George F. Houston
Encyclopedia
George Fleming Houston was an American B-western
film actor and accomplished singer in the early half of the 20th century.
, his parents were Thomas and Margaret Fleming Houston. His father, Thomas, was from Scotland
, and had been blind
ed as a child in an accident. His father became a successful Presbyterian minister, and was called, respectfully, "the blind evangelist". George Houston attended his fathers services, and learned to sing through the church.
Although Hollywood would later advertise that George Houston attended Rutgers University
, he did not. Instead, he attended Blair Academy
, in New Jersey
, where he ran track
, then later he attended the "Institute of Musical Art", the original name for what would eventually become Juilliard School
. Houston received two degrees, one in voice, and one for teaching music.
Houston joined the US Army, serving in France during World War I, attached to the 17th French Division, in the Ambulance
Service. His military service ran from June 5, 1917 to April 12, 1919.
In 1923 he began studying at the Eastman School of Music
in Rochester. Houston garnered leading bass roles in such operas as Boris Godunov
and Faust
under the direction of Vladimir Rosing
. Members of Rosing's opera department soon spun off into the American Opera Company
, touring the United States and Canada successfully for several years until the Depression grounded the promising venture in 1930. Highlights for Houston included a performance of Carmen
with guest artist Mary Garden
, a season at the Guild Theater on Broadway and a performance for President Coolidge in Washington, D.C. in December 1927.
In 1935 a small production company, Grand National Pictures, took notice of Houston, and hired him to play the lead role in the 1936 film Captain Calamity
, then later to play the role of Wild Bill Hickok
in Frontier Scout. The film, released in 1938, was successful, and brought Houston to the notice of other production companies. That same year he would play a small role in Blockade
with Henry Fonda
and Madeleine Carroll
, but in which he was billed as "George Byron."
By 1940, following several failed film endeavors, Grand National Pictures was in trouble, and they went out of business soon after. Houston had been billed prior to this time by a new company, Producers Distribution Corp., as the future character of Billy the Kid
in an eight film series for that company. However, when it came time to film the series, Bob Steele
was cast in the role for six episodes, and was replaced by Buster Crabbe
following Steele's departure to Republic Pictures
.
Despite his not being cast in the "Billy the Kid" role, Producers Distribution, known as PDC, did give Houston his own series of films. In total, he would play in eleven films surrounding his character "The Lone Rider". Al "Fuzzy" St. John played his sidekick
in all eleven films. However, by the end of 1942, Houston was being replaced by veteran actor Bob Livingston
in the character of the "Lone Rider". St. John and actor Dennis Moore
would remain with the series.
Houston would return to his singing interests, but died unexpectedly on November 12, 1944, of a heart attack. His wife, Virginia Card, was at the time starring in the Broadway hit Oklahoma!
, which had just debuted in 1943. Houston was, at the time of his death, preparing to take his opera company on a nationwide tour.
B-movie
A B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
film actor and accomplished singer in the early half of the 20th century.
Early life, World War I service
Born and raised in Hampton, New JerseyHampton, New Jersey
Hampton is a Borough in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2010 Census, the borough population was 1,401.What is now Hampton was originally incorporated by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature as Junction Borough on February 20, 1895, from portions of both Lebanon...
, his parents were Thomas and Margaret Fleming Houston. His father, Thomas, was from Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and had been blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
ed as a child in an accident. His father became a successful Presbyterian minister, and was called, respectfully, "the blind evangelist". George Houston attended his fathers services, and learned to sing through the church.
Although Hollywood would later advertise that George Houston attended Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
, he did not. Instead, he attended Blair Academy
Blair Academy
Blair Academy is a private, coeducational, secondary boarding high school with an enrollment of about 448 students for grades nine through twelve. The school has 78 faculty members...
, in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, where he ran track
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, then later he attended the "Institute of Musical Art", the original name for what would eventually become Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
. Houston received two degrees, one in voice, and one for teaching music.
Houston joined the US Army, serving in France during World War I, attached to the 17th French Division, in the Ambulance
Ambulance
An ambulance is a vehicle for transportation of sick or injured people to, from or between places of treatment for an illness or injury, and in some instances will also provide out of hospital medical care to the patient...
Service. His military service ran from June 5, 1917 to April 12, 1919.
In 1923 he began studying at the Eastman School of Music
Eastman School of Music
The Eastman School of Music is a music conservatory located in Rochester, New York. The Eastman School is a professional school within the University of Rochester...
in Rochester. Houston garnered leading bass roles in such operas as Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
and Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
under the direction of Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Rosing
Vladimir Sergeyevich Rosing , aka Val Rosing, was a Russian-born operatic tenor and stage director who spent most of his professional career in England and the United States...
. Members of Rosing's opera department soon spun off into the American Opera Company
American Opera Company
The American Opera Company was the name of four different opera companies active in the United States. The first company was a short-lived opera company founded in New York City in February, 1886 that lasted only one season...
, touring the United States and Canada successfully for several years until the Depression grounded the promising venture in 1930. Highlights for Houston included a performance of Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
with guest artist Mary Garden
Mary Garden
Mary Garden , was a Scottish operatic soprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century...
, a season at the Guild Theater on Broadway and a performance for President Coolidge in Washington, D.C. in December 1927.
Acting career
After doing some stage acting on Broadway, Houston was enticed to try his acting skills in Hollywood by the early 1930s, hoping to win parts in singing films. He received small bit parts in six different films, but no roles that cast him in a starring role, nor a singing role. After his sixth, he found himself unemployed.In 1935 a small production company, Grand National Pictures, took notice of Houston, and hired him to play the lead role in the 1936 film Captain Calamity
Captain Calamity (film)
Captain Calamity is a 1936 American film directed by John Reinhardt and starring George Houston.- Cast :*George Houston as Captain Bill Jones / Captain Calamity*Marian Nixon as Madge Lewis*Vince Barnett as Burp*Juan Torena as Mike*Movita as Annana...
, then later to play the role of Wild Bill Hickok
Wild Bill Hickok
James Butler Hickok , better known as Wild Bill Hickok, was a folk hero of the American Old West. His skills as a gunfighter and scout, along with his reputation as a lawman, provided the basis for his fame, although some of his exploits are fictionalized.Hickok came to the West as a stagecoach...
in Frontier Scout. The film, released in 1938, was successful, and brought Houston to the notice of other production companies. That same year he would play a small role in Blockade
Blockade (1938 film)
Blockade is a 1938 American drama film directed by William Dieterle and starring Madeleine Carroll, Henry Fonda and Leo Carrillo. During the Spanish Civil War a farmer takes up arms to fight for the Republican side.-Cast:* Madeleine Carroll - Norma...
with Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
and Madeleine Carroll
Madeleine Carroll
Edith Madeleine Carroll was an English actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:Carroll was born at 32 Herbert Street in West Bromwich, England. She graduated from the University of Birmingham, England with a B.A. degree...
, but in which he was billed as "George Byron."
By 1940, following several failed film endeavors, Grand National Pictures was in trouble, and they went out of business soon after. Houston had been billed prior to this time by a new company, Producers Distribution Corp., as the future character of Billy the Kid
Billy the Kid
William H. Bonney William H. Bonney William H. Bonney (born William Henry McCarty, Jr. est. November 23, 1859 – c. July 14, 1881, better known as Billy the Kid but also known as Henry Antrim, was a 19th-century American gunman who participated in the Lincoln County War and became a frontier...
in an eight film series for that company. However, when it came time to film the series, Bob Steele
Bob Steele (actor)
Bob Steele was an American actor. He was born Robert Adrian Bradbury in Portland, Oregon, into a vaudeville family. After years of touring, the family settled down in Hollywood in the late 1910s, where his father, Robert N...
was cast in the role for six episodes, and was replaced by Buster Crabbe
Buster Crabbe
Clarence Linden "Buster" Crabbe was an American athlete and actor, who starred in a number of popular serials in the 1930s and 1940s.-Birth:...
following Steele's departure to Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures
Republic Pictures was an independent film production-distribution corporation with studio facilities, operating from 1934 through 1959, and was best known for specializing in westerns, movie serials and B films emphasizing mystery and action....
.
Despite his not being cast in the "Billy the Kid" role, Producers Distribution, known as PDC, did give Houston his own series of films. In total, he would play in eleven films surrounding his character "The Lone Rider". Al "Fuzzy" St. John played his sidekick
Sidekick
A sidekick is a close companion who is generally regarded as subordinate to the one he accompanies. Some well-known fictional sidekicks are Don Quixote's Sancho Panza, Sherlock Holmes' Doctor Watson, The Lone Ranger's Tonto, The Green Hornet's Kato and Batman's Robin.-Origins:The origin of the...
in all eleven films. However, by the end of 1942, Houston was being replaced by veteran actor Bob Livingston
Bob Livingston
Robert Linlithgow "Bob" Livingston Jr. is a Washington, D.C.-based lobbyist and a former Republican U.S. Representative from Louisiana...
in the character of the "Lone Rider". St. John and actor Dennis Moore
Dennis Moore (actor)
Dennis Moore was an actor who specialized in western films and film serials....
would remain with the series.
Houston would return to his singing interests, but died unexpectedly on November 12, 1944, of a heart attack. His wife, Virginia Card, was at the time starring in the Broadway hit Oklahoma!
Oklahoma!
Oklahoma! is the first musical written by composer Richard Rodgers and librettist Oscar Hammerstein II. The musical is based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs. Set in Oklahoma Territory outside the town of Claremore in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain and his romance...
, which had just debuted in 1943. Houston was, at the time of his death, preparing to take his opera company on a nationwide tour.
External links
- George Houston at b-westerns.com