Republic Films 75th Anniversary

Republic Pictures, historic home of sci-fi serials and B-movie cowboys like Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, celebrated its 75th anniversary on September 25. In the meantime the former Republic Studios has become the CBS Studio Center, but its role in cinematic history is still remembered.

Click on the link to the 75th anniversary website for galleries filled with nostalgic images of old movie posters and photos of B-movie stars.

Those who attended the festivities in person saw screenings of Republic films, serials and trailers, live performances of swing and western music, entertainment by gun spinners, rope twirlers, trick horses, and cowboy poets, and a diverse collection of memorabilia. There also was a special Republic Pictures stamp cancellation ceremony of the U.S. Postal Service’s Cowboys of the Silver Screen postage stamps.

Republic Pictures was founded in 1935 by Herbert J. Yates and its fare became synonymous with Saturday afternoon matinees. It gave fandom science fiction serials like The Adventures of Captain Marvel and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe. The studio launched the careers of Gene Autry, Rex Allen, Roy Rogers  — and John Wayne who starred in some of its best-known movies, Flying Tigers (1942), Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), and The Quiet Man (1952).

[Thanks to Bill Warren for the story.]