JOHN MERTON
February 18th, 1901 -- September 19th, 1959

Above: John Merton (right), jaw jutting and eyes glaring, talks with Milburn Stone in a non-serial gangster picture called FEDERAL BULLETS.

Squarely and solidly built, with a stiff back, an aggressive tilt to his jaw, a gruff, slightly rasping voice, and a pair of very expressive, ferocious eyes, John Merton was one of the most forceful and intimidating of serial henchmen. He was the perfect ramrod for a boss villain to utilize in his manipulation of his lower-ranking henchman. Merton's villains always barreled through the good guys' ranks with such decisiveness and intelligence that it sometimes seemed like it would take an explosion to stop them--and, on at least two occasions, it did. There were two main phases to Merton's career: his tenure at Republic in the days of William Witney and John English, when he played an action heavy in many of that famous directorial duo's serials, and his work at Sam Katzman's Columbia serial unit, where he sometimes essayed henchmen performances but also was given an even wider range of nasty and forceful characters to bring to vivid life.

Merton was born John Myrtland LaVarre in Washington state; no one seems to have any info on the town he was born in. He began his acting career as a Broadway performer until he entered films with a bit role in W. C. Fields' silent comedy IT'S THE OLD ARMY GAME. One of his first "talking" film roles was in Laurel and Hardy's famous comedy SONS OF THE DESERT, and his first serial appearance was as Banty Harrison, a hostile but non-villainous cowboy, in the first chapter of the Buck Jones western THE RED RIDER (Universal, 1934). His first big cliffhanger role came two years later in UNDERSEA KINGDOM, the second serial to be released by the fledgling Republic Pictures company. Put together rather quickly in order to capitalize on the success of Universal's FLASH GORDON, KINGDOM was an oddball, patchy, but entertaining adventure. Navy cadet Ray "Crash" Corrigan, together with scientist C. Montague Shaw, Shaw's son Lee Van Atta, and reporter Lois Wilde, discovered the kingdom of Atlantis, safe and sound beneath a waterproof dome on the seabed. The kingdom was torn by a war between two factions, the good White Robes and the evil Black Robes, the former headed by high priest William Farnum and the latter headed by evil warlord Monte Blue. Crash was imprisoned by Farnum, who wrongly thought him one of the Black Robes, and forced to fight other Black Robe prisoners in Farnum's arena. Merton was Moloch, one of the prisoners Crash took on in hand to hand combat; Crash defeated him but spared his life, and, shortly after, when Crash saved Farnum from being kidnapped by Black Robes, the high priest made Corrigan head of his army. Merton was also pardoned, and proved a staunch ally in the war against the Black Robes till he got killed towards the end of the serial. Merton, though billed far down in the cast of UNDERSEA KINGDOM, got a lot of screen time and took part in a lot of action. He also proved that his tough guy persona was well suited to good guys as well as bad, and it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if KINGDOM had typed him as a serial hero, rather than a villain.

Above: John Merton (second prisoner from right), two other Black Robes, and Ray "Crash" Corrigan are tied to the High Priest's chariot in UNDERSEA KINGDOM (Republic, 1936). Lee Van Atta, kneeling, looks on.

However, Republic had other plans for John. His next serial, THE VIGILANTES ARE COMING (Republic, 1936), cast him in his first major henchman role, an outlaw named Rance Talbot, who was helping renegade American officer Jason Burr (Fred Kohler Sr.) to subjugate California with the ultimate intention of selling it to the Russians. Bob Livingston, as a masked avenger named the Eagle, carried on a crusade against Burr's forces with the help of a group of settlers turned vigilantes, and with the help of Captain Fremont (Crash Corrigan again) drove the Russians from California and annihilated Kohler, Merton, and their gang. Merton cemented his image as a hard-hitting action heavy with VIGILANTES, snarling at heroine Kay Hughes, barking orders at lesser villains, and generally carrying on in the best tradition of a top henchman.

Above: Bob Livingston gives John Merton a terrific knock on the chin in this publicity shot from THE VIGILANTES ARE COMING (Republic, 1936).

Merton made his first cliffhanger for William Witney and John English in 1938. It was none other than THE LONE RANGER, Republic's biggest-budgeted and most highly-publicized serial to date. The Lone Ranger had already become an American legend, and audiences were waiting to see how Republic would handle their hero in a cliffhanger. While the studio made several changes (the biggest being a group of five Ranger "suspects", any one of who could have been the Ranger and who were gradually killed off to narrow the guessing process throughout the serial) the serial was an immense hit and remains one of Republic's most sought-after outings, especially since only low-quality, Spanish-subtitled prints seem to exist today. The villain of the cliffhanger was Stanley Andrews, as an outlawed army officer who murdered a federal finance commissioner and took his place in order to bleed dry the population of Texas with exorbitant taxes. John Merton was another renegade trooper named Sergeant Kester, and Andrews' right hand man. Andrews and Merton, in addition to wiping out a company of Texas Rangers, out of whom only one, the Lone Ranger, survived, also imprisoned government agent George Cleveland along with Cleveland's daughter Lynn Roberts. Cleveland had come to investigate Andrews' ruthless policies, but Andrews forced him to send in favorable reports by threatening to injure Roberts. The Lone Ranger, meanwhile, nursed back to health by Tonto (Chief Thundercloud) joined with four other young Texans and waged persistent warfare against Andrews' regime. Merton's role in LR was somewhat reminiscent of his part in VIGILANTES ARE COMING, but he got much more screen time here than he had in the earlier outing.

Above: John Merton (far right) threatens Lynn Roberts while Stanley Andrews (far left) orders white-haired George Cleveland to co-operate. Charles King stands behind Cleveland in this still from THE LONE RANGER (Republic, 1938).

Merton next played a small henchman role in THE FIGHTING DEVIL DOGS (Republic, 1938), another all-time classic helmed by Witney and English. John's activities in this serial didn't extend beyond a terrific fistfight with heroes Herman Brix and Lee Powell (both of whom had played Ranger suspects in THE LONE RANGER), but in Witney and English's next serial, his part was decidedly larger. DICK TRACY RETURNS (Republic, 1938), a sequel to Republic's 1937 hit DICK TRACY, featured a unique villain in the person of Pa Stark (Charles Middleton), a ruthless old gangster who had raised his five sons in his own criminal path and used them as his lieutenants in his many crooked doings. When Pa and his boys murdered rookie G-man David Sharpe, Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd) set out to smash their rackets, one by one. John was Champ Stark, an ex-fighter and the "muscle" of his father's gang. Champ was the last of Pa's sons to die, being plugged by Tracy in the climactic shootout just before pulling the pin of a hand grenade, which then exploded as the villain fell to the ground.

Above: Champ Stark (John Merton) forces a door while his Pa (Charles Middleton, light suit) and assorted henchmen stand by in DICK TRACY RETURNS (Republic, 1938).

Merton followed up DICK TRACY RETURNS with yet another classic, DAREDEVILS OF THE RED CIRCLE (Republic, 1939). John had a small role in DAREDEVILS, but he got to shine for the time he was onscreen. He played the head worker in a plant that had been marked for destruction by the evil 39103 (Charles Middleton), and, together with other workers, was treacherously working with 39013 to blow the plant up. The three heroes, the Daredevils (Charles Quigley, Herman Brix, Dave Sharpe) caught Merton and his minions in the act, but Merton convinced the plant manager that the Daredevils were the saboteurs. The three stars managed to escape from a cell in time to stop Merton from blowing up the plant, however, and John's part in the serial was over and done with. ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939), cast Merton as Commandante Manuel, a corrupt military officer. He was one of the ruling council of the Mexican province of San Mendolito, and, along with three other council members (C. Montague Shaw, Leander De Cordova, and Edmund Cobb) had made a deal with the mysterious villain Don Del Oro to incite the Yaqui Indians against the government and seize power. One of the four evil council members was in reality Don Del Oro himself, and Don Diego Vega (Reed Hadley), while covering his tracks by playing the part of an empty-headed fop, donned the identity of Zorro to find out which one and to bring all four to justice. Manuel was the first council member unmasked by Zorro, and he was pierced by a golden arrow in Chapter Nine, before he could tell the masked avenger who the mastermind was. Merton’s bristling, forceful bearing made him perfect for the part of Manuel, a military man gone bad.

Above: William Corson (head wrapped in bandages) has penetrated the hideout of Don Del Oro (second from left) by pretending to be Manuel (John Merton), but now Manuel himself (far right) has shown up to wreck the deception in ZORRO'S FIGHTING LEGION (Republic, 1939).

One of John's greatest parts, and probably his best remembered one as well, came the next year in DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (Republic, 1940). Faithfully based on the novels by Sax Rohmer, the serial (William Witney's own favorite) featured Henry Brandon as the Oriental archfiend Fu Manchu, who was out to achieve world conquest by getting control of the scepter of Genghis Khan. Sir Denis Nayland Smith (William Royle) and Allan Parker (Robert Kellard) opposed the Doctor and checkmated his plans at every opportunity, but they had some stiff opposition in the form of Fu's mindless henchmen, the Dacoits. The lead Dacoit, Loki, was none other than John Merton, complete with a bald head, lightning-bolt scar, and long fangs. Interestingly, Merton never spoke a word throughout the serial, as Loki was supposed to be a mute, but he nevertheless imparted the character with great menace, giving the audience the creeps by his mere presence in the room. Appropriately, FU MANCHU gave Merton his last major role in a Republic Golden Age serial; it is doubtful if he could have topped his performance as Loki.

Above: The grotesque, bald-headed Loki (John Merton) attacks some unfortunate soul in this lobby card from DRUMS OF FU MANCHU (Republic, 1940).

Merton made his second appearance at Universal Pictures in THE GREEN HORNET STRIKES AGAIN (Universal, 1940), as an uncredited henchman. He got a bigger part when he journeyed to Columbia for the first time and appeared as a henchman named Romino in WHITE EAGLE, in 1941. He joined with Jack Ingram and Charles King, two more veteran screen henchmen, but the results were not up to any of the three men's previous performances, thanks to the comic flavor that pervaded WHITE EAGLE, courtesy of director James W. Horne. John was back to Universal for bit roles in 1941's SEA RAIDERS and DON WINSLOW OF THE NAVY. His last Witney and English Republic was DICK TRACY VS. CRIME INC., in which he had a small but noticeable part as a crooked pilot in Chapter One. Merton next played Blaine, one of Robert Armstrong's henchmen, in chapters 10 through 12 of ADVENTURES OF THE FLYING CADETS (Universal, 1943). His last action heavy part at Republic came in ZORRO'S BLACK WHIP (Republic, 1944), but in this one he was not chief action heavy, but instead a subordinate of Hal Taliaferro. Both men carried out the orders of Francis MacDonald, who was attempting to stop the territory of Idaho from becoming a state, but they were stopped by government agent George J. Lewis and newspaper editor Linda Stirling, who also disguised as "the Whip" to aid Lewis' struggles.

Above: John Merton smokes a cigarette as he stands guard on Linda Stirling in ZORRO'S BLACK WHIP (Republic, 19440. Tom Steele is on the far right.

John played another minor henchman in JUNGLE QUEEN (Universal, 1945), before beginning the second phase of his career with BRENDA STARR, REPORTER (Columbia, 1945). One of Sam Katzman's first cliffhangers, BRENDA cast Merton as Schultz, one of a group of nasty gangsters out to retrieve a stash of stolen money that had been hidden by deceased racketeer Wheeler Oakman. Merton did two more serials at Universal--THE MASTER KEY, where he popped up as a Nazi agent in Chapter Six and died in a plane crash at the end of the same episode; and SECRET AGENT X-9, in which he played an expendable henchman who was mercilessly shot down by an improvised firing-squad on the orders of Japanese spy Victoria Horne. Both of these were released in 1945; after finishing them up, John concentrated almost exclusively on Columbia Katzman outings for the rest of his cliffhanger career. His next for Katzman was HOP HARRIGAN in 1946. The serial, with William Bakewell as the title hero, is not one of the more popular cliffhangers, but even those who abominate it remember Merton's juicy performance as Dr. Tobor, an eccentric scientist whose inventions were threatened by a criminal known as the Chief Pilot. Harrigan did his best to defend Merton from the Pilot's men, but the strain eventually told and Tobor snapped, deciding to blow up the entire world and be done with it. His attempt to do this resulted in his own death by a laboratory explosion in the last chapter, and the world was saved. Merton's performance as the maniacal Tobor showed that he could play geniuses as easily as he could muscle-bound henchmen, and Katzman took note of this, giving John more intellectual roles for the rest of his Columbia tenure.

Above, from left to right: George Meeker (seated), John Merton, Jack Ingram, a disguised Joan Woodbury, and Anthony Warde in BRENDA STARR REPORTER (Columbia, 1945).

Above: John Merton (seated) is preparing to wreak “Dr. Tobor’s Revenge” upon three unsuspecting thugs in this scene from HOP HARRIGAN (Columbia, 1946). Note that Merton, as in DRUMS OF FU MANCHU, is sporting a completely bald head. That’s Bud Geary on the far right.

I wouldn't want the reader to think that Merton's career was limited to serials, and, though I haven't been mentioning it, he was racking up an impressive score of B-western heavy roles throughout the years I have been chronicling. And he continued to do so, despite playing key roles in two Columbia serials in a row, SON OF THE GUARDSMAN in 1946 and JACK ARMSTRONG in 1947. In GUARDSMAN he lent his stern demeanor an extra degree of arrogance to play the tyrannical Lord Hampton, one of the villainous noblemen opposed by Robin Hood-type hero David Trent (Robert Shaw--not the British actor). In JACK ARMSTRONG, meanwhile, he was Gregory Pierce, a businessman who was secretly collaborating with mad scientist Charles Middleton (Merton's father in DICK TRACY RETURNS) in a plot to rule the world. Hugh Prosser played a scientist who stumbled onto the plot and was abducted to Middleton's island headquarters. Aircraft manufacturer Jim Fairfield (Pierre Watkin), his niece and nephew (Rosemary LaPlanche and Joe Brown Jr.), and their friend Jack Armstrong (John Hart) followed to rescue Prosser and found themselves opposing Middleton's demented plans. Merton, in the meantime, fell out with Middleton and attempted to take over the island, the gang, and the entire plan himself. John and his adherents managed to purloin a valuable raygun from Middleton, but Merton wound up getting zapped by another death weapon, and his partners were wiped out before the final clash between Middleton and the good guys.

Above: Hugh Prosser (far left), I. Stanford Jolley (second from left) and Daun Kennedy look on as John Merton orders his guards to seize Robert Shaw, the SON OF THE GUARDSMAN (Columbia, 1946).

Above: John Merton (hiding in doorway) spies on John Hart (foreground, left) and Pierre Watkin in JACK ARMSTRONG (Columbia, 1947).

BRICK BRADFORD (Columbia, 1948), featured John in a role that at first seemed very similar to his Dr. Tobor character--Dr. Tymak, another inventor harassed by gangsters. Merton, for the third and last time in his career, donned a latex skullcap to play Tymak, but outside of makeup, the character was actually quite different from Tobor. Tymak did not flip his lid and get killed in the last chapter as Tobor had done, but instead retained his sanity throughout the cliffhanger and helped hero Kane Richmond (as Brick) fight the bad guys, headed by Charles Quigley. BRICK BRADFORD, by all accounts, was a rather strange serial, almost a goofy send-up of the cliffhanger genre, and Merton got right in on the wacky doings along with everybody else, at one point rendering himself invisible and repeatedly puncturing Quigley's tires as the villain tried to escape!

Above: An imposing publicity still of John Merton as Dr. Tymak in BRICK BRADFORD (Columbia, 1948).

John's final Columbia serial was THE ADVENTURES OF SIR GALAHAD (Columbia, 1949), which starred future Superman George Reeves as Galahad. Galahad was seeking his knighthood and trying to help King Arthur (Nelson Leigh) recover his stolen sword Excalibur, but the young hero's task was made difficult by the Black Knight, a mysterious traitor who was trafficking with the Saxon king Ulric (Merton). John had developed his haughtiness to the same pitch as his aggressiveness by this time, and put it to good use as the regal, but very tough, Ulric.

Merton utilized this winning combination for his last serial, RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (Republic, 1949), in which he played the top villain, the brains heavy, for the first and last time in his serial career. It was appropriate that John's serial swan song should be at Republic, and it was equally appropriate that they should reward one of the best henchmen of their early years by letting him play the head villain. As John Baroda, the Spy King of the title, Merton spent the whole serial in his unique hideout--a bomber plane that could be moved from location to location--but his scheming brain was definitely behind all the moves of his chief lieutenants, Anthony Warde and Eve Whitney. Baroda was trying to stop the construction of a chain of radar stations along the American/Mexican border, but scientist Jean Dean, G-man Kirk Alyn, and Mexican policeman George J. Lewis persevered in the face of Merton's assaults. Alyn tracked Merton to the plane hideout in the last chapter, and the two antagonists finally met face to face. John got the upper hand and ordered the plane to take off, planning to let Alyn "exit" the bomber at 12,000 feet. Thanks to a bit of stupidity on Warde's part, however, Alyn was able to start a fight, in the course of which John wound up taking the 12,000-foot fall himself, a spectacular end to his career of serial villainy. John packed all the energy of his earlier portrayals into his Baroda, lowering his always-rough voice to such a pitch that it resembled the vicious hiss of George Macready himself. He created one of the best of the later Republic villains, a figure completely worthy of being called the Spy King.

Above: John Merton prepares to blast Kirk Alyn from the skies while Eve Whitney watches in RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (Republic, 1949).

Above: John prepares to give Jean Dean a shot of will-impairing "morphatol" with the help of Eve Whitney in RADAR PATROL VS. SPY KING (Republic, 1949).

John made thirty more screen appearances after RADAR PATROL, playing major and minor roles in B-westerns, A-westerns, TV, and even a couple of Cecil B. DeMille pictures, including THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH. His last movie was DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS in 1956, after which he retired to Los Angeles, where he died of a heart attack in 1959.

John Merton was a key member of the serial world for fifteen years. In those fifteen years, he lent his talent as a henchman to some of Republic's all-time classics, and improved many of Sam Katzman's low-budget outings simply by his presence. His jutting jaw and commanding bearing enabled him to hold center stage at all time, and he gave us some of the fiercest, most implacable heavies ever to bark out a violent order or hiss a sinister command.