Editing Monogram Pictures (section)

==Film series==
In 1938, Monogram began a long and profitable policy of making [[film series|series]] and hiring familiar players to star in them. [[Frankie Darro]], Hollywood's foremost tough-kid actor of the 1930s, joined Monogram and stayed with the company until 1950. Comedian [[Mantan Moreland]] co-starred in many of the Darro films and continued to be a valuable asset to Monogram through 1949. Juvenile actors [[Marcia Mae Jones]] and [[Jackie Moran]] co-starred in series of homespun romances, and then joined the Frankie Darro series.

[[Boris Karloff]] contributed to the Monogram release schedule with his ''[[Mr. Wong (fictional detective)|Mr. Wong]]'' mysteries. This prompted producer [[Sam Katzman]] to engage [[Bela Lugosi]] for a follow-up series of Monogram thrillers. 

Katzman's street-gang series [[The East Side Kids]] was an imitation of the then-popular [[Dead End Kids]] features. The first film cast six juveniles who had no connection with the Dead End series, but Katzman signed Dead End Kids [[Bobby Jordan]] and [[Leo Gorcey]], and soon added [[Huntz Hall]] and [[Gabriel Dell]] from the original gang. The ''East Side Kids'' series ran from 1940 to 1945. East Side star Gorcey then took the reins himself and transformed the series into [[The Bowery Boys]], which became the longest-running feature-film comedy series in movie history (48 titles over 12 years). During this run, Gorcey became the highest-paid actor in Hollywood on an annual basis.{{cn|date=December 2022}}

Monogram continued to experiment with film series with mixed results. Definite box-office hits were [[Charlie Chan]], [[The Cisco Kid]], and [[Joe Palooka]], all proven movie properties abandoned by other studios and revived by Monogram. Less successful were the comic-strip exploits of [[Snuffy Smith]] and Sam Katzman's comedy series teaming [[Billy Gilbert]], [[Shemp Howard]], and [[Maxie Rosenbloom]]. 

Many of Monogram's series were westerns. The studio released sagebrush sagas with [[Bill Cody (actor)|Bill Cody]], [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]], [[John Wayne]], [[Tom Keene (actor)|Tom Keene]], [[Tim McCoy]], [[Tex Ritter]], and [[Addison Randall|Jack Randall]] before hitting on the "trio" format teaming veteran saddle pals. [[Buck Jones]], [[Tim McCoy]], and [[Raymond Hatton]] became The Rough Riders; [[Ray (Crash) Corrigan]], [[John "Dusty" King]], and [[Max Terhune]] were [[The Range Busters]], and [[Ken Maynard]], [[Hoot Gibson]], and [[Bob Steele (actor)|Bob Steele]] teamed as The Trail Blazers. When [[Universal Pictures]] allowed [[Johnny Mack Brown]]'s contract to lapse, Monogram grabbed him and kept him busy through 1952.

Monogram was also a useful outlet for ambitious movie stars who wanted to produce their own films. [[Lou Costello]], [[Sidney Toler]], [[Kay Francis]], Leo Gorcey, and [[Arthur Lake (actor)|Arthur Lake]] all pursued independent production, releasing through Monogram.<ref>{{cite book|first=Scott |last=MacGillivray |author-link=Scott MacGillivray |title=''Laurel & Hardy'': From the Forties Forward |edition=2nd |publisher=iUniverse |year=2009 |page=194 |isbn=978-1-4401-7239-7}}</ref>