters or leasing to the growing TV film distribution operations. In 1948 the Frederick W. Ziv Company, distributor of radio transcriptions, in this way acquired 80 feature films that had been made for the Producers Releasing Corporation.
Associated Artists actually acquired the TV rights to more than 199 Monogram films, since it was distributing at least 80 more of their titles from its inception to mid-1951, when it was absorbed into MPTV.
Although the Copyright Office has a number of documents related to AAP's Monogram library, a good example is V2954 P385-427, executed December 30, 1993, transfer of copyrights from MGM Group Holdings Corp. (formerly known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.) to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. (formerly known as MGM Assets, Inc.).
The document, listing 1,872 films, includes all the Monogram titles supplied by the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research, plus Convict's Code. The document—which has some titles with spelling variants, reissue and TV titles—does not however list both versions of Sensation Hunters, the duplicate title perhaps causing confusion in the document's creation.
Those films purchased outright by AAP are noted in the filmography with the UA logo, but the company today is owned by MGM.
Sponsor's 11th Annual TV/Radio Basics, July 7, 1957, under “Features” syndicators, listed Associated Artists with a package titled “Hollywood Group,” which contained 187 titles (none listed). This is more evidence that AAP, as reported in The Billboard, May 27, 1957, had only 187 Monogram titles at this time.
AAP's other packages listed in the same publication did not have any Monogram titles: “Movieland” with 84 titles was mostly post-1948 first-run features; the “Western” package was 32 oaters and six outdoor actioners produced and released by Reliable Pictures Corp. between 1934–1937; and the 11-title “Classics” package was all very early Art Cinema-United Artists releases.
The only other feature film packages listed were the pre-1948 Warner Bros. library (754 titles) and 12 Sherlock Holmes titles from Universal, the latter films released theatrically by AAP in 1955.
It is likely that AAP was forced to relinquish the 12 films in the 1957 Governor/Savoy deal because of a precedent-making decision by the New York Supreme Court in 1956. The court ruled that screening a film on TV, after granting theatrical rights to another, is a violation of the latter's theatrical rights.
The block of 12 Monograms was reissued in 1949 by one company, Savoy, while another company not corporately connected, AAP, handled the TV rights. AAP was probably legally mandated to give up the 12-film block because of the court's ruling.
Some sources say the 1955 Monogram sale to AAP was 200 films, while The Billboard always quoted 199 films. Broadcasting-Telecasting, July 4, 1955, reported that AAP had formed a new subsidiary of their TV division called The 199 Corp., which was a holding company for the Monograms, reflecting the true number in the outright sale.
Television Digest, July 9, 1955:
New use for played-out feature films: Associated Artists sets up subsidiary, The 199 Corp., headed by Art Kalman, to sell stations permament rights to 199 old Monogram features which have been available to TV stations for 6 years. Among uses for the library suggested by Kalman: cut them into half-hour or 15-min. shows, use footage for background on local live shows, cut pieces out of them for stock shot library.
Motion Picture Daily, June 21, 1951:
Hyman on Coast Seeking 52 Mono. Films for Video
Hollywood, June 20.—Elliott [sic] Hyman, who heads the syndicate which financed the deal which brought Walter Wanger under the Allied Artists banner, is here to negotiate a deal with Monogram for the television rights to 52 pictures.
As projected, the deal would give Hyman's Telinvest Co. a seven-year license on 26 old features and on 26 Westerns, with Monogram to receive approximately $1,000,000 over the seven-year period.
If the deal is concluded, Hyman will distribute the films to television through his own channels.
Broadcasting, June 25, 1951:
Signing of contract is expected this week by Monogram Pictures Corp., negotiating seven-year lease of 52 old western and feature films with Telinvest Inc., New York, for TV release. Steve Brodee [sic], Monogram president, is handling deal, which would comprise Monogram's only major block sale to TV.
The last sentence in Broadcasting's news item is incorrect, since Associated Artists had released about 280 of the studio's titles to TV up to mid-1951. Toby Anguish's Television Pictures Distributing Corp. also had a block of Monogram titles, released to KTSL, Los Angeles, beginning in August 1949.
Toby Anguish, who The Billboard called the “Oater King” in 1951, had acquired TV rights to 543 features in the late 1940s, the bulk of them westerns.
The block was the 16 John Wayne titles made for Monogram by Lone Star Productions, the films licensed by Great Western Pictures, Inc., Atlanta, which had acquired the reissue and TV rights in 1947, the latter handled by its affiliate, The Distributor's Group, Inc.
The Lone Star titles, however, were on TV in the East a few months before KTSL, distributed by Telecast Films, Inc., New York., the company probably acting as East Coast sales agent for The Distributor's Group; likewise Toby Anguish, acting as West Coast sales agent. The films would eventually be owned by Western Television Corp., a holding company created at the same time as MPTV in 1951.
When exactly Western Television acquired the Lone Stars is unknown, but the rights may have been passed on to AAP and then MPTV.
By 1963, when the films were sold to another company, one of the sixteen titles (Rainbow Valley) disappeared from the block, probably because the elements were lost or destroyed.
Film Bulletin, May 8, 1950:
It was a learned this month that Monogram has sold a total of 250 old pictures for television, and is considering the sale of nearly a hundred more. Among the pictures already sold are oldies starring Bob Steele, Jack Randall, Tex Ritter, John Wayne and Johnny Mack Brown.
Motion Picture Daily, May 18, 1954:
Eighty feature-length westerns, that have been leased to TV networks and stations during the past 10 years, are being presented again on television, Lind said.
Lloyd Lind was vice-president and general sales manager of Interstate Television Corp., Allied Artists' television subsidiary formed in late 1951, initially as a production unit. The company would now handle most of its own TV distribution, with exceptions and excluding those under lease at the time of its formation.
Lind, long with the company, reportedly sold his first film to TV in 1939, a Monogram title for broadcast on what would become WNBT, New York.
Billboard, February 20, 1954, reported Interstate with 112 features and westerns; Television Magazine, July 1954, 83 westerns and 26 features; and Motion Picture Daily, September 9, 1955, as reported by Lloyd Lind, 139 features, 115 of which were westerns. Some of the latter were so new that they could not be presented on TV until after January 1, 1956.
Sponsor, July 9, 1956, reported Interstate with 56 features and 83 westerns, the same total of 139 that Lind reported in 1955 but the genres obviously classified differently. Sponsor, April 6, 1957, reported 61 features and 115 westerns.
Monogram's initial post-1948 features to TV, however, were handled by MPTV. This occurred in 1952, Monogram paying residuals to members of the Screen Actors' Guild for those appearing in the films. The Monogram-SAG agreement involved approximately 70 features, but due to vocal exhibitor resistance, Allied Artists halted any further post-1948 commitments to TV for two years.
Interstate Television did not have its own sales organization until early 1953, relying instead on the well-established MPTV and also sales through AA's exchanges.
Interstate's westerns far outnumbered its “features” since AAP's Monograms were mostly comprised of non-westerns, which generally garnered a higher price for TV—testimony to Eliot Hyman's business sense. This combined with MPTV's lease on many of the studio's other titles left Interstate with far less to distribute.
Film Bulletin's Exhibitor's Forum, February 11, 1952, in a piece submitted by Allied Theatre Owners of Indiana, wrote of the concern of films being released to TV, specifically Monogram:
A list of films on television, including only features broadcast in the years of 1949 and 1950, contains approximately 1400 titles. About 260 of these pictures were originally released by Monogram—a far greater number than from any other source. Twenty-four films not previously listed were shown over the TV networks in New York during the month of December, 1951, and out of this number 14 were original Monogram releases. The most recent original release dates given are in 1947 so apparently Monogram withholds this product from free home exhibition for four or five years. Included in the December exhibitions are the Johnny Mack Brown Western[s]: GUN SMOKE, NAVAJO TRAIL, RAIDERS OF THE SOUTH, UNDER ARIZONA SKIES, and VALLEY OF FEAR.
We wonder how many exhibitors will be willing to compete with these free home shows with such forthcoming Johnny Mack Brown Westerns as DEAD MAN'S TRAIL, MAN FROM THE BLACK HILLS, OKLAHOMA JUSTICE, TEXAS CITY TEXAS LAWMEN and WHISTLING HILLS.
In 1961 the Interstate name was dropped and the company's TV division was renamed Allied Artists Television Corp.
Films released to television are generally associated with the late 1940s, but listed in Motion Picture Herald, April 4, 1942, in an article titled TELEVISION GETTING PICTURES BUT NEARLY ALL ARE DATED, were 213 features available to the relatively few stations in operation at the time. Most of the films were from independent companies. Monogram had one title listed.
Broadcasting, July 3, 1944:
Television will prove a bonanza for smaller film studios according to Steve Broidy, vice-president of Monogram Pictures Corp. That company was the first, other than Walt Disney Productions, to lend film for televising.
As an example of a Monogram title on early TV, Numbered Woman (1938) was playing in New York on February 11, 1941. In November of that year Monogram sold its 1937-1938 programs to WNBT, New York, becoming the first Hollywood studio to sell its backlog to TV.
Motion Picture Daily, November 25, 1941:
Monogram Product Now
Available for TelevisionFirst of the national distribution companies to make its product available to television is Monogram, it was learned yesterday, which has made a deal with NBC for its 1937–'38 product and will continue with its more recent pictures. A number of Monogram films already have been screened by WNBT, the NBC television station here.
Until recently, NBC has had to rely exclusively on independent product and old films which were distributed by one of the national distributors but reverted later to the independent producers.
During the radio fight with Ascap, feature films virtually could not be shown over the television station because it was impossible to separate the music from the dialogue in most instances. However, with the settlement, WNBT resumed its film program and has stepped it up to three or four features each week. In addition to the features, there are advertising films, some independent shorts, defense films released by Government agencies and the like.
Motion Picture Herald, November 29, 1941:
NBC BUYS 4-YEAR-OLD MONOGRAM
FEATURES FOR TELECAST PROGRAMSFilms for television were acquired from a large distributor for the first time this week when Monogram and NBC signed a contract making all of the 1937–38 Monogram product available for transmission over WNBT at New York. The so-called “Big Eight” have steadfastly refused to release any pictures, regardless of age.
It marks the first time that any film distributor, with the exception of minor local distributors holding states rights or the distribution franchise to outdated product, has sold its product to the visual broadcasters. There has been an increasing use of film on the New York programs of WNBT and the Columbia Broadcasting System outlet stations WVBW, WCBW, and the new Don Lee station in Los Angeles is also transmitting several hours a week of film.
Hitherto the films available for television have been almost exclusively non-theatrical commercial pictures, travelogues, educational reels or outdated productions by minor, and frequently defunct Hollywood producers. A number of scientific subjects and the recruiting and defense pictures produced for the U.S. government have also been available, lately, to the television studios.
A number of early Monogram titles were distributed to TV in the early 1950s by Cornell Film Company, helmed by Milton J. Salzburg. The titles handled by the company are no doubt incomplete in the filmography. Salzburg formerly was a sales manager with Post Pictures Corp., the official 16mm distributor of Monogram at the time of Cornell's inception in 1950.
As Allied Artists stated in 1955, it had never relinquished ownership of its films for television previously. But Sponsor, January 11, 1954, reported that Vitapix Corp., a station-owned syndicator, had purchased 27 Monogram features “outright” for over $600,000 in 1952.
These titles, 21 with Johnny Mack Brown and six with Whip Wilson, however, had their copyrights renewed by Allied Artists. Broadcasting-Telecasting, November 3, 1952, reported that Vitapix bought both television and theatrical rights for nearly $700,000.
The Vitapix deal perhaps explains why some of the Monogram titles do not appear on the list of films transferred from Allied Artists to Lorimar Productions, which purchased the company in 1980. Typical of a television distributor, Vitapix would have access to the original negatives to strike 16mm television prints.
In 2015 Warner Bros. acquired most of the Vitapix titles on 16mm, sourced from 35mm fine grains, the prints in storage for over 20 years after a Pittsburgh lab was left unpaid by the film's then-current distributor, Cannon Television.
A singular example: Classics Associates, Inc. acquired a Monogram title (A WAVE, a WAC and a Marine) in 1985 from National Telefilm Associates, whose copyright was renewed by Allied Artists in 1972. MPTV acquired the television rights from Monogram in the 1950s, but the title was sold in 1963 by Western Television Corp., a division of Television Industries, Inc. (essentially the successor to MPTV), to Link Industries, Inc., which at the time “acquired and now owns distribution, exhibition or other rights” to the film.
Allied Artists' legal department renewed a number of copyrights to which television distributors claimed ownership, the company perhaps too engrossed in its financial troubles to bother with litigation, if indeed it was warranted at all. It is best to play it safe and renew.
Like Vitapix, films sometimes have their television origins with smaller distributors. As another example, M&A Alexander Productions, Inc. acquired distribution rights to 16 of the Range Busters in 1950. The western series was produced by George W. Weeks, Monogram's general sales manager, who resigned in 1940 to enter the production field. Along with Anna Bell Ward, co-manager of a Kentucky theatre circuit, they formed Phoenix Productions to make the films without financing from Monogram.
Phoenix Productions was renamed Range Busters, Inc. in early 1941, the companies producing a total of 24 Range Busters between 1940 and 1943, the latter ones without Anna Bell Ward as associate producer (and vice-president of Phoenix). M&A Alexander Productions acquired the 16 titles directly from George W. Weeks.
M&A also acquired television rights to the Renfrew of the Royal Mounted series starring James Newill, which were also edited into 13 half-hour episodes for television. These and the 16 Range Busters would eventually become part of the M&A Alexander Productions division of National Telefilm Associates, most of whose library is now owned by Paramount.
The Cisco Kid series was also released to television by M&A, in 1954, comprised of 13 films, some not released by Monogram.
The last eight titles in the Range Busters series were reissued by Guaranteed Pictures Co., Inc. in 1949. The company's parent company was Commonwealth Pictures Corp., which created a TV division in 1948, Commonwealth Film and Television, Inc.
Commonwealth's film library was acquired in 1969 by Teleprompter Corp., a cable operator, which also handled the TV rights. In 1975 the Eastin-Phelan Corp., a holding company of Blackhawk Films, Inc., acquired TelePrompter's library. In November 1985 a controlling interest of Blackhawk was acquired by the reborn Republic Pictures, which subsequently sold the library to Film Preservation Associates, Inc.
Included are the films comprised of two episodes each of the Wild Bill Hickok television series released theatrically by Monogram-Allied Artists beginning in late 1952. Produced by William F. Broidy Productions, Inc., helmed by the brother of Monogram boss, Steve Broidy, Columbia's Screen Gems, Inc. purchased the assets of the company in 1957.
The 16 Wild Bill Hickok features are based on episodes filmed in 1951 and 1952 using Monogram production staff, with M.A. Lewis' small Sunset Studios—also known as the Brodco Studios—for major interior work; interiors and exteriors were mostly done on location at Big Bear, 80 miles from Los Angeles, where the company leased 110 acres including a complete Western town at Cedar Lake. None of the episodes were filmed on the actual Monogram lot.
Eight of the first features were released in the U.K. by United Artists instead of Associated British-Pathe, which handled Monogram's product there, illustrating the independent nature of the films. Even in the U.S., their advertising accessories made no mention of Monogram or Allied Artists—each was simply “A Newhall Production.”
None of the features were in TV circulation by Allied Artists or Screen Gems.
Ted Okuda's The Monogram Checklist: The Films of Monogram Pictures Corporation, 1931–1952 has been used as a guide to the films listed here, but I have excluded shorts. Some American and British titles are missing from the book, which are included herein. One of the benchmarks for inclusion is the Monogram logo on posters and lobby cards.
Motion Picture Daily, August 12, 1949:
Monogram Sets Up Stratford Pictures
Hollywood, Aug. 11.—Monogram filed incorporation papers at Sacramento for Stratford Pictures Corporation, listing Dave Broidy as president and George D. Burrows as vice-president. The studio said Stratford is a subsidiary corporation set up for the purpose of distributing foreign-language pictures in this country, utilizing Monogram exchanges.
Motion Picture Daily, August 16, 1949:
Mono.'s Stratford To Import Fifteen
Stratford Pictures Corp., newly-formed Monogram subsidiary set up for the purpose of distributing foreign-made pictures in this country through Monogram exchanges, expects to import about 15 productions for release during its first year of operation, Steve Broidy, Monogram president, disclosed here yesterday.
Broidy, here from Hollywood with company vice-president Harold Mirisch for conferences with Monogram Eastern executives, plans to return to the Coast on Friday.
The Monogram chief revealed that Stratford Pictures will accommodate “part of” the production-distribution deal concluded recently between Monogram and British Pathe. This means, Broidy explained, that Stratford will not confine itself to the importation of foreign-language pictures, as was reported previously, but will bring in British pictures together with features made in France, Italy and other countries.
Foreign films, all but four not British, are noted in the filmography, including those released by Stratford Pictures. Most of those titles were renewed by EMI Films, Ltd., whose library is now owned by StudioCanal.
Monogram was not directly involved in British productions until the early 1950s. The company announced in 1946 that it would soon start production of its first British picture, to star Belita, with a budget of $1,000,000, but the film was never made.
Motion Picture Herald, August 5, 1939:
Johnston Cites Big
Improvement in EnglandBritish production has improved “1,000 per cent” in the last year, W. Ray Johnston, said in New York, on his arrival Monday after four weeks in England and France, during which he obtained four British pictures for release in this country.
“They are all starting to pay attention to the American market,” Mr. Johnston said, in discussing British picture producers. “They seem to have the American slant now. There is no need for this company to engage in production there.”
Financing for English production is readily obtainable, Mr. Johnston said.
“I don't think the old line companies are suffering any from money trouble,” he remarked. “It was the promoters who suffered in the cutting of production.”
The four pictures which Monogram will begin distributing within the next three months are from Pathe and Associated British, and are titled, “My Irish Molly”; “Dark Eyes of London,” with Bela Lugosi; “The Gang's All Here,” with Otto Kruger, Edward Everett Horton, Jack La Rue, and Jack Buchanan; and “Traitor Spy,” with Bruce Cabot. The latter is starting production.
Mr. Johnston said that Monogram would endeavor to have its personalities starred in British pictures.
Monogram examines the scripts of English films in this country before their use in English production, Mr. Johnston said, citing as example, the script of “Traitor Spy.”
Mr. Johnston was accompanied on his return by George West, Monogram franchise holder, and Ralph Bettinson, representative in Hollywood for Pathe.
Because Monogram did not distribute its product in the U.K., which was handled by Pathe Pictures, Ltd., there was no need for the American studio to produce its own quota pictures. Ralph Bettinson, mentioned in the news item, was Pathe's Hollywood representative, who was headquartered at Monogram's studio.
Bettinson lined up Hollywood players for features to be shot by Rialto Productions, a Pathe producing unit helmed by John Argyle. Bela Lugosi would make The Human Monster (Dark Eyes of London), and Movita would make Tower of Terror, both under joint production arrangements, as were a few others.
With the new Monogram from the start, contracted by Pathe, Bettinson's role as “British supervisor of productions” was to see that Monogram's product possessed British appeal, advising on the selection of scripts and casting. Scripts of each company would be exchanged and commented on before production started.
The Gang's All Here, mentioned in the news item, was not even released by Monogram—Producers Releasing Corp. handled the film in 1944 as The Amazing Mr. Forrest; Arthur Ziehm, Inc. handled Traitor Spy as The Torso Murder Mystery; Alliance Films Corp.—more on that company below— initially handled My Irish Molly as Little Miss Molly.
In 1941 Monogram announced its plan to produce a feature in England with a portion of the $600,000 in frozen funds the company had accumulated, but the film was never made. W. Ray Johnston stuck to his words, and the company did not initially engage in U.K. production.
Besides production costs, frozen funds could also be used to pay up to one half of the cost of British films bought for export, and it is likely Monogram used some of this money for U.S. distribution rights. Frozen money could also be remitted for what British films earned in the U.S.
Frozen money in the U.K. was returned to American motion picture companies beginning in late 1942. More would accumulate though.
Associated British Picture Corp., Ltd., the parent company of Pathe Pictures, Ltd., Monogram's U.K. distributor, created an American subsidiary in 1935, Alliance Films, Ltd. (soon Alliance Films Corp.), to handle distribution of some of its productions in the U.S.
Stateside the company was helmed by Budd Rodgers as vice-president and general manager, who worked closely with Monogram; the president was Maurice Arthur Dent, a managing director of ABPC. Some films were released under the Monogram banner, while most others were released by state righters under the Alliance Films banner, including a few Monogram exchanges.
Alliance Films Corp. should not be confused with Film Alliance of the U.S., Inc., a separate company distributing foreign films at the time, including some from ABPC. Monogram did, however, acquire a few British titles from Film Alliance which were unrelated to ABPC. A few titles are listed in the trades being distributed by both Alliance Films and Film Alliance, so the two companies were mutually connected.
In early 1949, Monogram and Associated British Picture Corp. concluded a production-distribution deal, the films to be produced with American and British stars, production and technical personnel, with the scripts written with an eye to international appeal.
Titles were subsequently announced, such as Red Wagon, and The Bishop's Mantle, but nothing would be made until 1951, when 24 Hours of a Woman's Life was completed late in the year. The film was released by Allied Artists in 1953 as Affair in Monte Carlo, the company's involvement more financial than anything else.
Allied Artists' co-production commitment with Associated British called for only two pictures. The second, under the working titles O'Leary Night and The Ghost of O'Leary, would be Tonight's the Night. A third film was announced, The Black Prince, tentatively planned for early 1954, in Technicolor—as was the second—and CinemaScope, but it was never made.
Monogram's films were distributed in the U.K. by Pathe Pictures, Ltd., a subsidiary of Associated British Picture Corp. In a case of reciprocity, most of the British titles released by Monogram, Allied Artists and Stratford were handled in the U.K. by Associated British-Pathe, Ltd. (since 1948 the new name for ABPC's distribution arm, formerly Pathe Pictures, Ltd.).
Post-1948 British titles are noted with what banner the films were released, either Monogram, Allied Artists or Stratford, the latter essentially Monogram's “art house” brand.
Sometimes an American film is listed as Monogram product because one or two of its exchanges released it in their territory. Isolated Monogram exchanges often released other product on a states' rights basis, causing some to believe the films were actually from Monogram.
When Monogram was revived it adopted a policy where the company could buy “outside” product for any territories which need additional pictures, based upon demands of franchise holders. For such acquisitions, approval had to come from Monogram itself.
An example of a “local” Monogram release is Lure of the Wasteland (1939), which was distributed by their New York exchange, one of the few actually owned by the company. The film, produced by Al Lane Pictures, was reviewed locally as being Monogram product, but it was simply a states' rights release which was handled by different (non-Monogram) exchanges around the country.
Pinto Canyon (1940), the last of Bob Steele's eight westerns for Metropolitan Pictures Corp., is listed in the AFI Catalog of Feature Films as a Monogram release, yet the other seven are listed as states' rights.
The same applies to Feud of the Trail starring Tom Tyler, one of eight westerns for Victory Pictures Corp., listed in the AFI Catalog as being released by Monogram but handled states' rights by Victory.
Monogram may have handled all 16 of these Bob Steele and Tom Tyler features in a few exchanges. None are included herein.
Another example, listed in Okuda's book, is The Sin of Lena Rivers (1932). The film, originally released by Tiffany as Lena Rivers, is listed as being reissued by Monogram in 1938. However, Sack Amusement Enterprises acquired national rights and released it on the states' rights market.
Also listed in Okuda's book but excluded herein is The Reckoning (1932), made by Olympic Productions, which was released states' rights by Peerless Productions. The film was acquired by J.H. Hoffberg Co., Inc. in a bankruptcy sale in late 1932.
Occasionally Monogram would acquire an outside production for national distribution with certain territorial restrictions. Film Daily, June 15, 1937: Monogram has closed contracts to distribute the two Rialto productions, “What Price Vengeance” and “Fury and the Woman,” in 21 of its 30 exchanges and will be “very glad to handle” other outside product of merit, it was said yesterday by Edward Golden, sales manager.
The two films, produced in Canada by Central Films, Ltd. in 1936 as quota quickies for Columbia, were apparently purchased outright by Rialto Productions Corp., which distributed them on a states' rights basis in the other U.S. exchange centers where Monogram had no rights.
Ted Okuda noted in his book, “Also omitted is The Adventures of Chico (1938), a Woodward production and release that some sources have credited to Monogram.” In this case, Monogram acquired only the New England distribution rights to the film.
Another film sometimes associated with Monogram is Fig Leaf for Eve, completed in August 1945 by Carry Westen Corp., Inc. The film seems to have languished unreleased under its original title until at least May 1946. Film Daily, April 22, 1946, reported: Belmont Pictures announces the closing of distribution deals across the country for “Fig Leaf For Eve.”
Producer J. Richard Westen's Belmont Pictures, Inc. obviously released the film on the states' rights market, with Monogram handling distribution in some areas. By November 1946 the film had been retitled Desirable Lady, with Screen Guild, Inc. handling distribution in some areas.
Illustrating the sometimes complex world of distribution is a film produced by Edward A. Golden, general sales manager of Monogram, who resigned from the company—replaced by Steve Broidy—to become a producer. In 1941 he formed University Film Productions, Inc. with a future Monogram producer, Jeffrey Bernerd, and made No Greater Sin, a hygiene feature.
Although not a Monogram production, No Greater Sin used production principals from Monogram, including Golden's son, Robert, as film editor. Filmed at the Fine Arts Studio, the former Educational plant soon to be purchased by PRC, the film's distribution was noted in this news item:
Motion Picture Herald, February 28, 1942:
Monogram Franchisers Buy “No Greater Sin”
The film “No Greater Sin” is being distributed by Monogram branch offices in New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, Salt Lake City, Kansas City, Minneapolis, Omaha, Des Moines and St. Louis. Henry [Henri] Elman and David Halper are handling the picture in the Chicago area and Irving Dietz and Mike Siegel are the North and South Carolina agents.
Columbia Pictures is distributing the film in Canada. United Artists is selling it in other foreign countries. Edward Golden, president of University Film Productions, Inc., producer of “No Greater Sin,” reports that University's own agents, W. J. Fitzpatrick and Ben Stein, are distributing the picture in Dallas and New England respectively.
Another example: Motion Picture Herald, June 3, 1933: W. Ray Johnston, president, signed this week with Paul Wyman Productions, to release “Taming the Jungle” in the U.S. and Canada, except in New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Oklahoma and Texas, where the picture is to be roadshown by Jerry Abrams Exchange.
And another example: Motion Picture Herald, December 9, 1939: Johnston, Monogram, Buys Leichter Films. Mitchell Leichter, a producer from Hollywood, now in New York, announced Wednesday that W. Ray Johnston, Monogram Pictures, had purchased for distribution in territory still unsold, Mr. Leichter's pictures, “Hell's [Hell] Harbor,” “She Goes to War” and “Sudan.”
When distribution by Monogram was actively revived in July 1937, the company owned only three of its 30 U.S. exchanges: New York, Philadelphia and Washington. By 1945 it owned seven of its 31 exchanges; by August 1952, 15 exchanges were company-owned.
The New York exchange (covering greater New York City, Long Island, the state up to Poughkeepsie, and northern New Jersey) and Philadelphia exchange (covering most of eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey) were the largest distribution territories in the country, encompassing about 22% of the nation's theaters.
In 1945 the 31 main exchange territories, sorted by largest to smallest were: New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, San Francisco, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Charlotte, Kansas City, Indianapolis, New Orleans, New Haven, Milwaukee, Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake City, Albany, Memphis, Des Moines, Oklahoma City, Portland, and Omaha.
Also listed in the filmography are two more important films not normally associated with Monogram-Allied Artists: Red Light and Deadly Is the Female (better known as Gun Crazy), both produced in 1949.
Film Bulletin, September 11, 1950:
You will remember that the Mono-AA company experimented last year by releasing “Red Light” and “Gun Crazy” through United Artists. Broidy feels that the results of the experiment were not sufficiently gratifying to bear repetition.
Film Bulletin, November 20, 1950:
Insofar as the first quarter loss is concerned, president Steve Broidy points out that it is directly attributable to the amortization of negative costs on two pictures which the company produced for United Artists release, and was, therefore, anticipated in advance. The pictures, both high budgeters, were “Red Light,” and “Gun Crazy.”
Both films, copyrighted by Pioneer Pictures Corp., were part of the Allied Artists sale to Lorimar in 1980. Gun Crazy was announced to be produced by Allied Artists as early as February 1947.
Another film not associated with the studio is the documentary Jacaré:
Motion Picture Herald, May 16, 1942:
The Monogram program will also include two “Road Show Attractions” to be sold separately as produced during the season. First of these will be “Killers of the Amazon,” the South American adventure picture now being filmed by Clyde Elliott-Charles Ford in the Brazilian swamps and jungles bordering the Amazon River.
Motion Picture Herald, September 5, 1942:
Recently Jules Levey purchased “Killers of the Amazon” from Monogram and is now re-editing it for UA release, as “Jacare.”
Another film not normally connected with Monogram, although the company had nothing to do with its production:
Showmen's Trade Review, December 28, 1940:
“Cavalcade of Texas,” 55-minute Technicolor film showing the resources of the nation's largest state, is to be distributed nationally by Monogram. The film was a highlight exhibit at both the New York and San Francisco fairs.
The news item included a photo of John R. Franconi, Monogram's Dallas branch manager, and Karl Hoblitzelle, acting head of the Texas World's Fair Commission and head of Interstate Circuit, signing the contract. The documentary, titled A Cavalcade of Texas, was first released in July 1939.
Monogram did not produce its own short subject until 1947, although technically did previously co-produce (with PRC Pictures, Inc.) at least one eight-minute short, Two-Way Street (1945), for the U.S. Government Office of War Information:
Motion Picture Herald, February 8, 1947:
Monogram's First Short To Be in Ansco Color
“Climbing the Matterhorn,” first entertainment picture to be filmed entirely in Ansco color, will be released by Monogram as the company's first short subject, according to Samuel [Steve] Broidy, president. In two reels, the film was shot as an experiment by Irving Allen, producer-director, while photographing black-and-white background scenes for his latest picture “High Conquest” on the Matterhorn in Switzerland.
The film won the Academy Award for best two-reel short in 1948. Earlier the company announced another short, but it appears not to have been made:
Motion Picture Herald, August 31, 1946:
Monogram's First Short To Be in Ansco Color
The company last weekend also announced its entry into the short subject field with “Mexican Baseball,” a one-reel subject in color produced and directed by Eugene H. Levy, as its first release. Filmed in 16mm, the subject will be blown up to 35mm and distributed throughout the world.
Interestingly, the trades claimed Monogram made a non-theatrical film in 1945:
Film Daily, November 9, 1945:
“Fashion's Horizons,” First Mono. Non-Theatrical Pic
Hollywood—“Fashion's Horizons,” first non-theatrical picture made by Monogram, is being shown in department stores and its distribution will be confined to such establishments. It is sponsored by 28 Los Angeles sports good manufacturers and a narrator was used to describe sport fashions. It is three reels in length and Kodachrome was used. It was made at a cost of approximately $35,000, with Harry D. Donahue, formerly active in the Eastern non-theatrical field, as producer. He is now in the East and is working on two or three deals for Monogram to make additional industrial pictures.
Motion Picture Herald, December 15, 1945:
Monogram Pictures has made a film called “Fashion Horizon” and 250 department stores throughout the country have been contracted to exhibit the film.
Actually titled “Fashion Horizons,” the 19-minute film, however, was made in 1940 by Harry D. Donahue Productions, Donahue to form Fashion Horizons, Inc. in 1941.
Motion Picture Daily, January 5, 1950:
Monogram Will Enter Short Subjects
Field with 39 Reissues Made by M-G-MMonogram will enter the short subject field with the reissue of 26 two-reel and 13 single-reel comedies originally produced and released by M-G-M, Steve Broidy, Monogram president, announces.
The films, obtained from Auerbach Film Enterprises, Ltd., will be known as “Little Rascals,” and will feature Farina, Dickie Moore, Mary Kornman, Joe Cobb and others. Although terms of the contract prohibit billing under the original group name, the subjects were originally “Our Gang” comedies.
New prints, posters, and pressbooks have been prepared. The Monogram reissues will start March 1. The company has not previously participated in the short subjects field save for two special shorts distributed as feature attractions.
Although not made by Monogram, the company did release a batch of one-reel Port O'Call shorts in 1933–1934, acquired from Imperial Distributing Corp., and the new Monogram also released a number of one-reel shorts from Jam Handy Organization, Inc.
When Monogram was formed in 1931, the company initially leased the National Film Recording Studios, the former Stern Bros. plant, which was purchased by the Alexander Brothers, Arthur and Max, when the Stern Film Corp. ceased production in 1929. The studio, relocated nearby in 1926 after a major fire, was also home to Monogram's precursor, Syndicate Pictures Corp. Monogram used National's three stages exclusively for just over two years, the plant bannered with the Monogram Pictures name.
In May 1933 the company moved to Western Service Studios, which encompassed the Metropolitan and Educational plants. Monogram had exclusive use of three stages on the two lots, with eight other stages available to the company as required; headquarters would be at Metropolitan. From the Western Service Studios, by now renamed General Service Studios, Monogram moved to the Pathe lot in Culver City in July 1934.
When Monogram was revived in 1937, its new home was at Talisman Studios, or Hollywood Studios as it was briefly known at the time. Talisman was the former Tiffany Studios, renamed in 1933. Monogram also had a leased ranch at Newhall, outside Hollywood, which had two stages and a complete western town.
Monogram would find a permanent home in February 1942, when it purchased Ralph Like's International Studios for $250,000. Monogram had been leasing it for the previous two years, the plant comprised of two stages and also doubled as headquarters for the home offices, which were moved from New York in 1940. Previously the company had been using four stages at Talisman, and would continue to do so while leasing the greater part of International until its sale.
With the purchase in 1942, Monogram took an option on an acre and a quarter adjoining its property, where a new stage and other structures would be built, giving the studio a total of more than two acres. In 1944 and 1946 the company acquired more adjoining property, adding new stages and other infrastructure to accommodate the studio's 18 departments.
Even with the expansion, slowed by war and material shortages, the little studio could not handle its production requirements. Talisman, used by Monogram as far back as the early 1930s, was purchased by Columbia in 1943. Monogram outgrew its studio facilities and was forced to use other companies' lots.
Monogram continued to copyright some films after 1952 even though the name was being dropped in favor of Allied Artists. Fangs of the Arctic, released in January 1953, appears to have been the last film from the studio to show the Monogram logo in advertising—everything subsequent would show Allied Artists.
All domestic productions under the Allied Artists banner are included up to 1953, even if they were released in 1954. For those released in 1953 and 1954, I have added notes to show what titles were filmed the previous year.
Perhaps the best way to describe the end of Monogram are these news items:
Motion Picture Daily, September 25, 1952:
Allied Artists Schedules 35
Chicago, Sept. 24.—Beginning with releases for the 1953 program, the Monogram name will be dropped from that company's product, Steve Broidy, president, announced here today with the disclosure that 35 features have been scheduled for the new season under the Allied Artists banner.
The trade-mark of Allied Artists, subsidiary formed in 1946 to handle only major calibre pictures, will be used on all future relases, Broidy told the 200 company executives, salesmen and bookers who are in convention at the Blackstone Hotel.
The announcement that the company decided to discard the use of the Monogram name from all but corporate transactions came as a surprise to the delegates to the national convention.
Motion Picture Daily, November 13, 1953:
HOLLYWOOD, Nov. 12.—Monogram Pictures Corp. became Allied Artists Pictures Corp. officially today when stockholders representing more than 60 per cent of the outstanding shares voted the name change and also approved the directors' recommendation that articles of incorporation be amended to permit increasing the number of dollar-par-value shares from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000.
Production companies are generally not listed in the filmography. Monogram used a number of in-house and outside production units to make its films along with outright “pickups,” those made without any participation of the studio. Even the company's most famous series, The Bowery Boys, was initially made by an independent unit helmed by Jan Grippo, who sold the rights to Monogram together with his contracts with Leo Gorcey and Huntz Hall in 1951.
Production companies, besides those listed in the copyright registrations, are included only in a few cases where some sort of clarification is required.
Following the year of general release is the film's copyright claimant as registered with the Copyright Office. Those not registered, which are noted, almost always had a copyright statement on the print itself but these are not factored—a domestic film must have been registered.
Next is the copyright renewal, if any, with no date given. At this time copyrights had to be renewed within 28 years, so one can generally add that number to the film's release date to calculate the renewal.
Copyrights which have been registered for foreign films under GATT/URAA restoration are included. No personal judgment, however, is made of a film's eligibility for such protection.
Of the 803 domestic feature films listed, 44% are public domain; 48% are noted as Warner Bros. (of which 23% are public domain); 24% are noted as United Artists (of which 71% are public domain); 8% are noted as Paramount (of which 51% are public domain).
Of those 803 domestic feature films, 759 were registered with the Copyright Office. Of those 759, 88% were registered by Monogram or Allied Artists, or a combination thereof.
Titles with the Lorimar logo are those purchased from Allied Artists in 1980. The logo followed by an asterisk are those where Lorimar obtained no useable film elements, and received a refund in the library's purchase. Most of these are listed in a copyright document where Lorimar assigned distribution rights the same year to CBS Video Enterprises for Allied Artists' former catalog.
Others without the Lorimar logo—excluding the Bowery Boys series—are stragglers that Warner Bros., which purchased the company in 1989, claimed as it picked up a few missing titles. Warner Bros. continues to this day to repatriate its Monogram library with better film elements.
On a few occasions mention is made of the Hurlock catalog. Roger W. Hurlock, who resigned as president of Allied Artists in 1969, formed Hurlock Cine-World, Inc. the same year, a non-theatrical 16mm distributor. The company had a long-term contract with Allied Artists, which retained the narrow-gauge rights years after the latter went bankrupt in 1979.
