BRYANT WASHBURN
April 28th, 1889 -- April 30th, 1963

Above: Bryant Washburn in a 1920s publicity portrait.

For some inexplicable reason, no one seems to remember Bryant Washburn as a serial performer any more. Most cliffhanger fans don't even know his name, authors Alan Barbour, Donald Glut, and Jim Harmon all pass him by without notice in their books, and only William C. Cline, the greatest of the serial scholars, gives him credit--naming him as one of the two greatest character actors of the sound serial era (the other is Herbert Rawlinson). Bryant was certainly among the best of a highly professional group, playing sneaky, cowardly villains or intelligent, resourceful good guys equally well. It's almost impossible to pin him down to a definite cliffhanger "persona", as he varied his portrayal each time around.

In P. G. Wodehouse's hilarious book, THE INDISCRETIONS OF ARCHIE, written in 1920, there is a sequence where a baseball player's ex-fiancee is relating the quarrel that led to the breaking of her engagement. It seems she and the baseball player attended a Bryant Washburn film, and her boyfriend, instead of appreciating the picture, said he didn't think that it was so hot and that Bryant Washburn was "a pill." After that, the girl felt there was nothing left to her to do but refuse to marry a man with such a warped outlook. This passage from Wodehouse's book may serve to indicate the great popularity that Bryant Washburn enjoyed in the teens and twenties. Born in Chicago, Washburn did some acting in local theatre before he signed on with a film studio in 1913. As handsome a matinee idol as you could wish to find, Bryant made the switch to character actor in the late twenties and early thirties, when he put on some excess weight--not much, but enough to disqualify him as a leading man. His main sphere of activities for the rest of his career was in B-westerns, detective films--and serials. His first cliffhanger was THE RETURN OF CHANDU, made in 1934 for Sol Lesser's Principal Pictures. Chandu's real name was Frank Chandler, an American who had learned White Magic in the Orient and used his power to battle the sinister Black Magic cult of Ubasti. Bela Lugosi, in his only heroic role, was oddly but appropriately cast as Chandu, and Bryant Washburn was his friend, Prince Andre, a sophisticated but friendly man-about-town who aided Chandu in keeping the Ubasti cult from sacrificing the lovely Princess Nadji (Maria Alba). Unfortunately, Andre was fatally knifed by a Ubasti cultist about three chapters into the serial, but Chandu avenged his friend and ultimately defeated the evil group. Though he was killed off early on, Bryant definitely added a nice touch to the serial as the dapper, gentlemanly Prince, and worked well with the equally charismatic Lugosi.

Above: Bryant Washburn (far right) and Bela Lugosi talk things over on Washburn's yacht while a servant brings them refreshments in THE RETURN OF CHANDU (Principal, 1934).

Washburn's second serial, TAILSPIN TOMMY (Universal. 1934) was released only a week after CHANDU. Washburn played a film director named Grant, who brought his crew to the Three Points airfield to film a movie. Naturally Tommy (Maurice Murphy) and his pal Skeeter (Noah Beery Jr.) got involved in this project, as did the villainous Tiger Taggart (John Davidson) proprietor of a rival airline. Taggart tried to sabotage the film as part of his plan to bankrupt Three Points, but Tommy managed to stop him. Although Washburn was given high billin in TOMMY, he only appeared in the serial’s last three chapters. The second Tailspin Tommy serial, TAILSPIN TOMMY IN THE GREAT AIR MYSTERY (Universal, 1935) gave Washburn what promised to be a much bigger role, as the uncle of heroine Betty Lou Barnes (Jean Rogers). It was Bryant who got Tommy (this time played by Clark Williams) and Skeeter (Noah Beery Jr. again) involved in the serial's main plotline. Washburn, accompanied by Tommy, Betty, and Skeeter, took a trip to the South American island of Nazil, where he owned a half interest in an oil company. After being attacked by mysterious fighter planes en route, the group reached Nazil and discovered that Manuel Casmetto (Herbert Heywood), evil half-brother of Washburn's partner Alvarado Casmetto (Harry Worth), was behind the air attacks and was out to take over the prosperous oil concern. Tommy and Skeeter, with the help of the mysterious pilot known as the Eagle, overcame cannibals, volcanoes, and Casmetto's airborne henchmen to save Worth and Washburn's company. Washburn’s character was important in jump-starting AIR MYSTERY’S plot, but once the serial got underway he was largely relegated to the background.

Bryant also worked with Noah Beery Jr. in CALL OF THE SAVAGE (Universal, 1935), released in between the two TAILSPIN TOMMY serials. The serial began with Washburn, as Dr. Harry Trevor, making an expedition into Africa to discover a serum that would cure infantile paralysis. Trevor took his wife and young son along with him, but tragedy struck just after he had discovered the formula and hidden it--for safekeeping--on a piece of paper inside wristband he gave to his son. The expedition was attacked by lions, and Trevor's wife was killed, along with the bearers. Trevor survived a lion assault but developed amnesia, while his son wandered off into the jungle and was adopted by a family of apes. Years passed, and the boy grew up to become Jan of the Jungle (Noah Beery Jr.), a Tarzan-type hero. Jan was sought by Trevor's evil former partner, Dr. Bracken (Walter Miller), who was after the formula in the wristband for his own selfish purposes. Beery was ultimately reunited with his father, who had regained his memory and was searching Africa for his son and his formula. Both father and son saved each other's life on separate occasions, and both teamed up to help the valiant Borno (Harry Woods) restore Princess Mona (Dorothy Short) to the throne of the lost kingdom of Mu. CALL OF THE SAVAGE is one of Universal's better-remembered serials, and it gave Bryant Washburn one of the most heroic roles of his sound career as the dedicated servant of humanity, Dr. Trevor.

Above: Bryant Washburn (far right) and Noah Beery Jr. (second from right) are in a bad situation in this scene from CALL OF THE SAVAGE (Universal, 1935). Sharing their predicament are Dorothy Short and Russ Powell.

Above, from left right: Harry Woods, Bryant Washburn, Dorothy Short, and Noah Beery Jr. enter the secret passageway to the Kingdom of Mu in CALL OF THE SAVAGE (Universal, 1935).

Washburn's next cliffhanger role was a complete departure from the parts he had played up to now. As Bruce Redmond in JUNGLE JIM (Universal, 1936), Bryant was not only a heavy, out to murder his own niece for the family fortune, but a cowardly heavy as well, shrinking in fear from the good guys and the rival villains alike, and despised by all. Redmond's niece, Joan (Betty Jane Rhodes) had been shipwrecked in Africa with her parents, and presumed dead, leaving Redmond to inherit the family fortune. However, years later, rumors of a white Lion Goddess ruling the Basumba tribe began to penetrate to civilization, and the Redmond family lawyer (Selmer Jackson), suspecting that the Lion Goddess just might be the long-lost Joan Redmond, organized an expedition to Basumba country. Washburn, meanwhile, organized his own expedition, intending to find the girl and kill her if she proved to be Joan. Washburn also had his henchman LaBatt (Paul Sutton) murder the lawyer and the lawyer's guide Red Halihan to keep them from beating him to the Lion Goddess. However, Halihan's pal Jungle Jim Bradley (Grant Withers) vowed to carry on Red's work, and led an expedition in search of Joan with the help of his sidekick Malay Mike (Raymond Hatton). Once all parties concerned were in the jungle, battling the hostile Basumbas and the criminal mastermind the Cobra (Henry Brandon), Redmond quickly began to go to pieces, cringing in horror at every danger, real or imagined, and being pushed around by his own henchmen, LaBatt and Slade (Al Bridge). Finally getting in a shooting match with Slade, Redmond was wounded and ran off into the forest, only to fall prey to a pride of hungry lions. Recently released on video after having been "lost" for decades, most fans have found JUNGLE JIM to be an excellent serial, with some great performers--including Bryant, who played against type expertly, making Redmond a despicable but almost laughable figure.

Above: Bryant Washburn (far left) confers with Paul Sutton (center) and Al Bridge in JUNGLE JIM (Universal, 1936).

THE BLACK COIN (Stage and Screen, 1936) returned Bryant to the right side of the law as Caswell, a shipping magnate whose business was endangered by assorted factions of criminals struggling with the G-men for a set of mysterious black coins, that would give the key to a great treasure when assembled together. Washburn gave a good performance, but it was hard for him to register amid the huge cast (which also included Ralph Graves, Dave O'Brien, Ruth Mix, and Robert Frazer), all of whom were lurking, peering, slinking around and participating in other mysterious activities. The same thing was true of THE CLUTCHING HAND, another 1936 Stage and Screen release, which had even more cast members and even more intrigue, as detective Jack Mulhall tried to find the missing Dr. Gironda (Robert Frazer) and unmask the evil Clutching Hand. Bryant was Dr. Denton--one of the many supporting characters who were mixing in shady shenanigans for no apparent reason.

Above: Mae Busch points an accusing finger at Bryant Washburn while a young Jon Hall (center) watches in THE CLUTCHING HAND (Stage and Screen, 1936).

After his Stage and Screen cliffhangers, Bryant dropped out of serials for the next couple of years, mainly playing bit roles or uncredited supporting parts in feature films, one of which was John Ford's classic STAGECOACH (look for him as Cavalry Captain Simmons). Republic signed him for a major role KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED in 1940, and returned him to cliffhanger prominence. He played Matt Crandall, a Canadian mine foreman who, unbeknownst to his boss (Stanley Andrews) and to the Mounties, sold out to Nazi agent John Kettler (Robert Strange) and assisted him in smuggling shipments of the valuable mineral, Compound X, out of the country. The spies reckoned without RCMP Sergeant David King (Allan Lane), who eventually unmasked Crandall's treason and discovered his collusion with Kettler. Washburn's Crandall, though capable of fooling the good guys as to his real affiliations, was fully as jumpy as his Redmond, and he did a great job portraying the character's nervousness and abiding fear of paying the penalty for his act of treachery. A Classic with a capital C if ever there was one, KING will always be remembered as one of the very best cliffhangers that the serial era produced.

Above: Bryant Washburn ( far left) watches as Robert Strange ties up Robert Kellard in the final chapter of KING OF THE ROYAL MOUNTED (Republic, 1940).

Bryant followed up KING with another Republic classic, ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL, in 1941. His part in this serial was smaller than his role in KING had been (he was killed off at the beginning of Chapter Three) but it was a good one. As Professor Carlyle, one of an expedition that had discovered the deadly weapon known as the Golden Scorpion, Washburn was targeted for destruction when he and the other scientists split the device's lenses (vital to its operation) among themselves. One of the scientists, calling himself the Scorpion, began killing his colleagues and appropriating their lenses, beginning with Carlyle. Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler) did his best to save Washburn, bursting into the place where he was held and taking on the Scorpion's henchmen Barnett and Cowan (Kenne Duncan and John Bagni), but Marvel was knocked unconscious by an arc of electricity and Bryant was killed in a gun battle with Duncan.

Above: Kenne Duncan (far left) and John Bagni (far right) show Bryant Washburn what will happen to him if he fails to hand over his lens in ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (Republic, 1941).

Bryant's last two serials were made at Columbia Pictures, and both were directed by James W. Horne, the great comedy director turned dubious serial director. THE SPIDER RETURNS (Columbia, 1941), perhaps the most wildly comic of all Horne's serials, featured Washburn in the supporting cast as Westfall, one of a group of industrialists suspected of being the mystery villain known as the Gargoyle. Washburn proved to be innocent of any wrongdoing, but he and the other members of the "board of suspects" were overshadowed by the mad gyrations of the Gargoyle and the hyper-active derring-do of the Spider (Warren Hull). In CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (Columbia, 1942), Washburn got to join the wacky goings-on, and appeared to enjoy himself immensely. As John Edwards, an inventor kidnapped by saboteur Ivan Shark (played by an over-the-top James Craven), Bryant slyly hoodwinked his unbalanced captor at every turn and aided his daughter Joyce Edwards (Dorothy Short, who had appeared with Bryant in CALL OF THE SAVAGE as well) and the heroic Captain Midnight (Dave O'Brien) in discovering his whereabouts. Bryant's best scene came in the scene where he unhooked Craven's phone and proceeded to dial Midnight's number right under the villain's nose, smoothly explaining that the code for deciphering his secret plans was based on the telephone code. His explanation drove Craven frantic, and he commanded Washburn to "start over again and take it slow--this is very confusing!" Eventually, Midnight rescued the scientist from the clutches of Shark, and reunited him with his daughter.

Above: Bryant Washburn, Dorothy Short, and Dave O'Brien are shown in the small inset photo in this poster for CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT (Columbia, 1942).

Washburn kept acting for five more years after leaving serials, appearing in roles ranging from the smooth head villain in the Three Mesquiteers B-western SHADOWS ON THE SAGE to a mysterious long-dead artist (who, it turns out, might not be dead) in THE FALCON IN MEXICO. His last movie was the Columbia melodrama SWEET GENEVIEVE in 1947, after which he enjoyed a long retirement until his death in 1963, two days after his seventy-fourth birthday.

Bryant Washburn was an icon of the silent film and a top character actor of the sound serial. In his many cliffhangers, he played suspects, weasels, fathers, scientists, and even a Prince with aplomb and--except when he played weasels--charm. He appeared in serials for all three of the major production companies and for two independent outfits. And yet he has been largely forgotten by today's cliffhanger fans. I hope those who read this article will become aware of an excellent serial performer who has lain overlooked and unmentioned for far too long.