Sam's main western movie heroes ... and a singular sidekick. | |
Al 'Fuzzy' St. John 73 films from 1937-1946 (most are westerns)
Buster Crabbe 41 films from 1941-1947 (36 oaters, 4 non-westerns, and Columbia's THE SEA HOUND serial in 1947)
Tim McCoy 25 westerns from 1935-1941 |
Bob Steele 17 westerns from 1937-1941
George Houston 12 westerns from 1938-1942 (includes 11 Lone Riders) |
Sam's other western movie heroes ... prior to and at PRC:
Art Davis, Lee Powell, and Bill 'Cowboy Rambler' Boyd did 6 films in PRC's short-lived 'Frontier Marshal' trio series. |
Guys working in 20 films or more for Newfield as villains, lawmen, fathers, ranchers, henchmen, townsmen, etc. The film quantities are mostly westerns, but these guys worked in other features for Newfield, and those are included in their film totals. ❋ = quantity includes stunting and doubling. | |
Wally West 100 films from 1935-1947 ❋
Herman Hack 66 films from 1935-1956
George Morrell 64 films from 1928-1946
Charlie King 63 films from 1926-1950
Frank Ellis 61 films from 1935-1952
Jack Hendricks 61 films from 1935-1952 ❋
Karl Hackett 56 films from 1935-1946
Budd Buster 52 films from 1937-1948
Jack Evans 51 films from 1936-1946
Art Dillard 50 films from 1935-1956 ❋
Tex Palmer 48 films from 1937-1944
Jimmy Aubrey 47 films from 1936-1946
Carl Mathews 46 films from 1935-1956 ❋
Steve Clark 45 films from 1936-1946
'Curley' Dresden 40 films from 1940-1946
Ted Adams 37 films from 1936-1943
Sherry Tansey / James Sheridan 34 films from 1935-1941
Milt/Milburn Morante 33 films from 1935-1946
Bert/Burt Dillard 33 films from 1936-1951 ❋
Kermit Maynard 32 films from 1935-1952 ❋
Kenne Duncan 31 films from 1934-1950 |
Augie Gomez 31 films from 1940-1956
Charles 'Slim' Whitaker 29 films from 1936-1946
Jack Ingram 29 films from 1937-1947
Oscar Gahan 28 films from 1936-1943
George Chesebro 27 films from 1936-1946
John Merton 26 films from 1936-1956
Hal Price 26 films from 1937-1945
Chick Hannan/Hannon 23 films from 1937-1944
Artie Ortego 23 films from 1935-1951
Milt Kibbee 23 films from 1941-1951
John Elliott 22 films from 1935-1944
Reed Howes 21 films from 1938-1944
Ed Cassidy 21 films from 1935-1950
Lew Meehan 21 films from 1936-1941
Hank Bell 21 films from 1936-1945
Horace B. Carpenter 21 films from 1935-1945
Frank La Rue 20 films from 1937-1943
Roy Bucko 20 films from 1936-1952
Forrest Taylor 20 films from 1937-1943
John 'Lefty' / Bob Cason 20 films from 1942-1946 |
Familiar faces that didn't meet the 20 films or more cut: Dick Curtis did 18 films for Sam in the mid to late 1930s before becoming a fixture at Columbia Pictures. Others in the "less than 20" group are Dennis Moore, Dave O'Brien, I. Stanford Jolley, Benny Corbett, Glenn Strange, Edward Peil, Lloyd Ingraham, Henry Hall, Horace Murphy, Sam Flint, Bud Osborne, Fox O'Callahan, Ray Jones, Barney Beasley, Tom Smith, Jack Tornek, Ralph Bucko, Julian Rivero, Frank Hagney, Dan White, Tom London, and Merrill McCormick. |
(From Old Corral collection) | As noted above, one face that turns up in about half of Sam Newfield's westerns is Al 'Fuzzy' St. John (real name: Alfred St. John) (1892 - 1963). Fuzzy began his Newfield films circa 1937 in seven Fred Scott singing cowboy oaters for Spectrum and Newfield was the director on six. With Sam at PRC, Fuzz was the saddle pal in six Bob Steele/Billy the Kid adventures, sixteen Lone Riders with George Houston and Bob Livingston, and thirty six with Buster Crabbe. Add appearances in the Jack Randall GUNSMOKE TRAIL (Monogram, 1938), George Houston in FRONTIER SCOUT (Grand National, 1938), TRIGGER PALS (Grand National, 1939), a few other oaters, and Fuzzy's movie work with Newfield amounts to 70+ B westerns. After the Crabbe series ended, Fuzzy became the trail pard to Lash LaRue, but those weren't for Sam Newfield. |
(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). |
What about all the films Sam made for Republic Pictures ... how come he didn't stay with them? |
Sam Newfield's Republic credits amount to twenty two films during 1935 - 1938. However, those credits are misleading. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Above is the title lobby card from the Bob Steele THE COLORADO KID (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937). This was one of the Newfield directed westerns from producer A. W. Hackel which were released by Republic. That's battlin' Bob with Marion Weldon on the left. On the right, Steele is roughin' up Karl Hackett. (Courtesy of Les Adams) Another of Newfield's films for A. W. Hackel was RIDIN' THE LONE TRAIL (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937). Left to right in this lobby card are Bob Steele, Julian Rivero and Lew Meehan. Rivero and Meehan were henchmen in this. |
Looking for Sam Newfield's best westerns. Here's two dozen good 'uns. | |
Title | Star |
BRANDED A COWARD (A. W. Hackel/Supreme, 1935) | Johnny Mack Brown |
RIDIN' THE LONE TRAIL (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) | Bob Steele |
GAMBLING TERROR (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) | Johnny Mack Brown |
TRAIL OF VENGEANCE (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) | Johnny Mack Brown |
COLORADO KID (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) | Bob Steele |
ARIZONA GUNFIGHTER (A. W. Hackel/Republic, 1937) | Bob Steele |
GUNSMOKE TRAIL (Monogram, 1938) | Jack Randall |
CODE OF THE RANGERS (Monogram, 1938) | Tim McCoy |
PHANTOM RANGER (Monogram, 1938) | Tim McCoy |
DESERT PATROL (A. W. Hackel//Republic, 1938) | Bob Steele |
DURANGO VALLEY RAIDERS (A. W. Hackel//Republic, 1938) | Bob Steele |
FRONTIER CRUSADER (PRC, 1940) | Tim McCoy |
GUN CODE (PRC, 1940) | Tim McCoy |
BILLY THE KID OUTLAWED (PRC, 1940) | Bob Steele |
LAW AND ORDER (PRC, 1942) | Buster Crabbe |
BILLY THE KID TRAPPED (PRC, 1942) | Buster Crabbe |
DEVIL RIDERS (PRC, 1943) | Buster Crabbe |
WILD HORSE PHANTOM (PRC, 1944) | Buster Crabbe |
RUSTLER'S HIDEOUT (PRC, 1944) | Buster Crabbe |
PRAIRIE RUSTLERS (PRC, 1945) | Buster Crabbe |
GANGSTER'S DEN (PRC, 1945) | Buster Crabbe |
STAGECOACH OUTLAWS (PRC, 1945) | Buster Crabbe |
HIS BROTHER'S GHOST (PRC, 1945) | Buster Crabbe |
TERRORS ON HORSEBACK (PRC, 1946) | Buster Crabbe |