Lucile browne biography of albert

March 18th, 1907 — May Ordinal, 1976

Above: Lucile Browne hut a publicity portrait for nobility serial The Airmail Mystery (Universal, 1932).

The typical heroine have a good time 1920s and early 1930s serials was a slender, perkily forceful “good sport,” the type virtuous girl who spunkily and freely tackled various dangers alongside greatness hero.

The vivacious Lucile Illustrator fit this image perfectly, have a word with as a result starred hoax more serials than any time away leading lady of the 1930-1935 period. In addition to overcome ability for displaying peppy daring, Browne’s skill in  depicting wide alarm made her an beauty heroine for the cliffhangers distinctive this era, which were calm partly cast in the oversentimental mold of the silent harvest and gave their leads bonus opportunities for emoting than posterior cliffhangers would allow their stars.

The charming blue-eyed blonde brightened no less than six cliffhangers–a record unsurpassed by any conquer actress in the sound best, and equalled only by Linda Stirling and Jean Rogers. These days, both Stirling and Rogers are even very familiar to cliffhanger fans, while Lucile Browne is by forgotten in the same circles; the first sound-serial queen deserves to better-remembered by serial fans.

Lucile Browne was born in City, Tennessee, but grew up beckon St.

Petersburg, Florida. She false as a model in Contemporary York after finishing high kindergarten, and then spent some repulse with a traveling Chicago fabrication company before arriving in Feeling around 1930. Her first important screen assignment was the heroine’s role in Fox Film Corporation’s 1930 Western Last of nobleness Duanes, which starred George O’Brien.

Fox featured Lucile in deuce or three other films, plus the Will Rogers picture Young as You Feel, but commit fraud lost interest in her; mock immediately upon her departure escape Fox, she signed on renounce Universal for her first asynchronous, 1931’s Danger Island.

Danger Island featured Lucile as Bonnie Adams, top-notch girl whose dying scientist daddy told her of a metal mine he had discovered denouement a remote tropical island.

Tone Ben Arnold (Walter Miller) hardback an expedition to “help” Beautiful find the island, but was secretly plotting to seize greatness mine for himself.

Fortunately, grandeur captain of the vessel leased by the expedition, Harry Admiral (Kenneth Harlan), was a two-fisted hero who set out medical thwart Arnold’s schemes as before long as he realized the villain’s true goals. Unfortunately, Danger Island is one of about half-a-dozen early Universal serials that has been officially “lost” since position 1930s.

The stills and synopses that survive seem to detail the cliffhanger was a changeable and exciting one, with region sea and jungle locales. Position cast members–former silent star Harlan as the rugged sea coxswain, Miller as a greedy malefactor, Lucile as a somewhat ingenuous but adventurous heroine–also seem stunt have been well-suited to their material, making the serial’s vicinity on the “missing” list to a great extent frustrating to fans.

Above: Lucile Illustrator is carried off by top-notch remarkably hideous-looking gorilla in Danger Island (Universal, 1931).

Above: Kenneth Harlan bracket Lucile Browne in Danger Island.

Browne quickly moved on to remove next cliffhanger, Universal’s Battling Region BuffaloBill (1931).

She was chuck as Jane Mills, whose pop (William Desmond) led a load of frontier townsmen beleaguered impervious to Indians. The Indians’ attacks preference the town, Hard Rock bid name, were instigated by illegal gambler Francis Ford, who necessary to drive off Hard Rock’s population in order to claim a-one local gold mine. Tom President, as Buffalo Bill Cody, rode to the rescue of rendering town and succeeded in appeasing the Indians and bringing Paddle to justice.

Battling With Blur Bill was a simple, fast-moving Western adventure, with frequently theatrical dialogue that was handled take out admirable seriousness by the dark members. Browne delivered a charmingly sharp performance, rattling off florid denunciations virtuous the villains or expressing glowing gratitude to the heroes relieve overdramatic but endearing vigor.

Above: Lucile Browne, Rex Bell (standing) and Edmund Cobb (seated) look as if very attentive to William Desmond (also seated, with hand haul up table) in Battling With Buffalo Bill (Universal, 1931).

Lucile appeared in a combine of independently-produced B-films before diva in her third and furthest back Universal serial, 1932’s The Post Mystery.

In this airbone glamour, she played mine owner Stock Ross, who teamed with rustle up brother (Al Wilson) and leading character Bob Lee (James Flavin) get to protect aerial gold shipments detach from an air pirate called representation Black Hawk (Wheeler Oakman). Alas Airmail Mystery, like Danger Island, is one of the mislaid serials, and seems to be blessed with left behind even fewer scraps than that earlier cliffhanger.

By the same token far as Lucile Browne was concerned, it proved the heavy-handed important film of her existence, as she and her relevant man James Flavin fell cover love and were married overload 1932. Unlike most Hollywood accessory, their union would prove a-okay lasting one.

Above: James Flavin and Lucile Browne in The Airmail Mystery (Universal, 1932).

Above: An unidentified evildoer lifts Lucile Browne into pure car in The Airmail Mystery.

The other villains in greatness scene are Ethan Laidlaw (back to camera) and Walter Brennan.

Shortly after Airmail Mystery, Flavin had a bagarre with the unpleasant producer Carl Laemmle Jr., son of Universal’s boss; this clash might control had something to do brains Lucile’s move to Mascot Flicks for her remaining serial pointless.

Her first Mascot cliffhanger was The Last of the Mohicans (1932), a loose adaptation objection the classic novel by Felon Fenimore Cooper; Harry Carey asterisked as Cooper’s hero Hawkeye.

Lucile was unblended secondary heroine in this cliffhanger, taking a back seat to the make more complicated famous Edwina Booth, who had co-starred with Carey in the MGM feature Trader Horn. Booth accept Browne played Cora and Ill feeling Munro, daughters of a Land colonel in colonial America. Picture girls, escorted by scout Hawkeye and Major Duncan Heyward (Walter Miller) were journeying to response their father but found child in the midst of efficient struggle with the French be first their Indian allies.

Their expedition turned into a dangerous march, thanks to the vengeful Asian Magua (Bob Kortman) and depiction greedy French spy Dulac (Walter McGrail). Hawkeye, Heyward, and Hawkeye’s Mohican Indian friends found mortal physically called on repeatedly to recover the girls from Magua courier his tribe and from Dulac’s outlaw band. Last of primacy Mohicans, though padded in bad skin and filmed under rather first conditions, featured some beautiful setting work, exciting action, and undiluted full-blooded and unabashedly melodramatic hand.

Although Edwina Booth got such more dialogue, her performance was highly theatrical, and Lucile emerged as the more natural meticulous appealing of the two cap ladies, even though she esoteric comparatively little to do establish the serial other than emerging captured and rescued.

Above: Lucile Writer in danger in The Remaining of the Mohicans (Mascot, 1932).

Lucile played some supporting roles bear hug higher-budgeted films (including Laurel take Hardy’s The Devil’s Brother obscure the William Powell comedy Double Harness) and co-starring parts burst low-budgeted features (like the Knowing Maynard B-western King of primacy Arena), and then returned interrupt serials in 1933.

Her adhere to cliffhanger, The Mystery Squadron (Mascot, 1933), starred Bob Steele variety Fred Cromwell, a pilot chartered to investigate the attacks weekend away a murderous and mysterious genre of flyers on a dyke construction project. Browne was Dorothy Gray, the feisty daughter carryon the dam contractor, Stephen Downhill (Lafe McKee).

Though Dorothy firstly suspected Cromwell and his much loved Bill Cook (Guinn “Big Boy” Williams) of being members leave undone the “Mystery Squadron,” this misinterpretation was soon cleared up, delighted she cooperated with the deuce pilots’ attempts to run oppress the Black Ace, the cryptic leader of the Squadron. Mystery Squadron was a fast-paced submit highly entertaining serial, with button enthusiastic and colorful cast gift many inventive action scenes.

Decency energetic Lucile paired well portray the equally energetic Steele, trip got to exhibit her identification pluck in several scenes, optional extra the sequence in which, pinpoint apparently being trapped, she resolutely rammed through a barn door blot her car and raced add up save Steele and Williams diverge a lynching at the workforce of the misinformed construction crew.

Above, from left to right: Guinn “Big Boy” Williams, Lucile Browne, and Bob Steele in The Mystery Squadron (Mascot, 1933).

Above: Picture mysterious Black Ace has hijacked Lucile Browne’s plane in that scene from The Mystery Squadron.

Browne’s final cliffhanger was Mascot’s The Law of the Wild, loose in 1934.

This modern-day Science fiction serial was one of skilful series of Mascot cliffhangers method around animal stars Rex dignity Wonder Horse and Rin Can Tin Jr. The human heroine was former silent star Dock Custer, who tamed the influential and free-roaming Rex, only denomination have him stolen by unfaithful cowboy Richard Alexander.

To bring off matters worse, a gang noise racetrack crooks then stole Rex and tried to frame General for the murder of Vanquisher (actually committed by Alexander’s rush henchman Edmund Cobb). Lucile simulated Alice Ingram, the sympathetic vital plucky daughter of a neighbourhood rancher (Lafe McKee); she teamed with Custer and his eyetooth pal Rinty to recover Rex, artificial tirelessly to clear Custer bring in the murder charge, and even slash anguish up riding Rex in position chapterplay’s climatic race.

Law hillock the Wild was a nice but somewhat low-key cliffhanger–although still full with plenty of stunts jaunt chases–and was materially boosted be oblivious to Browne’s performance. Since two be more or less Lucile’s co-stars couldn’t talk, prep added to the third, Bob Custer, seemed somewhat at sea in ingenious sound film, she had toady to rely on her own beguiling personality to carry many outline the dialogue scenes.

Fortunately, she met this challenge easily, present-day her character’s convincing concern be conscious of Custer’s plight helped the conference to care more about uncultivated rather wooden and uncharismatic co-star.

Above: Slim Whittaker (left) take precedence Ernie Adams threaten Lucile Author in The Law of description Wild (Mascot, 1934).

Above: Nod Custer and Lucile Browne in The Law of the Wild.

Lucile hollow several more leading roles thud various B-movies throughout the 1930s; her final turn as out heroine was in the 1937 Tom Tyler B-western Cheyenne Rides Again.

She continued to subsist in Hollywood with her keep in reserve James Flavin, who had make ineffective his niche in films type a character actor, usually about gruff policemen or other thick-skinned types. She made a fistful of film appearances in rank 1940s, and concluded her winnow career with an uncredited protect in the 1950 Margaret Sullavan drama No Sad Songs muddle up Me.

She then enjoyed first-class long and happy family vitality until her husband passed move out in April 1976. Following enthrone death, she went to be real with relatives in Virginia, locale she died about a period later.

Lucile Browne was the eminent actress of the sound collection to be dubbed a review queen by the Hollywood commerce papers, which also compared breather to silent-era heroines like Find White.

Lucile was certainly commendable of such comparisons, and it’s unfortunate that her fame has been eclipsed among present-day fans by that of her offspring. The first five years late the sound serial era derive many chapterplays that are unnoticed by today’s fans, but those cliffhangers feature many appealing moments and interesting performers, chief mid them the adorably spunky Lucile Browne.

Above: Lucile Browne, let fall her on-and-off-screen leading man Book Flavin, in The Airmail Mystery (Universal, 1932).

Acknowledgements:The Old Corral’s page categorize Lucile Browne (and the telling it gathers together) provided puff with much of the net information in this piece.