Back to prior page

To Old Corral Homepage To Old Corral Homepage



(From Old Corral collection)

Above from left to right are Hal Price, Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, Frank Hagney and George Houston as Tom Cameron, the Lone Rider in a lobby card from THE LONE RIDER FIGHTS BACK (PRC, 1941). Notice the height of Houston who towers over the other players - his World War II draft registration lists his height as 6 feet, 2 1/2 inches. 'Fuzzy' spent a long time at PRC, initially with Bob Steele in the Billy the Kid series ... then he was with Buster Crabbe who replaced Steele in the Billy the Kid group ... he continued with Crabbe as the series changed names to 'Billy Carson' series ... and he wound up with Al 'Lash' LaRue.



(Courtesy of Les Adams)

Above from L-to-R are Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, Houston and Dennis Moore. After five adventures, the hero team became a threesome when Moore joined Houston and Fuzzy. See film listing below. Houston's white hoss was named 'Lightning'. He rode a paint horse in his initial Lone Rider entries.



PRC's 17 Lone Rider films
(I've listed both the Houston and Bob Livingston LR adventures below to minimize any confusion.)

11 starring George Houston (as "Tom Cameron"):

THE LONE RIDER RIDES ON (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER CROSSES THE RIO (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER IN GHOST TOWN (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER IN FRONTIER FURY (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER AMBUSHED (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER FIGHTS BACK (1941) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER AND THE BANDIT (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)
THE LONE RIDER IN CHEYENNE (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)
TEXAS JUSTICE (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)
BORDER ROUNDUP (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)
OUTLAWS OF BOULDER PASS (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)


6 starring Bob Livingston (initially as "Tom Cameron", then as "Rocky Cameron"):

OVERLAND STAGECOACH (1942) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John and Dennis Moore) (directed by Sam Newfield)
DEATH RIDES THE PLAINS (1943) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
WILD HORSE RUSTLERS (1943) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
WOLVES OF THE RANGE (1943) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)
LAW OF THE SADDLE (1943) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Melville De Lay)
RAIDERS OF RED GAP (1943) (with Al 'Fuzzy' St. John) (directed by Sam Newfield)








Ben Judell (1891 - 1974) formed Progressive Pictures, Producers Pictures, and PDC (Producers Distributing Corporation) in the 1930s. But his B film empire collapsed in early 1940 due to financial issues. Pathé was among the creditors and the succession plan for Judell's companies resulted in the formation of Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). Judell was not part of that new PRC organization.

Sigmund Neufeld (1896-1979) wound up as the PRC production boss overseeing most everything including their cowboy films. And quite often, those were directed by his brother, Sam Newfield (1899 - 1964) (real name: Samuel Neufeld). Newfield had been involved in films and directing since the silent days, and he had a reputation for doing quickies, cheapies, really low-budget flicks.

In the mid 1930s, Sam began specializing in B-westerns, and his directorial work included oaters starring Bob Steele, Johnny Mack Brown, Fred Scott, Kermit Maynard, Rex Bell, Ken Maynard, Tim McCoy, James Newill, Tex Fletcher, Lee Powell, Herb Jeffries, and others. Brother Sigmund was involved in the production on some of these. And yes! Newfield did direct the Jed Buell Midgets in the 1938 THE TERROR OF TINY TOWN.

It appears that the brothers had a close relationship and enjoyed working together. In 1940, Sigmund and Sam were on PRC's payroll. And Sam quickly became one of the more important and prolific of PRC's "house directors".

Over an approximate seven year period - from 1940 through late 1946 - the brothers were responsible for a Tim McCoy series, the half dozen Frontier Marshal trio westerns (with Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd, Art Davis and Lee Powell), the Lone Rider adventures with George Houston and Bob Livingston, Bob Steele portraying Billy the Kid, and the long running Buster Crabbe Billy the Kid/Billy Carson westerns. There were also some non-westerns.

Want to know more on the life and career of director Sam Newfield, his producer brother Sigmund Neufeld, and Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC)? Read the profile on Sam Newfield on the Old Corral.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on George Houston, Al 'Fuzzy' St. John, as well as "Sig and Sam", PRC's producer and director brothers.  Click below:

     George Houston: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0396829/
     Al 'Fuzzy' St. John: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0820607/
     Sigmund Neufeld: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0626892/
     Sam Newfield (Sam Neufeld): https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0627864/

The Internet Broadway database has a half dozen or so plays listed circa 1928-1934 in which Houston performed: http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=45664

The Los Angeles Civic Light Opera was founded in 1938 and George Houston was in two plays, "New Moon" (1938) and "Cat and the Fiddle" (1939): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_Civic_Light_Opera

The Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library in New York City has Guide to the Actors' Equity Association: Records from 1913-1991. George Houston is mentioned in the following references, but no further details are online:
     Vanities Producing Corporation (Earl Carroll) v. George Houston: contract termination 1929
     Houston, George v. J. J. Shubert and Producing Associates Cyrano de Bergerac: salary claim 1932-1933
     Select Theatres Corporation v. George Houston: breach of contract for leaving production of Cyrano de Bergerac to do a movie 1935



Back to prior page

To Old Corral Homepage To Old Corral Homepage