The Series Western

Before the early 1930s, there are no “A” and “B” features. Westerns have to make their own way in the market on equal terms with other productions. All feature films play alone or may come with one or more short films. The Depression causes a striking fall off at the box office. 

They come up with a novel idea of having double features, two for the price of one. Many small independent film companies (they became known as Poverty Row) begin to make films for the bottom or “B” half of the double bill.

Film producers make many of these “B” Westerns according to a series system. Westerns are not the only series films made they are the most numerous. The series Western becomes a Hollywood assembly line. Producers create each one as a package, with the same star, consistent production values, similar storylines, and reliable running times. 

A familiar audience knows what to expect. Each film has a standard storylines like; there is a fistfight within the first few minutes, a chase soon after and at the end a shoot. A great villain motivates the plots, which the hero can defeat. To the moviemakers, it is important for the audience to recall previous movies. They also reuse certain film footage, like costly of Indian attack or stampede scenes.

Producers plan Series Westerns on an assembly line production. They produce these films in groups of half a dozen or more and they promote them according to an agreement known as block booking. In a block booking, the film company expects the exhibitor to buy not a certain Tom Mix or Gene Autry film, but to take the whole season's production. 

The major studios book the top feature or “A” feature as a percentage of the box office receipts. They book the bottom feature or “B” feature on a flat rate of $25 or $30 ($300 or $360) dollars per play. The studio and theater agree to terms before they show the movie. Small independent studios sell their pictures on the states' rights system. 

Because they are unable to have a costly nationwide distribution network, the independents sell their productions to regional distributors. Often these regional distributors work for several small producers.

“Broncho Billy” Anderson and William S. Hart make a few non-Western movies, with most of their films being Westerns. However, Tom Mix hardly ever risks doing non-Westerns. The few times like Dick Turpin (1925), his fans dislike the film. Their screen character identify the stars and when Gene Autry comes along, there is no difference between the actor and the role. On screen, Autry plays a character whose name is “Gene Autry”.

From the 1930s, it is common to associate an actor with a role and then build a series around him. In 1935, William Boyd begins appearing as Hopalong Cassidy and thereafter he never plays anyone else. Charles Starrett is another example. His Durango Kid series begins in 1945 and goes until 1952. During that time, he makes about a half a dozen or more pictures each year.

The Western is the only Hollywood genre that has its own Top Ten Money Making Stars poll. The first year Buck Jones tops the first list. However, from 1937 to 1942, Gene Autry is the top Western star. Roy Rogers succeeds him in 1943 and is number one until 1954. By that time, Western television series replace the series film Western.

A studio also specializes. Some studios specify their Westerns under a brand name. An example is Universal Studio in the 1920s has its “Blue Streak Westerns”. In the early 1910s, we know Bison merges with the Miller 101 Ranch and becomes overnight a major producer of Westerns. In the 1920s, Universal has its own ranch in the San Fernando Valley in California, which comprises of a cowboy bunkhouses and an Indian village. 

At that time Universal, with stars like Harry Carey, Jack Hoxie, Art Acord and Hoot Gibson, and Fox with Tom Mix and Buck Jones, are the biggest Western studios among the Hollywood major studios. In the 1930s, Universal cuts back and after Tom Mix moves to Fox, their production declines too. On the other hand, Columbia Pictures steps up production. In 1935, Paramount also produces more Western after launching the Hopalong Cassidy series. By contrast, Warner Bros. is never wholehearted about Westerns. 

Their big stars of the 1930s and 1940s, such as James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart or Bette Davis, are never at “home on the range.” In the late 1920’s MGM produces a brief Tim McCoy series and never produce a series Westerns afterwards.

For a time in the 1920s, over half of Universal's films are Westerns. An odd figure because major studios do not normally rely on a single genre. However, the “independent” studios are dependent on the Western. Although the majors are not so heavily committed as the independents, Westerns continued for over forty years to comprise between a fifth and a quarter of all films made in Hollywood (and it will be remembered that the proportion is similar even as far back as 1910 (exact calculations are difficult for the period before 1920). This is an amazingly high amount for one kind of film genre.

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