PAMELA BLAKE
August 6th, 1918 --

Above: Pamela Blake with John Wayne himself in a scene from WYOMING OUTLAW (Republic, 1939), a Three Mesquiteers B-western in which Pamela appeared under her real name of Adele Pearce.

One of the lesser-known serial heroines, Pamela Blake (real name Adele Pearce), was nevertheless one of the more prolific, appearing in four different cliffhangers and doing serial work at all three of the major studios (two for Columbia, and one each for Republic and Universal). She was also very versatile; her four serials were as different from each other as could be--one was a jungle-sea serial, one was a detective thriller, another a spy-sabotage adventure, and the fourth was a Western. And, in addition to being prolific and versatile, Pamela was also attractive and talented--an excellent serial heroine.

Above: Rita White (Pamela Blake) and the masked Zorro (Clayton Moore) in GHOST OF ZORRO (Republic, 1949), Pamela's last serial.

Like so many other leading lights of the cliffhanger, Pamela Blake started her career as an aspiring star, working for RKO, MGM, and other big studios, beginning in the late thirties. She had major roles in B+ films like MGM’s THE OMAHA TRAIL in 1942 (in which she played the female lead opposite fellow serial alumnus and MGM’s planned Clark Gable replacement, James Craig), and minor but juicy parts in A-films like Alfred Hitchcock’s MR. AND MRS. SMITH. But, like so many before her, she didn't "make it" and wound up working in B-westerns for studios like Republic, Monogram, and PRC. Starting in 1946, she also began to work in serials.

Her first was CHICK CARTER, DETECTIVE (Columbia, 1946). Supposedly based on the pulp novel character of boy detective Chick Carter, the serial completely changed its source material by casting middle-aged Lyle Talbot as Chick. Talbot was a good actor, but he was simply too old and portly to be a convincing action hero, so Columbia let him recede into the background while reporter Rusty Farrell (Douglas Fowley, better known for playing the crazed director Dexter in SINGING IN THE RAIN and Doc Holliday on THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WYATT EARP) handled most of the active work. Talbot only participated in two cliffhangers; the rest of the perils were undergone by Fowley, his sidekick Eddie Acuff, and Pamela Blake as the heroine, Ellen Dale, a nosy amateur sleuth who becomes involved in the serial's main plot; an insurance fraud and diamond theft involving a gangster (George Meeker) a nightclub owner (Charles King), and his star singer (Julie Gibson). CHICK CARTER is not very popular among serial fans, due to its "plot-rather-than-action" approach, but others enjoy it for this same unusual attitude.

Above: In this lobbycard for CHICK CARTER DETECTIVE (Columbia, 1946), Julie Gibson, standing, overpowers Pamela Blake, seated, in the lower right hand corner. Above them, an unidentified player, a policeman, and Lyle Talbot shoot it out with unseen foes; Eddie Acuff is shown in the lower left hand corner.

Pamela's second serial was Universal Pictures' last: THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M in 1946. She played Shirley Clinton, a reporter who aids police detective Richard Martin and federal agent Dennis Moore in their efforts to uncover the title villain, a mysterious spy and saboteur. MR. M is generally not considered one of Universal's best serials, but it had three good stars, a good supporting cast (Jane Randolph, Danny Morton, Byron Foulger, and Joseph Crehan, among others) and some good action scenes. Universal could have picked a worse final cliffhanger. It may have been Universal's last, but it wasn't the end of Pamela Blake's serial career by any means.

Above, from left to right: Pamela Blake, Cyril Delevanti, Dennis Moore, and Richard Martin in THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M (Universal, 1946).

Pamela's next serial was a Columbia: THE SEA HOUND in 1947. Blake played Ann Whitney, a young girl in search of her scientist father (Milton Kibbee), who vanished while searching for a lost Spanish treasure in the tropic islands. Her father's old "friend", Stanley Rand (Hugh Prosser) accompanies her in her search, but is really after the treasure for himself. Captain Silver (Buster Crabbe), skipper of the Sea Hound, and his pals Jerry (Ralph Hodges), Tex (Jimmy Lloyd), and Kukai (Spencer Chan) come to Ann's aid and help her find her father and defeat the Admiral (Robert Barron) a modern-day pirate leader after the fortune in Spanish gold. Pamela was subjected to one of the more unusual serial cliffhanger situations in SEA HOUND, nearly being devoured by a man-eating plant at the end of one episode!

Above: Buster Crabbe and Pamela Blake set sail for home in the last chapter of THE SEA HOUND (Columbia, 1947).

Blake's final serial was GHOST OF ZORRO (Republic, 1949). As Rita White, daughter of a telegraph company owner murdered by outlaws, she carried on a valiant struggle to get the telegraph completed, and was aided by the masked and unknown hero, Zorro. Unbeknownst to her, her chief engineer, Eastern dude Ken Mason (Clayton Moore) was actually the masked avenger, a grandson of the original Zorro, Don Diego Vega. The outlaws, who wanted to stop the telegraph's completion because they realized it would help bring law and order to the West, were headed by Roy Barcroft and secretly bossed by friendly blacksmith Eugene Roth. GHOST OF ZORRO was Republic's last Zorro cliffhanger, and the serial that got Clayton Moore his Lone Ranger part, as well as being Pamela's last serial. It's not only historically significant, though; it's also an entertaining cliffhanger, with good performances from Clayton, Pamela, and the entire cast.

Above: Clayton Moore and Pamela Blake mourn the death of Pamela's father in this lobby card for the first chapter of GHOST OF ZORRO (Republic, 1949).

Like most of the serial heroines, Pamela continued to make occasional appearances in various films, including several of Don Barry's Westerns at Lippert Productions in the late forties. She retired sometime in the early fifties, and continues to live happily in California. Maybe she isn't as well known a heroine as Linda Stirling or Kay Aldridge, but Pamela Blake still gave her serial heroine roles her very best, and made an enduring niche for herself in cliffhanger history.

Above: Pamela Blake and Dennis Moore take cover in this scene from Pamela's second serial, THE MYSTERIOUS MR. M (Universal, 1946).