The Gem Theater: Man Hunt In The African Jungle

Introduction

Downtown Wichita Falls, Texas, in the mid 1940’s was a bustling metropolis for a boy of 7 just away from the farm and ranch community where he was born. My father, a cook and cowboy by trade, had just started as one of the first cooks for the Casa Manana restaurant in 1947. He moved us to an apartment on Ohio Street, right across from the Gem Theater, between 7^th and 8^th Streets. It’s here that we would stay for the next three years. The Gem Theater became a magic palace for a young mind. But it had to share that distinction with the rest of the magic that was Wichita Falls. I attended San Jacinto and Carrigan elementary schools, as well as Reagan Junior High, and belonged to the Boys Club on 6th Street. Please join, and share your stories and pictures through a Guest Blog, of early Wichita Falls - or your home town. Contact me at fadingshadows40@gmail.com or leave a comment. We could use old pictures of movie houses, drive-in theaters, and other nostalgic pictures related to our youths.

Sunday, May 29, 2016

Man Hunt In The African Jungle

MAN HUNT IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE or SECRET SERVICE IN DARKEST AFRICA, either title, they’re the same serial. My copy happens to be MAN HUNT IN THE AFRICAN JUNGLE. This is a 15-chapter Republic serial with Rod Cameron as secret agent Rex Bennett and Joan Marsh as Janet Blake, and American correspondent working secretly as a United Nations agent. Both are working with French officer Pierre LaSalle (Duncan Renaldo). They are after Gestapo agents who have infiltrated the North African tribes. Baron Von Rommeir is disguised as Sultan Abou Ben Ali, who is kept a prisoner in the dungeon, while Von Rommeir leads the tribes against the United Nations. I always loved the fight scenes with Rod Cameron, they liked to throw things more than fists – tables, chairs, etc. Lots of fun. Equally fun was watching Arabs riding horses with western saddles, with California scenery as a backdrop, firing six shooters like cowboys. And this takes place in Casablanca. Oh well, California does look a little like North Africa.