Poverty Row
Encyclopedia
Poverty Row is a slang term used in Hollywood from the late silent period through the mid-fifties to refer to a variety of small and mostly short-lived B movie
studios
. While many of them were on or near today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did not necessarily refer to any specific physical location but was instead a kind of figurative catch-all for low-budget films produced by these lesser tier studios.
(including series like "Billy The Kid" starring Buster Crabbe
from PRC
) or comedy/adventure series such as those featuring the Bowery Boys
(Monogram Pictures) and detectives such as The Shadow
, were generally characterized by low budgets, casts made up of lower ranked stars or unknowns, and overall production values that unintentionally emphasized the haste and economy with which they were made.
.
The most successful and longest-lived of such lower-tier companies maintained permanent lots (and many standing sets that dedicated moviegoers could frequently recognize from movie to movie), had both cast and crew on long-term contract, and had a more varied output than smaller firms.
, which began when Herbert J. Yates combined six established poverty-row companies, Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic, Chesterfield, and Invincible with his Consolidated Film Laboratories. Republic began by releasing serial shorts and Westerns with Gene Autry
in the 1930s before eventually riding the success of eventual superstar John Wayne
and embarking on more ambitious projects, such as 1953's Wayne hit, The Quiet Man
. Monogram Pictures
soon left Republic, and in the following decades produced everything from college/teen musicals starring popular swing bands to versions of classics like Oliver Twist
and the final films of Kay Francis
. In the early 1920's Harry Cohn's CBC productions (later to become Columbia Pictures) was considered a Poverty Row studio.
, Sam Katzman
's Victory, Mascot
and Chesterfield often packaged and released films from independent producers, British "quota quickie
" films, or borderline exploitation films such as Hitler, Beast of Berlin
to supplement their own limited production capacity. Sometimes the same producers would start a new studio when the old one failed, such as Harry S. Webb
and Bernard B. Ray's Reliable Pictures and Metropolitan Pictures.
Some organisations such as Astor Pictures
and Realart Pictures began by obtaining the rights to rerelease older films from other studios before producing their own films.
(and its restrictive chain-theater distribution network, which left independent movie houses eager for seat-filling product from the Poverty Row studios) following 1948's United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
decision and the advent of television
are among the factors that led to the decline and ultimate disappearance of "Poverty Row" as a Hollywood phenomenon. While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity , they were increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on a studio's ability to package and release their work.
B movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
studios
Movie studio
A movie studio is a term used to describe a major entertainment company or production company that has its own privately owned studio facility or facilities that are used to film movies...
. While many of them were on or near today's Gower Street in Hollywood, the term did not necessarily refer to any specific physical location but was instead a kind of figurative catch-all for low-budget films produced by these lesser tier studios.
Characteristic films
The films of Poverty Row, many of them WesternsWestern (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
(including series like "Billy The Kid" starring Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...
from PRC
Producers Releasing Corporation
Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the...
) or comedy/adventure series such as those featuring the Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys
The Bowery Boys were fictional New York City characters who were the subject of feature films released by Monogram Pictures from 1946 through 1958....
(Monogram Pictures) and detectives such as The Shadow
The Shadow
The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...
, were generally characterized by low budgets, casts made up of lower ranked stars or unknowns, and overall production values that unintentionally emphasized the haste and economy with which they were made.
Studios
While some Poverty Row studios came and quickly went after a few releases, others operated on more or less the same terms as— if vastly different scales from — major film studios such as MGM, Warner Brothers, and Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
.
The most successful and longest-lived of such lower-tier companies maintained permanent lots (and many standing sets that dedicated moviegoers could frequently recognize from movie to movie), had both cast and crew on long-term contract, and had a more varied output than smaller firms.
Leading studios
Leading studios on Poverty Row included Republic PicturesRepublic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
, which began when Herbert J. Yates combined six established poverty-row companies, Monogram, Mascot, Liberty, Majestic, Chesterfield, and Invincible with his Consolidated Film Laboratories. Republic began by releasing serial shorts and Westerns with Gene Autry
Gene Autry
Orvon Grover Autry , better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on television for more than three decades beginning in the 1930s...
in the 1930s before eventually riding the success of eventual superstar John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
and embarking on more ambitious projects, such as 1953's Wayne hit, The Quiet Man
The Quiet Man
The Quiet Man is a 1952 American Technicolor romantic comedy-drama film. It was directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne, Maureen O'Hara, Victor McLaglen and Barry Fitzgerald. It was based on a 1933 Saturday Evening Post short story by Maurice Walsh...
. Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
soon left Republic, and in the following decades produced everything from college/teen musicals starring popular swing bands to versions of classics like Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist
Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to...
and the final films of Kay Francis
Kay Francis
Kay Francis was an American stage and film actress. After a brief period on Broadway in the late 1920s, she moved to film and achieved her greatest success between 1930 and 1936, when she was the number one female star at the Warner Brothers studio, and the highest paid American film actress...
. In the early 1920's Harry Cohn's CBC productions (later to become Columbia Pictures) was considered a Poverty Row studio.
Lower-tier studios
The smallest studios, including Tiffany PicturesTiffany Pictures
Tiffany Pictures was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921 until 1932.-History:...
, Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman was an American film producer and director. Born into a poor Jewish family, Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry...
's Victory, Mascot
Mascot Pictures Corporation
Mascot Pictures Corporation was a minor film company of the 1920s and 1930s best known for producing film serials and B-westerns. Mascot's serial The King of the Kongo was the first serial to include sound, beating Universal Studios by several months.Mascot was formed in 1927 by film producer Nat...
and Chesterfield often packaged and released films from independent producers, British "quota quickie
Cinematograph Films Act 1927
The Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 was an act of the United Kingdom Parliament designed to stimulate the declining British film industry.-Description:...
" films, or borderline exploitation films such as Hitler, Beast of Berlin
Hitler, Beast of Berlin
Hitler, Beast of Berlin was one of the most popular "hiss and boo" films of the World War II era, based on the novel Goose Step by Shepard Traube. The film was the first production of Producers Releasing Corporation. It was recut and released as Beasts of Berlin the same year, having been banned...
to supplement their own limited production capacity. Sometimes the same producers would start a new studio when the old one failed, such as Harry S. Webb
Harry S. Webb
Harry S. Webb was an American film producer, director and screenwriter. He produced 100 films between 1924 and 1940. He also directed 55 films between 1924 and 1940....
and Bernard B. Ray's Reliable Pictures and Metropolitan Pictures.
Some organisations such as Astor Pictures
Astor Pictures
Astor Pictures was a motion picture distribution service in operation from 1930 to 1963, founded by Robert M. Savini...
and Realart Pictures began by obtaining the rights to rerelease older films from other studios before producing their own films.
Decline
The breakup of the studio systemStudio system
The studio system was a means of film production and distribution dominant in Hollywood from the early 1920s through the early 1960s. The term studio system refers to the practice of large motion picture studios producing movies primarily on their own filmmaking lots with creative personnel under...
(and its restrictive chain-theater distribution network, which left independent movie houses eager for seat-filling product from the Poverty Row studios) following 1948's United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.
United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 US 131 was a landmark United States Supreme Court anti-trust case that decided the fate of movie studios owning their own theatres and holding exclusivity rights on which theatres would...
decision and the advent of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
are among the factors that led to the decline and ultimate disappearance of "Poverty Row" as a Hollywood phenomenon. While the kinds of films produced by Poverty Row studios only grew in popularity , they were increasingly available both from major production companies and from independent producers who no longer needed to rely on a studio's ability to package and release their work.
Comparison with other studios
| The Big Five majors | The Little Three majors | Poverty Row (top four of many) |
|---|---|---|
| Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer... |
United Artists United Artists United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks.... |
Grand National Grand National Films Inc. Grand National Films, Inc or Grand National Pictures was an American motion picture company in operation from 1936-1939. The company has no relation to the British Grand National Pictures.-History and releases:... |
| Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still... |
Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies... |
Republic Pictures Republic Pictures Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action.... |
| 20th Century Fox 20th Century Fox Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation — also known as 20th Century Fox, or simply 20th or Fox — is one of the six major American film studios... |
Universal Studios Universal Studios Universal Pictures , a subsidiary of NBCUniversal, is one of the six major movie studios.... |
Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to... |
| Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,... |
Producers Releasing Corporation (aka PRC) Producers Releasing Corporation Producers Releasing Corporation was one of the more lower-end Hollywood film studios on Poverty Row from the late '30s to the mid-'40s. PRC, as it was commonly known, made low-budget B-movies for the lower-half of a double bill. A few of its films have gained a respectable reputation over the... |
|
| RKO Pictures RKO Pictures RKO Pictures is an American film production and distribution company. As RKO Radio Pictures Inc., it was one of the Big Five studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chains and Joseph P... |