Mascot Pictures
Industry | Film studio |
---|---|
Founded | 1927 |
Defunct | 1935 |
Fate | Merged |
Successor | Republic Pictures |
Headquarters | First:Santa Monica Boulevard,Los Angeles,United States Later:Studio City, Los Angeles, California,United States |
Key people | Nat Levine |
Products | The King of the Kongo(1929) The Shadow of the Eagle(1932) In Old Santa Fe(1934) The Phantom Empire(1935) |
Mascot Pictures Corporationwas an American film company of the 1920s and 1930s, best known for producing and distributingfilm serialsandB-westerns.Mascot was formed in 1927 byfilm producerNat Levine.In 1935, it merged with several other companies to formRepublic Pictures.
Mascot's serialThe King of the Kongo(1929) was the first serial to includesound,beatingUniversal Studiosby several months.
The company's logo featured a roaringtigerresting on top of a model of the planetEarth.
Early years
[edit]Mascot was created in 1927 byNat Levine,a former personal secretary toMarcus Loew,after the success of his independent serialThe Silent Flyer(1926).
In the beginning the company operated out of the upstairs offices of a contractor's business onSanta Monica Boulevard.It rented all of its equipment and facilities.
In 1929 the studio made serial history with the production ofThe King of the Kongo.This was the first serial, from any production company, to be made withsound.Mascot's first all-talking production wasThe Phantom of the West(1931)
Sennett Studios
[edit]By 1933 Mascot was successful enough to rent, and later buy, Sennett Studios, after the original owner, silent-film comedy producer-directorMack Sennett,went bankrupt because of theGreat Depression.This made the company a truefilm studio.That studio lot is nowCBS Studio Center.
Mascot was responsible for the popularity of the concept of the "singing cowboy"and the" musical western ". In1935the studio producedThe Phantom Empirewith the then untriedGene Autryas the lead.
Republic Pictures
[edit]Mascot's film laboratory wasConsolidated Film Industries.In 1935, under pressure from that company's owner,Herbert Yates,Mascot was merged by CFI withMonogram Pictures,Liberty Pictures,Chesterfield Picturesand Invincible Pictures to formRepublic Pictures,a production-distribution company designed by Yates. Levine was designated head of the serial and B-Western arm of the company, and the Mascot studio facilities and contract personnel became Republic assets as part of the merger. Within two years, however, along with most of his colleagues at Republic who had owned other companies, Levine found himself in a disagreeable situation and left Republic. With only the Mascot name and film library remaining in his possession, Levine found employment elsewhere in the motion picture industry and Mascot Pictures survived only through reissues of its sound serials and a single, new feature film edited from the "Phantom Empire" serial, released in 1940.
Legacy
[edit]Several careers began at Mascot Pictures.
Actors
[edit]Production crew
[edit]Filmography
[edit]- Men with Steel Faces(1940) (feature version of "The Phantom Empire" )
- Doughnuts and Society(1936)
- The Fighting Marines(1935)
- Harmony Lane(1935)
- Confidential(1935)
- Waterfront Lady(1935)
- Streamline Express(1935)
- The Adventures of Rex and Rinty(1935)
- Ladies Crave Excitement(1935)
- The Headline Woman(1935)
- One Frightened Night(1935)
- The Miracle Rider(1935)
- Behind the Green Lights(1935)
- The Phantom Empire(1935) (film serial)
- Little Men(1934)
- Mystery Mountain(1934)
- The Marines Are Coming(1934)
- In Old Santa Fe(1934)
- Crimson Romance(1934)
- Young and Beautiful(1934)
- The Law of the Wild(1934)
- Burn 'Em Up Barnes(1934) (feature version of the serial)
- Burn 'Em Up Barnes(1934) (film serial)
- The Lost Jungle(1934) (feature variation of the serial)
- The Lost Jungle(1934) (film serial)
- The Lone Defender(1934) (feature version of same-title serial)
- The Mystery Squadron(1933)
- The Wolf Dog(1933)
- Laughing at Life(1933)
- Fighting with Kit Carson(1933)
- The Whispering Shadow(1933)
- The Three Musketeers(1933)
- The Devil Horse(1932)
- The Pride of the Legion(1932)
- The Hurricane Express(1932)
- The Last of the Mohicans(1932)
- The Shadow of the Eagle(1932)
- The Lightning Warrior(1931)
- The Galloping Ghost(1931)
- The Vanishing Legion(1931)
- King of the Wild(1931)
- The Phantom of the West(1931)
- The Lone Defender(1930) (film serial)
- The King of the Kongo(1929)
- The Fatal Warning(1929)
- Vultures of the Sea(1928)
- The Vanishing West(1928)
- Heroes of the Wild(1927)
- Isle of Sunken Gold(1927)
- The Golden Stallion(1927)
Additionally,
- The Silent Flyer(1926) was created by Nat Levine but was not in the strict sense of the word a Mascot production.
See also
[edit]- List of film serials by studioincludes a list of serials produced by Mascot.
Further reading
[edit]- The Vanishing Legion: A History of Mascot Pictures 1927–1935;Tuska, Jon; 1999 (McFarland Classics);ISBN978-0-7864-0749-1
External links
[edit]- American companies established in 1927
- American companies disestablished in 1935
- Entertainment companies established in 1927
- Mass media companies established in 1927
- Mass media companies disestablished in 1935
- 1935 mergers and acquisitions
- Defunct American film studios
- Mascot Pictures films
- Film distributors of the United States
- Film production companies of the United States
- Entertainment companies based in California
- Companies based in Los Angeles
- 1927 establishments in California
- 1935 disestablishments in California
- Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles
- Republic Pictures films