Ernie Adams and Stanley Price

The film credits of Ernie Adams begin around 1918. Adams was small in stature, and during the sound era, he became typecast as a bad guy, specializing in "stool pidgeon", "squealer" and "weasel" roles in gangster and cowboy films. When I saw Adams on the screen or TV, I just knew he was a shifty no-good that you couldn't trust.

Occasionally he would step out of character and portray a nice guy, or even have a meaty role. Two examples are his portrayal of Rusty Denton in THE PHANTOM serial which starred Tom Tyler, and as baseball manager Miller Huggins in THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES, with Gary Cooper as baseball legend Lou Gehrig.

Adams was one of the stable of players at Nat Levine's Mascot serial factory, and appeared in THE MIRACLE RIDER (1935) with Tom Mix, THE HURRICANE EXPRESS (1932) and SHADOW OF THE EAGLE (1932), both with John Wayne, THE GALLOPING GHOST (1931) with Red Grange, more. He also appeared in many of the mid 1930s westerns starring Bob Steele and Johnny Mack Brown which were produced by A. W. Hackel. His film credits at Republic Pictures totals about 40 features and serials over a time span from 1936-1947.

Les Adams has Ernie Adams with about 385 sound film credits, and included in that quantity are 125 westerns and 34 serials.

You may want to visit the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral. Then go to the California Death Records database and you will find a record for Ernest Adams, born 6/18/1885 in California, Mother's maiden name of Girard, and he passed away on 11/26/1947. There is no matching record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).

Dale Crawford and Jim Sorensen forwarded a copy of Adams' death certificate which contained some further info. He was living at 1830 N. Cherokee in Los Angeles, and his wife was Berdonna Adams and she is listed as 58 years old. He passed away at the West Olympic Sanitarium in Los Angeles on November 26, 1947 where he'd been hospitalized for about a week with heart problems. Adams was born in San Franciso, was a lifelong California resident, and his parents were Leon D. Adams (born San Francisco) and Laurence G. Girard (born Paris, France).

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Ernie Adams: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0010958/

(From Old Corral image collection)

Above is a blue duotone 1950 re-release title card for THE GUN RANGER (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) starring Bob Steele. Pretty Eleanor Stewart is the heroine, and on the right is Ernie Adams.

(From Old Corral image collection)

Above, from L-to-R are Ted Adams, Ernie Adams, and Bob Steele in ARIZONA GUNFIGHTER (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937).

(Image courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from L-to-R are Earl Dwire (face hidden), Hal Price (with beard), Lois Wilde, Jack Randall, Chick Hannon and Ernie Adams in a crop from a lobby card from DANGER VALLEY (Monogram, 1937). This was Randall's third starring western, and the last that was produced and directed by Bob Steele's father, Robert North Bradbury. Hal Price was Jack's sidekick in this one.

(From Old Corral image collection)

Above, from L-to-R are Ernie Adams, Forrest Taylor, Universal Pictures' western star Bob Baker, and Reed Howes. From THE PHANTOM STAGE (1939), Baker's twelfth western film and his last starring role.

Stanley Price was a familiar figure, wearing either cowboy outfits or suits, in B grade films of the 1930s through the early 1950s.

Les Adams has Price identified in about 200 sound era films. Les added some further statistics and comments:

Price was another of the supporting and bit players who always seemed to break down and turn into a gutless weasel and outright coward when confronted by the hero. And I always felt that his voice was too monotone (boring). In many films, he was simply a doctor, barkeep, native, etc. One of his meatiest roles was as 'The Phantom Ruler' in THE INVISIBLE MONSTER (Republic, 1950) cliffhanger.

His last screen work was in the early 1950s at Lippert in the Jimmy Ellison/Russell Hayden sagebrushers, at Monogram/Allied Artists in films starring Whip Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown and Bill Elliott, and at Columbia in a few of the Three Stooges shorts.

Some biographies on Price mention that he authored some (or a bunch of) screenplays. And by the late 1940s, he turns up as a frequent dialogue director/supervisor/coach.

You may want to visit the In Search Of ... page on the Old Corral. Then go to the California Death Records database and you will find a record for Stanley L. Price, born 12/31/1892 in Kansas, Mother's maiden name of Pratt, and he passed away on 7/13/1955. There is no matching record in the Social Security Death Index (SSDI).

Jim Sorensen and Dale Crawford advised that Price is interred in an unmarked grave at Rosedale Cemetery, Los Angeles, California (Section M, Lot 57, Grave 3 NE).

(From Old Corral image collection)

Above, Tom Mix has Stanley Price corralled in a copy of a lobby card from THE MIRACLE RIDER (Mascot, 1935) chapterplay. Did ya catch the boo-boo in this lobby card? Take a gander at the left side holster on Mix and Price. They did an image reversal/flip when they produced this lobby card.

(Image courtesy of Minard Coons)

Above from L-to-R are House Peters, Jr., I. Stanford Jolley, Stanley Price, Whip Wilson and Tommy Farrell in a scene from Whip's last starring film, WYOMING ROUNDUP (Monogram, 1952)

Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on Stanley Price: http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0697156/

Price was a fairly prolific legit stage performer in New York and California in the 1920s and early 1930s. However, the Internet Broadway Database only shows him working in the brief 1929 run of the comedy "Adam's Apple": http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=56590