Jon Hall made 52 episodes of this a very popular TV series.
Even had a Ramar of the Jungle comic in those days.
With the coming of television, the smaller Hollywood studios, which had specialised in low-budget B movies and serials, were pushed out of Cinemas, but found a new market ideally suited for the disciplines of their ‘assembly-line’ productions (short shooting schedules for each episode, reliance on standing sets and stock footage, simple action-oriented plots) in the new media, and many series appeared. “Ramar of the Jungle” was one example, and while it didn’t enjoy the success of “The Adventures of Superman” or “The Lone Ranger”, it was still a fast-paced, exotic-looking adventure show which captivated younger viewers.
Jon Hall, best-known for his RKO ‘Arabian Nights’ swashbucklers during WWII, starred, as Dr. Tom Reynolds, a man dedicated to healing (‘Ramar’ was a native term for ‘Medicine Man’), who seemed to spend most of his life working out of his tent in the middle of the jungle. His partner, Prof. Howard Ogden (played by happy-go-lucky Ray Montgomery, another film veteran), had a habit of getting the pair into hot water, but also had the scientific skills to get them out trouble. There were evil hunters and thieves who would come to the jungle to plunder, Reynolds would always arrive in the nick of time to defend the African natives, and save the day.
It wasn’t a particularly intellectual show, but it was fun, and Hall and Montgomery had an easy-going chemistry together (and they looked very cool, dressed in khakis!)
The early days of Television.
Place your comment