JACK MULHALL
October 7th, 1887 -- June 1st, 1979

Above: A young Jack Mulhall, in his glory days as a silent star.

Jack Mulhall, like Herbert Rawlinson, was a silent-film leading man who made the transition to character actor in the sound era. The genial, good-humored Irishman was one of the highest-paid stars of the teens and twenties, but when his fortune (over a million dollars) was wiped out in the stock crash of 1929, he found himself forced to "stoop" to cliffhanger acting in order to put groceries on the table. Under these circumstances, one would expect Mulhall's portrayals in serials to be rushed, dispirited, and unenthusiastic. But the reverse was true: Jack Mulhall was the bounciest and most energetic player to be found in cliffhangers. Whether playing the hero, the hero's buddy, the hero's adviser, or even (very rarely) the villain, Mulhall was, to use an old but worthy cliche, "the life of the party."

Mulhall was born in Wappinger Falls, New York. He gained the reputation of something of a class clown among his schoolmates, and cooked up many impropmptu shows for his friends and family. His early jobs varied from iron molding in the Yonkers steel works to assisting a hypnotist named Colonel Shelby in a traveling circus. His family moved to New Jersey in 1902, and he got a job as a sideshow barker before joining a traveling theatrical company. After some stage work, a job as a model for the famous Charles Dana Gibson, a brief trip to Europe, and a stint as a deckhand on a tramp steamer, he signed up with a New York film studio known as Biograph in 1913. Some of his fellow Biograph contractees were Lillian Gish, D. W. Griffith, and Harry Carey, so Jack was beginning his movie career in good company. After a year in New York, Biograph transferred Mulhall to their California office and began to give him more and more starring roles. He starred in about a hundred films from 1914 to 1929, including four serials (THE BRASS BULLET, THE SOCIAL BUCCANEER, INTO THE NET, and WILD WEST), but his career came crashing down around him after the great stock crash. Undaunted (his comment on the disaster was "I guess an actor just can't be a good businessman), Mulhall began accepting any role he was offered, including a supporting part in THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Mascot, 1933), his first sound serial. MUSKETEERS was a Foreign Legion adventure starring John Wayne as a young American pilot who took on the Arab rebel leader El Shaitan, with the help of three heroic Legionnaires (Mulhall, Raymond Hatton, and Francis X. Bushman Jr.) that he rescued from Arabs in the first chapter. Jack was perfectly cast as Clancy, a happy-go-lucky soldier of fortune who remained ebullient when facing overwhelming odds--whether a firing squad or a horde of attacking Arabs. Though not the star of the serial, Jack, along with Hatton and Bushman, provided loyal support and valuable help for Wayne. The "three musketeers" eventually repaid John for saving their lives, when they saved his life in the final chapter by gunning down the evil El Shaitan.

Above: A poster for THE THREE MUSKETEERS (Mascot, 1933). The Musketeers are shown in the lower left-hand corner. From left to right: Francis X. Bushman Jr., Raymond Hatton, and Jack Mulhall. In the insert photo, John Wayne and Ruth Hall are questioned by a Foreign Legion officer

Mulhall quickly and easily adjusted to the breakneck Mascot production schedules, and they featured him in two more serials, one in 1933 and one in 1934. MYSTERY SQUADRON, the 1933 serial, surprised audiences all over the country when it revealed the identity of its villain, the Black Ace, in the final chapter. (SPOILERS AHEAD) The Ace was none other than Jack's character, Hank Davis. While pretending to help Bob Grayson (Lafe McKee) with his dam construction project, Davis was secretly leading aerial raids on Grayson's crew. Davis even sent for pilot heroes Fred Cromwell and Bill Cook (Bob Steele and Big Boy Williams) to "track down" the Ace, but this move backfired when Cromwell and Cook caught on to Davis' deception and engaged him in a final air battle. The Black Ace and his plane went down in flames, and fans sat stunned, trying to process the fact that Jack Mulhall had actually turned out to be the villain. Since Jack, while playing the "friendly" Davis, was his usual gregarious self, it's safe to say that he was the last man that the audience would have suspected.

Above: Jack Mulhall (center) shows some evidence to Big Boy Williams (left) and Bob Steele in THE MYSTERY SQUADRON (Mascot, 1933).

Jack's final Mascot was BURN 'EM UP BARNES, and it rewarded him for his supporting role in THREE MUSKETEERS and his villainous role in MYSTERY SQUADRON by letting him return to the heroic role that had been his in the days of silents. As race car driver "Burn 'Em Up" Barnes, Jack battled some of the most formidable henchmen in the business (including Al Bridge and Stanley Blystone) as he tried to keep tycoon Edwin Maxwell from ruining heroine Lola Lane's bus company. Jack, though in his forties by this time, made a terrific action hero, and the lightning-paced BURN 'EM UP BARNES is one of the best--possibly even the best--Mascot serials.

Above, from left to right: Jason Robards Sr., Francis McDonald, Al Bridge, Jack Mulhall, Edward Hearn, and Stanley Blystone in BURN 'EM UP BARNES (Mascot, 1934).

Mulhall's next serial, UNDERSEA KINGDOM in 1936, was for Republic, a new studio that had been created from a merger of Mascot, Monogram, and Consolidated. He was hired more for name value than for anything else, as his part was actually rather small. He was Lieutenant Andrews, one of the US Navy officers who sent hero Ray "Crash" Corrigan to investigate a series of undersea earthquakes that proved to emanate from the undersea kingdom of Atlantis. However, THE CLUTCHING HAND (Stage and Screen, 1936) gave Jack his second and last starring role of the sound cliffhanger era. As scientific sleuth Craig Kennedy, Jack analyzed innumerable clues, beat up legions of thugs, and positively rushed from one place to the other as he tracked down the Clutching Hand, a masked mystery villain after a mysterious secret formula. If the production schedule at Mascot had been breakneck, the schedule at an independent outfit like Stage and Screen was simply breathless. Jack was called on to do as many as 108 scenes a day, and performed his own stunts. Once he jumped out of a two-story window only to find that the cushions that were supposed to break his fall had been forgotten at the last minute, but it didn't phase him--he was up and around almost immediately afterwards. CLUTCHING HAND, despite its fast pace and action, was a bit plot-heavy, and proved too confusing for the tastes of many serial fans. None of this was Jack's fault, though; he had taken on the role with his usual infectious enthusiasm.

Above: An elaborate fight sequence from THE CLUTCHING HAND (Stage and Screen, 1936). Jack Mulhall has a neck hold on Bull Montana, while the sea captain next to him takes on someone else and another pair of combatants duke it out on the stairs. Yakima Canutt is on the cabin roof, and is about to chuck his opponent to the deck.

Mulhall did another Stage and Screen release in 1936: CUSTER'S LAST STAND. A complex, "all-star historical epic", CUSTER featured an illustrious cast of silent stars, including William Farnum, Rex Lease, George Chesebro, and Helen Gibson, playing various historical and pseudo-historical characters supposedly related to the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Jack was a cavalry officer named Lieutenant Cook, and only managed to get a few good scenes. The same fate befell the rest of the the gigantic cast, all of whom stumbled over each other trying to dominate the serial. Their collected energy, though, made the serial a fun one overall.

Two of Jack's silent cliffhanger vehicles had been Universal outings, so it was only natural that the studio would eventually sign Mulhall for one of their sound releases. Jack's first outing for Universal was RADIO PATROL (Universal, 1937). He played a police desk sergeant who issued orders to hero Grant Withers and his fellow patrolmen. Though Mulhall never left the police station in PATROL, he had a high old time barking orders and cracking a few jokes at the expense of Withers' sidekick Adrian Morris. TIM TYLER'S LUCK (Universal, 1937) featured Jack in a more active supporting role as Sergeant Gates, daredevil leader of the jungle Ivory Patrol, who aided young Tim Tyler (Frankie Thomas) in his search for his missing scientist father. Mulhall and his Ivory Patrol proved of great help in combating the evil Spider Webb, a poacher, smuggler, and all-around scoundrel who was holding Tim's father in order to learn the location of the fabled elephant's graveyard. Jack, though a supporting player, got to wrestle a leopard in one cliffhanger ending, and was at his dashing best leading the Ivory Patrol on daring cavalry charges against Webb's tank-like Jungle Cruiser. TIM TYLER'S LUCK packed a lot of entertainment value, and is one of Universal's most exotic and colorful serials.

Above: Jack Mulhall clutches a wounded shoulder and confers with one of his Ivory Patrolmen in TIM TYLER'S LUCK (Universal, 1937).

Above: Jack Mulhall protects Frances Robinson from a charging leopard in this publicity still from TIM TYLER’S LUCK (Universal, 1937).

Jack turned fifty the year TIM TYLER was released, and subsequently began to slow down his working rate, both in serials and features. "Personally, I'm happy to take bit parts," he said later. His role in FLASH GORDON'S TRIP TO MARS (Universal, 1938) was his smallest cliffhanger part yet; he was an unnamed Martian stratosled pilot who engaged Flash's (Buster Crabbe) rocket in a dogfight in one chapter and reappeared briefly in a later chapter. His part as Scoutmaster Hale in SCOUTS TO THE RESCUE (Universal, 1938) was only slightly larger, as he left the scout troop in Chapter One to attend to an ailing wife and left it in charge of star Jackie Cooper for the remainder of the cliffhanger. He was a little more prominent in BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939) as Captain Rankin, one of the leaders of the Hidden City Exiles. The Exiles were Earth folk who had banded together to fight the tyrannical Killer Kane (Anthony Warde) in the 24th century. When Rankin discovered 20th century adventurer Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) in a wrecked dirigible (Buck and his young friend Buddy had been placed in suspended animation when the dirigible crashed), he brought him to the Hidden City. Buck then led the Exiles in their fight, and ultimately dethroned Killer Kane.

Above: Kenne Duncan (far left) and Jack Mulhall discover the unconscious Buster Crabbe and Jackie Moran in BUCK ROGERS (Universal, 1939).

MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR SATAN (Republic, 1940) featured Jack as Police Chief Rand, who swore in hero Bob Wayne (Robert Wilcox) as a special deputy to combat the evil Dr. Satan (Eduardo Cianelli). Mulhall had a few other scenes throughout the serial, and performed them with vigor, but his character never left the police station in the entire fifteen chapters.

Above: A title card for MYSTERIOUS DOCTOR SATAN (Republic, 1940). In the small photo insert, Robert Wilcox, Ella Neal, William Newell, Jack Mulhall, William Stahl, and Robert Wayne question the seated Paul Marion, a captured agent of Dr. Satan. The larger drawing shows Wilcox, as the masked Copperhead, taking on Dr. Satan's robot.

Jack had a small but important role in Republic's 1941 classic ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL. As Howell, a member of the expedition that discovered the deadly ancient weapon known as the Golden Scorpion, Mulhall offered some sensible advice to his scientist colleagues. The Golden Scorpion's power, he argued, was too much for one man to be trusted with; therefore, the expedition members should divide the device's lenses, the keys to its power, among themselves. That way, no one member could use it without the consent of the others. It was sound advice, but one scientist didn't like it, and he donned a disguise, called himself the Scorpion, and set out to murder the others and take their lenses. Jack was the first one to fall, when he was stabbed in the back by the Scorpion while fighting one of the villain's Arab henchmen. The rest of the serial had the Scorpion racing to grab all the lenses, while Captain Marvel (Tom Tyler) raced to stop him from achieving his evil goal.

Above: Jack Mulhall stands by as Frank Coghlan Jr. makes a radio call in ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN MARVEL (Republic, 1941).

Mulhall next played an uncredited police detective in THE SPIDER RETURNS (Columbia, 1941) and then took on his last noteworthy serial role in DICK TRACY VS. CRIME INC. (Republic, 1941). As G-man Jim Wilson, one of Dick Tracy's (Ralph Byrd) agents, Mulhall discovered that the serial's villain, the Ghost, had the ability to make himself invisible. Before Jack could relay this information, however, he was wounded and then kidnapped from the hospital by the Ghost's men. Byrd and his sidekick Michael Owen gave chase to the phony ambulance Mulhall was being taken away in. As Byrd, standing on the running of his car, prepared to jump into the ambulance, the driver prepared to shoot him. Jack, however, mustered up enough strength to shoot the driver, saving Byrd's life but losing his own as the ambulance careened off the road and went over a cliff.

After this excellent, heroic, "guest star" part, Jack played a police scientist named Randall (whose screen time was limited but whose knowledge proved vital in resolving the serial’s plot) in GANG BUSTERS (Universal, 1942) and then dropped out of serials. He thought of retiring around 1949, after a series of bit roles in movies and an eight-year run as a member of Ken Murray's BLACKOUTS stage show, but began to get more roles in the early fifties when television showings of THE CLUTCHING HAND and a feature version of BUCK ROGERS brought him to the public eye once more. He appeared on shows such as DRAGNET and 77 SUNSET STRIP, and even did one more serial, BLACKHAWK (Columbia, 1952), in which he played an uncredited role as a FBI agent. His last film was the Alex Gordon sci-fi feature ATOMIC SUBMARINE in 1959. Jack still wasn't ready to retire for good, though, as the same year he signed up with the Screen Actors' Guild as a contract negotiator. He held this job for 15 years, and finally settled down to "just walking around" (in his own words) for the last five years of his life, dying at age 91 in 1987.

Speaking of his life and his career, Jack Mulhall once said: 'I just put a flower in my buttonhole, put on my best suit of clothes if I had such a thing, and walked around as if I owned the world. Somehow I always got another job. I've always had a good time. People work hard for the future, expecting to live forever. Then they die because they've worked so hard, or they get smacked down by a taxi. I take life a day at a time." This simple, happy-go-lucky philosophy carried Jack through complete bankruptcy, the switch from star to character actor, and about fifty different jobs, not to mention innumerable perils on the serial screen. Jack was just what he appeared to be in his serials--a good-natured, reliable guy, and a fellow who always got the job done with a smile.

Above: Jack Mulhall gives Francis MacDonald what he deserves in another scene from BURN ‘EM UP BARNES (Mascot, 1934).