Next came what must be Lane's best-known and most popular series, a total of thirty-eight Allan 'Rocky' Lane features, all but six of which co-starred Eddy Waller as old-timer 'Nugget Clark'. Although Lane always played 'Rocky' and Clark always played 'Nugget,' they were never the same characters from one picture to the next; instead, it seemed, they were always meeting for the first time in each movie. (Monte Hale and Paul Hurst were doing much the same thing in their Republic series at the time, but their names at least changed from story to story.) Only Mildred Coles, Claudia Barrett and Mary Ellen Kay worked in three Lane pictures, and Phyllis Coates, Gail Davis and Martha Hyer in two each; otherwise, the women co-stars would appear once and never be seen again.
Rocky wore the traditional white hat of the hero, but nothing else about his outfit was traditional. He did pack two guns, but with plain black handles whereas the mark of a hero was usually a pearl-handled or stag-handled sidearm. He wore a shirt with arrow pockets and very thin stripes, and jeans. In fact, as Harry Lauter's story illustrates, he made sure that he was the only character in the picture wearing jeans (occasionally he would even don a jean jacket). And he rode a black horse, Black Jack, who looked very much like Thunder from the Ryder series. Producer Gordon Kay told Boyd Magers in a Western Clippings interview that Lane owned Black Jack and, contrary to what others had said, always treated his horses well (if not always the humans).
This was near the end of the B-western movies. Television was making inroads, and movie budgets were dropping. Casts were not as big, sets became minimal, footage of Lane (or rather a stunt double) doing an over-the-rump mount onto Black Jack was one of many bits used repeatedly along with another where Lane ropes someone off a horse, and the most spectacular scenes came from the Republic film library out of earlier movies. Even casts were much the same from one picture to another. With all this, how have the 'Rocky' Lanes retained their popularity even today? The answer lies in the writing.
What the series lacked in budgets, it more than made up for with its scripts. Writers like Richard Wormser and Bob Williams created memorable characters in support of Lane (truth be told, many were more interesting than Lane's character, who was usually a public or undercover lawman or investigator), especially some of the colorful villains essayed by Barcroft. Frequently the taut little scenario for each story would be well set up before Rocky even made his appearance. Some of the plots, it's true, were recycled as the same footage was repeated (like Bob Steele escaping from a stagecoach of prisoners in one movie and Myron Healey doing the same thing in another). In any case, we always knew that Rocky and Nugget would give us some fine entertainment for about an hour each time we went to one of their pictures. The series ran from 1947 into 1953.
EL PASO STAMPEDE (1953) was Lane's last starring western and the finale takes place in the Republic cave set. Rocky then waves goodbye and rides Black Jack out of town for the last time. With Lane's exit, Republic had one western star remaining on the payroll. That was Rex Allen, and his series would end the following year.
 (From Old Corral image collection) Above - Rocky vs. gang boss Roy Barcroft in a lobby card from SHERIFF OF WICHITA (Republic, 1949).  (From Old Corral image collection) Above left to right are Allan Lane, I. Stanford Jolley and Eddy Waller (1889-1977) in a lobby card from LEADVILLE GUNSLINGER (Republic, 1952). Waller started his filmwork in the mid 1930s and wound up being typecast in B western supporting roles and bit parts. He is best remembered as 'Nugget Clark', the sidekick in 32 of the 38 Rocky Lane series at Republic. In the early 1950s, he (briefly) exited the Rocky Lane series to portray 'Rusty Lee', the saddle pal to Douglas Kennedy in the short-lived TV series STEVE DONOVAN, WESTERN RANGER (which was re-named a few years later to STEVE DONOVAN, WESTERN MARSHAL).  (From Old Corral image collection) Above - Lane on trusty steed Black Jack along with Ross Elliott in a lobby card from DESERT OF LOST MEN (Republic, 1951). |
Rocky Lane also appeared briefly in two Republic color films, OUT CALIFORNIA WAY (1946) with Monte Hale as an actor trying to get young Bobby Blake's horse, Partner, into movies (in the comic books, Hale's horse would be known as Partner); and TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD (1950), in which Roy Rogers is again aided by his fellow movie stars in getting Jack Holt's Christmas trees to market.
 (From Old Corral image collection) The 'guest stars' in the Roy Rogers' TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD (Republic, 1950) included, from L-to-R: Allan "Rocky" Lane, Monte Hale, Kermit Maynard, Tom Keene, Tom Tyler, Penny Edwards, youngster Carol Nugent, Roy Rogers, Gordon Jones, and on the white hoss is Ray "Crash" Corrigan (with his hand on Tyler's shoulder).  (From Old Corral image collection) Above is a shot of most of the guest stars/heroes in the Roy Rogers Cinecolor TRAIL OF ROBIN HOOD (Republic, 1950). Kneeling from L-to-R: Tom Keene, Roy Rogers, William Farnum. Back Row from L-to-R: Tom Tyler, Ray 'Crash' Corrigan, Allan 'Rocky' Lane, Monte Hale, George Chesebro, Kermit Maynard. Not pictured are Jack Holt and Rex Allen. |
