Z …is for Zircon       Over fifteen episodes, The Spider relentlessly pursues Manning and Helen across several continents, placing them in a variety of compromising situations. In the opening chapters, Manning is left for dead on the spinning hub of one of the monstrous wheels of the potash pump and nearly suffocated by a poison cloud released in his laboratory. Revived, he journeys to the desert to uncover new deposits of potash; but he and Helen are captured by The Spider and left to die, first in a raging sandstorm and then in an ancient tomb. Afterward, they…

Y …is for The Yellow Menace   The Yellow Menace (1916), produced by William Steiner and directed by Aubrey N. Kennedy, was a sixteen-part “preparedness” serial explicitly designed to make Americans feel the urgency of military readiness. Based on a story by British novelist Louis Tracy, with a scenario written by Kennedy, it focused on Ali Singh, “The Higher One” (played by veteran stage actor Edwin Stevens), a fanatical Mongolian scientist and brutal race zealot who is intent on destroying the United States, and on the efforts of an international banker who supports a bill to exclude all non-whites from…

X …is for The X-Rays   The X-Rays (1897), sometimes called The X-Ray Fiend, was not a serial. It was, however, one of many early short “trick” or “illusion” films that influenced George Méliès and other pioneering filmmakers, including the early serial producers who incorporated similar special effects in their pictures. Although it ran a mere forty-four seconds long, The X-Rays told a curious story of two Victorian-era lovers (played by Tom Green and Laura Bayley, the wife of the film’s British director George Albert Smith), who are courting on a park bench. A mysterious man appears, holding in his…

W …is for What Happened to Mary   The film serial form can be traced back to the early twelve-part Edison Company production What Happened to Mary, whose first installment was released on July 26, 1912. Though more accurately considered a series rather than a true serial, Mary employed a narrative line that was composed of a distinct beginning, middle, and end; and its dozen one-reel episodes, like those of early serials, were filled with considerable physical action and suspense. But those episodes were autonomous and lacked the sequential continuity that came to define the serial genre. Edison’s production had…

V …is for The Voice on the Wire   Full of suspense and violence, The Voice on the Wire (1917) was the rare serial whose story line became even more interesting as it progressed. Detective John Shirley has been trying, unsuccessfully, to end a crime wave of inexplicable murders that always seem to follow warnings imparted by a mysterious voice over the telephone. Meanwhile, the “Black Seven,” a psychical-research group in Paris, have been holding secret meetings to advance their curious theories of life and death. In an attempt to prove their theory of “The Living Death,” one of the…

U …is for Under the Crescent   Released in 1915, Under the Crescent—written by Nell Shipman, directed by Burton L. King, and produced by Carl Laemmle—depicted the sensational adventures of an American actress in Egypt. As its promotional materials and ads claimed, the six-part dramatic serial was based on the life of popular stage performer Ola Humphrey, who also starred in the serial. The plot included considerable, if sometimes convoluted, foreign intrigue. An actress who is performing at an opera house in Cairo becomes the object of the infatuation of two men: Egyptian Prince Ibrahim Tousson and American Stanley Clyde.…

T …is for Tarzan the Mighty     But after Bonono fractured his leg and incurred other injuries, Merrill replaced him. That re-casting was, in some ways, fortuitous: an expert gymnast, Merrill was skilled in rope climbing, parallel bars, and other athletic feats, so the role proved a natural one for him. In fact, it was he who first brought Tarzan’s now-legendary vine-swinging to the screen—a stunt that became a staple of subsequent Tarzan films.     Tarzan the Mighty retold the familiar story but made some changes to the earlier adaptation. In the serial, Tarzan, whose parents had died…

S …is for The Shielding Shadow   Many of the conventions that have become commonplace in modern films and television programs hark back to early serials; and the “cloak” or “mantle” of invisibility is no exception. It is, in fact, the recurring motif in The Shielding Shadow (1916), a fifteen-part serial produced by Astra and distributed by the Pathé Exchange. An American/French collaboration, it was directed by cinema pioneer, the French-American film director, producer, screenwriter, and former stage actor Louis J. Gasnier, and American actor and director Donald MacKenzie. Gasnier and MacKenzie had first worked together in 1914 on The…

R …is for Ruth of the Rockies   A fifteen-part Western serial, Ruth of the Rockies (1920) was produced by and starred Ruth Roland, one of the original early serial actresses, considered by many to be the strongest successor to “serial queen” Pearl White. Directed by George Marshall, written by Frances Guihan, based on the novel Broadway Bab by Johnston McCulley, with an uncredited scenario by expert scenarist Gilson Willets, Ruth of the Rockies was designed largely to showcase the daring and athleticism of Roland, a true audience favorite.         The serial incorporated many familiar devices and…

Q …is for Queen of the Northwoods   The ten-chapter silent serial Queen of the Northwoods (1929), directed by Spencer Gordon Bennet and Thomas L. Storey, was based on a story by George Arthur Gray. A mysterious masked villain known as the “Wolf Devil” seems intent on terrorizing the community and driving settlers out of the Canadian Northwest territory. Opposing him is Inspector Steele, a Mountie with the Royal Canadian Police, who has been called in to investigate a series of fur thefts and unsolved murders that have occurred in and around the headquarters of the Great Northern Trading Company.…

P …is for The Perils of Pauline   The Perils of Pauline, a twenty-part serial developed by publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst, produced by Pathé, and released on March 23, 1914, is likely the best-known serial picture in silent cinema history. Directed by Louis J. Gasnier and Donald MacKenzie, it was based on a screenplay by veteran screenwriters Basil Dickey and Charles W. Goddard (who also wrote the novel). The plot was both basic and, at times, outlandish. Pauline, a beautiful, wealthy young heiress, is in love with handsome Harry Marvin, the son of her adopted father and guardian, the…

O …is for The Oregon Trail   Universal, which had earned acclaim for its historical serials, released three in the year 1923 alone. Around the World in 18 Days, based on Jules Verne’s novel, was of special interest because it updated the story by introducing the character of Phineas Fogg III (grandson of Verne’s original world-traveler Phineas) and incorporating the latest modern inventions, including planes, express trains, speed boats, and submarines. In the Days of Daniel Boone reimagined Boone fighting both Tories and Indians as he tried to establish a colony on the frontier prior to the Revolutionary War; and…

N …is for Neal of the Navy         Survival Status: Presumed lost. Directors: William Bertram, W. M. Harvey Release Date: September 2, 1915 Release Company: Balboa Amusement Producing Company, distributed by Pathé Exchange, Incorporated Cast: William Courtleigh Jr. (Neal Hardin), Lillian Lorraine (Annette Illington), William Conklin (Thomas Illington), Ed Brady (Hernandez), Henry Stanley (Ponto), Richard Johnson (Joe Welcher), Helen Lackaye (Mrs. Hardin), Bruce Smith (Captain John Hardin), Charles Dudley. Episodes: (two reels each) 1. The Survivors. 2. The Yellow Packet. 3. The Failure. 4. The Tattered Parchment. 5. A Message from the Past. 6. The Cavern of…

M …is for The Mysteries of Myra While Carrington supplied most of the supernatural story lines, he derived many of his ideas from noted occultist, ceremonial magician, and novelist Aleister Crowley, who at one point visited the Wharton set during the filming, likely at Carrington’s invitation. The serial’s Black Order that menaces the heroine and hopes to precipitate her death was clearly modeled on the “Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn,” a so-called mystical organization of which Crowley was a member. Similarly, the secret “thumbs up” sign used throughout the serial derived from the organization’s rituals. The eponymous heroine Myra…

L …is for Lucille Love, the Girl of Mystery   Overhearing a phone call between Hugo and the butler, Lucille learns of their devious plot. Knowing that Hugo will soon set sail for the United States, she determines to intervene and reclaim the secret papers, thereby exonerating Gibson. Her search takes her, by sea-plane, to the ship on which Hugo is traveling. But although Lucille is able to access the papers, the ship explodes and everyone is thrown overboard. So begins a long and exciting series of chases that take Lucille all over the world—to an island in the South…

K …is for King of the Circus   Ads highlighted the many thrills of the “Gorgeous 18-Ring Serial Sensation,” which included a fight “with a maneater,” a drop from a blimp high in the air (and a safe landing in a speeding motorboat), and an escape from “the clutches of a maddened elephant.” Not much else, however, is known about the film, which is considered lost. It starred the immensely popular performer Eddie Polo, who had earlier appeared in a similar serial, The Adventures of Peg o’ the Ring ([1915], though reportedly Polo’s role was cut after a disagreement with…

J …is for The Jungle Goddess   Stanley in Africa (1922), a picturization of the search for the lost Dr. Livingstone, similarly required some rather heavy embellishments with various fictional details and subplots in order to extend the serial. A Dangerous Adventure, released that same year, was plagued by animal attacks and other production problems but nonetheless brought moviegoers into a jungle storm, to a volcano, and into a lion’s pit, a leopard’s cave, a hippo’s swamp, and a tiger’s lair. One of the best jungle serials, however, was William Selig’s The Jungle Goddess (1922), state-righted for distribution by the…