HERMAN BRIX
May 19th, 1906 -- February 24, 2007

Above: One of the very greatest serial heroes in action. Frank Corby (Herman Brix, center) struggles with two of the Lightning's henchmen aboard a boat in THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938).

Herman Brix is proof positive that it’s possible to be both a great athlete and a great actor. An Olympic champion, Brix later changed his name to Bruce Bennett and became a well-known and respected actor in major films like MILDRED PIERCE, THE LAST OUTPOST, TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE, ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD, DARK PASSAGE, and SAHARA. In between his athletic fame and his movie fame, Herman starred in some of the best serials of the 1930s; his talent combined with his physical prowess made him a perfect cliffhanger hero. Brix’s characters were always soft-spoken and reserved, with a touch of dry wit, but when things got tough Herman’s quiet strength would emerge and the bad guys would get thoroughly pulverized. Serial fans were not surprised when Brix became a major player in Hollywood--we knew he had had it in him all along.

Above: Herman Brix throttles an attacking leopard in this lobby card for his first serial, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (Burroughs-Tarzan Productions, 1935).

Herman Brix was born in Tacoma, Washington. As a teenager, he started working in his father's logging business, which helped him to develop his rugged physique. He also showed interest in both acting and athletics while in school, and went on to win a shot-putting medal at the 1928 Olympics. The Los Angeles Athletic Club paid for his fare to Hollywood, but it was Douglas Fairbanks Sr. who got Herman into pictures. Fairbanks met the young man through the athletic club, and recommended Brix for the part of Tarzan in the upcoming MGM film, TARZAN THE APE MAN. Herman would almost definitely have been awarded the role had he not sustained a serious shoulder injury while working on a football film. MGM bypassed Herman in favor of Johnny Weissmuller, but, ironically, Brix would get to play Tarzan later on, though for another outfit. He was personally selected for the role by Tarzan's creator Edgar Rice Burroughs, who, dissatisfied with Weissmuller's portrayal of the Ape Man, was forming his own production company to bring his character to the screen. THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (Burroughs-Tarzan Productions, 1935) was one of the only (the only, as far as I know) serials to be filmed on location--Guatemala, South America, in this case. It also was closer to Burroughs' concept of Tarzan than most of the other screen versions. Brix's Tarzan was completely literate (and spoke in complete sentences) and could be seen wearing a suit as well as a loincloth. The plot of the serial dealt with Tarzan leading an expedition to Guatemala in search of a native idol known as the Green Goddess. Tarzan also wished to find his friend D'Arnot (a character from Burroughs' books that had been omitted from the MGM Weissmuller films) who had disappeared searching for the Goddess years ago. The expedition was forced to battle all sorts of menaces, from lions, alligators, and leopards to hostile natives to the weird half-human inhabitants of a lost Mayan city (clearly modeled on the city of Opar from the Tarzan books) to the criminal Raglan, who was after the Goddess for his own sinister reasons. Ashton Dearholt, the producer of the serial and a personal friend of Burroughs, played Raglan, subbing at the last minute for B-western heavy Don Costello, who contracted a tropical disease before filming began. The Guatemalan climate also wrought havoc with Brix's health. While there, he came down with dysentry and jungle fever, ailments which continued to bother him for a long while afterwards. He also survived a serious leg infection and several animal injuries, proving he was every bit as tough as the character he was playing. Despite the hectic circumstances under which it was made, NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN was a surprisingly well-made serial, easily one of the best of the "independent" cliffhangers. Brix was physically perfect for the role of Tarzan, and handled his dialogue very well into the bargain, making an impression on other serial producers, who recognized that Brix possessed both above-average physical and acting abilities.

Above: A club-wielding Tarzan (Herman Brix) battles the strange inhabitants of a lost city in THE NEW ADVENTURES OF TARZAN (Burroughs-Tarzan Productions, 1935).

The next year, Brix was signed up by the economical serial producer Sam Katzman, who at the time was running a shoestring studio named Victory. Brix did two serials for Katzman and Victory, the first of which was 1936's SHADOW OF CHINATOWN. Brix was the hero, but was not top-billed. That honor went to villain Bela Lugosi, who played a mad scientist named Victor Poten operating in the Chinatown area. Brix was a novelist named Martin Andrews, who teamed up with a female reporter (Joan Barclay) to bring Poten down. Brix's next serial for Victory was BLAKE OF SCOTLAND YARD in 1937. He played a villain this time, an eyepatch-wearing henchman named Adolph who carried out the orders of the masked criminal known as the Scorpion. Brix, who could probably have mopped up the floor with the entire cast of the serial, was obliged to submit to the humiliation of being beaten up by elderly Herbert Rawlinson and equally elderly Sam Flint chapter after chapter.

Above: Herman Brix (center) and Chinese allies get the drop on Luana Walters and Bela Lugosi (backs to camera) while Joan Barclay (far left) watches in SHADOW OF CHINATOWN (Victory, 1936).

Brix moved over to Republic Pictures in 1938. The studio was already leading the serial field, and in 1938 they were gearing up for their most ambitious serial yet--an adaptation of the mega-popular radio show, THE LONE RANGER. Republic decided to embellish the radio character of the Lone Ranger by introducing not one but five heroic young Texans, one of whom donned the Lone Ranger's mask from time to time. The audience was not told which of the heroes was the Lone Ranger. In fact, they were only let in on the secret of the Ranger's identity in the final chapter, after all but one of the Texans had died heroic deaths while battling the evil Jeffries (Stanley Andrews) the would-be dictator of Texas. Brix was one of the five "suspects" for the Ranger, the other four being Lee Powell, Hal Taliaferro, Lane Chandler, and George Letz (later and better known as George Montgomery). THE LONE RANGER (Republic, 1938) was one of Republic's most expensive serials, one of their most successful, and is still regarded today as one of their best (no, I'm not going to tell you who the Lone Ranger turns out to be).

Above: Herman Brix (far left) and Lee Powell (far right) aid an injured Lane Chandler (center) in THE LONE RANGER (Republic, 1938).

Brix teamed up with Lee Powell, one of his comrades from THE LONE RANGER, for his next serial: THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938). Powell, as Marine Lieutenant Tom Grayson, was the hero, but Brix as Lieutenant Frank Corby backed him up and participated in almost all the action scenes. In the first chapter, the two young Marines were sent to evacuate imperilled American civilians in the war-torn Oriental country of Lingchuria. Along with their platoon, they were sidetracked when they discovered the fortress of Lingchurian general Lu Kisan and found Lu Kisan and his entire army dead at their posts without a mark on them! This grisly discovery launched Grayson and Corby on the hunt for the Lightning, a mysterious madman who was planning to dominate the entire world with his electrical death devices and his "flying wing". The two plucky Marines eventually unmasked the Lighting in the final chapter and brought his terrifying schemes to an end. THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS is another excellent and highly regarded Republic serial, belying the low budget on which it was made (Republic had spent so much on THE LONE RANGER that they had to skimp a little on their next one). Brix was now on a roll, and his popularity would continue to grow.

Above: Frank Corby (Herman Brix, far left) and Tom Grayson (Lee Powell, second from left) are summoned before a Marine inquiry board to explain the loss of their men to the Lighting's "electric thunderbolt" in THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938). Sam Flint (as Colonel Grayson, Tom's father) is on the other side of Powell, and Montagu Love as General White is at the head of the table.

Brix had still another Republic serial to go in 1938: HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS. The serial was based on a book by William A. Chester, an author who had hoped to ape (no joke intended) the success of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan by creating his own jungle hero, Kioga, the "Hawk of the Wilderness". Kioga's father was Lincoln Rand Sr. (played by Lane Chandler, another of the Lone Ranger "suspects), a scientist who traveled to the Arctic to locate a lost island from whence the American Indians had come. The Rand ship was wrecked in sight of the island, and Rand and his wife were drowned, but Rand's Indian servant Mokuyi managed to reach the shore with Rand's infant son. They were accepted (somewhat reluctantly) by the primitive Indians who lived on the island. Twenty-four years later, with Kioga now grown to manhood (and now played by Brix) Rand's old friend Dr. Munro (Tom Chatterton) arrives on the island searching for his friend, and Kioga is called upon to protect Munro, Munro's daughter Beth, and their group, both from the Indians (led by Monte Blue as Kioga's lifelong enemy, a witch doctor named Yellow Weasel) and from the pirate Salerno (William Royle) and his gang, who had signed on as crewmen for the Munroes in the hope of finding treasure on the island. Action-packed, filmed on beautiful locations, and with first-rate performances, HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS was probably Brix's very best serial. Herman himself summed it up quite well when he called it "a good serial, really one of the best." It was indeed one of the best, in no small measure because of Herman Brix. His performance as Kioga was subtle and multi-faceted, and he convincingly portrayed the character’s tough adjustment to the ways of the outside world.

Above: Kioga (Herman Brix) battles Yellow Weasel's hostile Indian warriors in an action scene from the classic serial HAWK OF THE WILDERNESS (Republic, 1938).

Brix's last serial was DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939). He was the secondary hero again this time, one of a trio of circus acrobats headed by Charles Quiqley (the third member of the group was played by David Sharpe). The Daredevils set out to capture the evil escaped convict Harry Crowel, alias 39013 (Charles Middleton). Crowel, who was sent to jail for embezzling by his former employer, tycoon Horace Granville, escaped from prison and began systematically destroying Granville's businesses. One of these was the Granville Amusement Pier, where the Daredevils performed their daily act. 39013's men set fire to the pier and Quigley's kid brother (Robert Winkler) is killed. This causes the Daredevils to swing into action against 39013, and they are ultimately successful in ending his reign of terror. DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE was another high-quality serial, and a good one for Brix's cliffhanger career to end on. He was Tiny, the strong-man member of the Daredevils’ team, and could always be counted on by acrobat Quigley and escape-artist Sharpe when it was time to break down a door or lift a car off the ground (Brix performed this feat in Chapter Two, and it wasn’t as unbelievable as it sounds).

Above: Brix (center), Dave Sharpe (far left), and Charles Quigley are trapped in a carbon monoxide-filled garage in this cliffhanger from DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939).

Brix's serial career was over, but a whole new career was ahead of him. After changing his name to Bruce Bennett (this was to prevent being identified as Tarzan and thus regarded as only a "muscleman" by casting directors), he signed a contract with Warner Brothers and embarked on an excellent career as a major movie actor until his retirement in 1961, following the breakup of the studio system. Brix resided happily in California for more than fifty years, and passed away in February 2007, just a couple of months short of his 101st birthday.

Many serial heroes are looked on as non-actors by movie critics, but I think even the critics would recognize Brix/Bennett as a great actor. He certainly deserves it.

Above: A publicity photo of Herman Brix--or Bruce Bennett. No matter, he's a great guy by either name.