Desperate Trails

Following 1939's "The Phantom Stage", the last of 12 series westerns made at Universal by Trem Carr and Paul Malvern starring Bob Baker, Universal kicked off a new series of six starring their new series-sign Johnny Mack Brown (who had already starred in three Universal serials with one more to go.) Baker was now odd-man-out at the studio as his contract had been with Trem Carr, and Carr and associate Malvern had moved over to Monogram to begin a series of four "Tailspin Tommy" features. Universal, usually late to the party anyway, added Baker and comedian Fuzzy Knight to the first-six Brown films to form a trio angle along the lines of Republic's highly successful "Three Mesquiteers" series, but there were no continuing roles in these films---they even killed Baker off in the 2nd film---and Baker's 2nd-lead soon went to 3rd-lead (behind Knight) and then to "gone" after the sixth film. When Bob Baker was next seen in a film at Universal, it was as the uncredited bus driver in Abbott ...