Warren Hull
Encyclopedia
John Warren Hull was an actor and TV personality, active from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was one of the most popular serial
actor
s in the action-adventure field.
A native of Gasport, New York
, Hull attended New York University
. Later, he left college to study voice and pursue a career in opera
s and operetta
s. He also worked frequently as a radio
announcer
.
The handsome Hull made his screen debut in 1934 for Educational Pictures
, a short-subject studio. He co-starred opposite singer Sylvia Froos in the "Young Romance" series of musical comedies filmed in New York; Hull often joined Froos in song. In 1935 Hull was signed to a contract by Warner Bros.
, and spent the next few years playing leading men both in dramas and musicals. His best appearance of this period came in The Walking Dead (1936
), a horror movie starring Boris Karloff
and directed by Michael Curtiz
. Some of Hull's early appearances have him billed as "J. Warren Hull."
When his Warner contract expired, Hull had no trouble finding work at other studios. He teamed with Patricia Ellis, one of his leading ladies at Warners, for the 1937 Republic Pictures
musical Rhythm in the Clouds
. He also played romantic leads in a string of features for Monogram Pictures
.
In 1938 Columbia Pictures
terminated its association with the Weiss Brothers, independent producers who had been making adventure serials
for Columbia release, and decided to make its own cliffhangers. Warren Hull was signed for Columbia's first (and probably best) serial production, The Spider's Web
(1938
), based on a popular magazine character. Hull played three parts: criminologist Richard Wentworth, his masked-and-caped alter ego The Spider
, and in a second masquerade, lowlife mobster Blinky McQuade. The personable Hull brought a breezy sense of humor to his serial roles; he is probably the only serial hero who ever laughs on screen! Hull kept audiences following the Spider's thrilling exploits, making The Spider's Web the most popular and profitable serial of the year, outstripping such worthy cliffhangers as Buck Rogers
and Dick Tracy Returns
by a wide margin, according to a tally published in the Motion Picture Herald.
Pleased with Hull's performance, Columbia cast him as Mandrake the Magician
in its 1939 serial. Universal Pictures
starred the now-established serial hero in The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941
) and Columbia put him back in the mask and cloak for The Spider Returns
(1941).
In the mid-1940s Hull returned to radio announcing, appearing with frequency on such programs as The Hit Parade and Vox Pop. Hull was also the emcee of Spin to Win, only the second game show created by the team of Mark Goodson
and Bill Todman
. During the next two decades he hosted TV
-hit programs as Top Dollar, Who in the World, and Beat the Odds; he is best remembered as the host of Strike It Rich
.
Warren Hull died in Waterbury, Connecticut
at age of 71, of heart failure. He is honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame
.
Cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma, or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode of serialized fiction...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s in the action-adventure field.
A native of Gasport, New York
Gasport, New York
Gasport is a hamlet located in the Town of Royalton in Niagara County, New York, United States. The population was 1,248 at the 2000 census. The name is derived from observed natural gas and the historic Erie Canal port at that location...
, Hull attended New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. Later, he left college to study voice and pursue a career in opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s and operetta
Operetta
Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is also closely related, in English-language works, to forms of musical theatre.-Origins:...
s. He also worked frequently as a radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
announcer
Announcer
An announcer is a presenter who makes "announcements" in an audio medium or a physical location.-Television and other media:Some announcers work in television production , radio or filmmaking, usually providing narrations, news updates, station identification, or an introduction of a product in...
.
The handsome Hull made his screen debut in 1934 for Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures
Educational Pictures was a film distribution company founded in 1919 by Earle Hammons . Educational primarily distributed short subjects, and today is probably best known for its series of 1930s comedies starring Buster Keaton, as well as for a series of one-reel comedies featuring Shirley...
, a short-subject studio. He co-starred opposite singer Sylvia Froos in the "Young Romance" series of musical comedies filmed in New York; Hull often joined Froos in song. In 1935 Hull was signed to a contract by Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, and spent the next few years playing leading men both in dramas and musicals. His best appearance of this period came in The Walking Dead (1936
1936 in film
The year 1936 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*May 29 - Fritz Lang's first Hollywood film Fury, starring Spencer Tracy and Bruce Cabot, is released.*November 6 - first Porky Pig animated cartoon...
), a horror movie starring Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
and directed by Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz
Michael Curtiz was an Academy award winning Hungarian-American film director. He had early creditsas Mihály Kertész and Michael Kertész...
. Some of Hull's early appearances have him billed as "J. Warren Hull."
When his Warner contract expired, Hull had no trouble finding work at other studios. He teamed with Patricia Ellis, one of his leading ladies at Warners, for the 1937 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....
musical Rhythm in the Clouds
Rhythm in the Clouds
- Cast :*Patricia Ellis as Judy Walker*Warren Hull as Bob McKay*William Newell as Clyde Lyons*Richard Carle as J.C. Boswell*Zeffie Tilbury as Maggie Conway, the Duchess de Lovely*Charles Judels as Luigi Fernando*Robert Paige as Phil Hale...
. He also played romantic leads in a string of features for Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures
Monogram Pictures Corporation is a Hollywood studio that produced and released films, most on low budgets, between 1931 and 1953, when the firm completed a transition to the name Allied Artists Pictures Corporation. Monogram is considered a leader among the smaller studios sometimes referred to...
.
In 1938 Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
terminated its association with the Weiss Brothers, independent producers who had been making adventure serials
Serial (film)
Serials, more specifically known as Movie serials, Film serials or Chapter plays, were short subjects originally shown in theaters in conjunction with a feature film. They were related to pulp magazine serialized fiction...
for Columbia release, and decided to make its own cliffhangers. Warren Hull was signed for Columbia's first (and probably best) serial production, The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web
The Spider's Web is a Columbia Pictures movie serial based on the pulp magazine character The Spider. The 15-chapter adventure was directed by serial and western specialist Ray Taylor and comedy and serial veteran James W. Horne...
(1938
1938 in film
The year 1938 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*January — MGM announces that Judy Garland would be cast in the role of "Dorothy" in the upcoming Wizard of Oz motion picture. Ray Bolger is cast as the "Tinman" and Buddy Ebsen is cast as the "Scarecrow". At Bolger's insistence,...
), based on a popular magazine character. Hull played three parts: criminologist Richard Wentworth, his masked-and-caped alter ego The Spider
The Spider
The Spider was one of the major pulp magazine heroes of the 1930s and 1940s.- Background :The Spider was created by Harry Steeger at Popular Publications in 1933 as competition to Street and Smith Publications' vigilante hero, The Shadow...
, and in a second masquerade, lowlife mobster Blinky McQuade. The personable Hull brought a breezy sense of humor to his serial roles; he is probably the only serial hero who ever laughs on screen! Hull kept audiences following the Spider's thrilling exploits, making The Spider's Web the most popular and profitable serial of the year, outstripping such worthy cliffhangers as Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers (serial)
Buck Rogers is a Universal serial film based on the Buck Rogers comic strip, starring Buster Crabbe as the eponymous hero, Constance Moore, Jackie Moran and Anthony Warde.-Plot:...
and Dick Tracy Returns
Dick Tracy Returns
Dick Tracy Returns is a Republic Movie serial based on the Dick Tracy comic strip. It was the eleventh of the sixty six serials Republic produced and a sequel to the 1937 serial Dick Tracy, with Ralph Byrd reprising his role as the title character...
by a wide margin, according to a tally published in the Motion Picture Herald.
Pleased with Hull's performance, Columbia cast him as Mandrake the Magician
Mandrake the Magician (serial)
Mandrake the Magician was the seventh serial released by Columbia Pictures.-Plot:Mandrake in this serial works with conjuring tricks and sleight of hand instead of all the all-powerful hypnotism in the comics. Lothar is portrayed as an Asian with hair instead of a giant bald African...
in its 1939 serial. Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
starred the now-established serial hero in The Green Hornet Strikes Again! (1941
1941 in film
The year 1941 in film involved some significant events.-Events:Citizen Kane, consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time, was released in 1941.-Top grossing films :-Academy Awards:...
) and Columbia put him back in the mask and cloak for The Spider Returns
The Spider Returns
The Spider Returns is a Columbia movie serial based on the pulp magazine character The Spider. It was the fourteenth of the 57 serials released by Columbia and a sequel to its 1938 serial The Spider's Web. The first episode runs 32 minutes; the rest are about 17 minutes each.-Plot:Amateur...
(1941).
In the mid-1940s Hull returned to radio announcing, appearing with frequency on such programs as The Hit Parade and Vox Pop. Hull was also the emcee of Spin to Win, only the second game show created by the team of Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson
Mark Goodson was an American television producer who specialized in game shows.-Life and early career:...
and Bill Todman
Bill Todman
William S. "Bill" Todman was an American television producer born in New York City. He produced many of television's longest running shows with business partner Mark Goodson.-Early life:...
. During the next two decades he hosted TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
-hit programs as Top Dollar, Who in the World, and Beat the Odds; he is best remembered as the host of Strike It Rich
Strike It Rich (radio-TV)
Strike It Rich was a controversial game show that aired on American radio and television from 1947-1958 on CBS and NBC. People in need of money appeared and told their tale of woe, then tried to win money by answering some relatively easy questions...
.
Warren Hull died in Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury, Connecticut
Waterbury is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, on the Naugatuck River, 33 miles southwest of Hartford and 77 miles northeast of New York City...
at age of 71, of heart failure. He is honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
.