Who Was Craig Kennedy?
Posted on: June 22, 2012
I bought the Weiss Global Enterprises film library in 2004, and one of the properties was “Craig Kennedy.” Who was this character?
While going through some old files I discovered that he was extremely popular in the 1910’s and 20’s as fiction’s first detective to utilize “modern” criminal science, such as analyzing tire tracks, blood types and finger prints. There were scores of Craig Kennedy short stories and novels, written by Arthur B. Reeve. Later six movie serials, a feature film, 26 television episodes, and even a comic strip were based on his detective hero.
The Weiss Brothers (Adolph, Max, Louis), owners of Weiss Bros.-Artclass Pictures, were pioneers in low-budget filmmaking. In 1927 they made two successive deals with Reeve, which gave them renewable options to produce motion pictures and serials based on his published Craig Kennedy stories, along with a commission for Reeve to write a 10 chapter serial tentatively titled “You Can’t Win.” (Incidentally, the Weiss Bros. were forward-looking enough to include exhibition by “television” into their contracts!) Two 10-chapter silent serials, “The Mysterious Airman” (1927), and “Police Reporter” (1928), along with their first feature talkie, “Unmasked” (1929), were produced and released by Weiss Bros.-Artclass Pictures on a State’s Rights basis.
In 1935 The Weiss Brothers, under the name of Stage and Screen Productions, made another deal with Reeve to produce two serials using the Craig Kennedy stories, “The Clutching Hand” and “The Golden Grave,” and at the same time acquired merchandizing rights, which included fingerprint kits. “The Clutching Hand” was produced, in conjunction with Charles Mintz, and released in 1936 as “The Amazing Adventures of the Clutching Hand.” (“The Golden Grave” was never made.) Yakima Canutt received $125 for performing stunts, but most of the actors were paid only between $3.75 and $10 a day. One of them, Ruth Mix (daughter of Tom Mix), had a good part in the film, but was one of the actors who received only the dismal $3.75. (Apparently she was happy with it, however, as she wrote Louis Weiss thanking him for hiring her, and asking if he had any more work.) The Weiss’ must have had a great deal of confidence in the forthcoming release of “The Clutching Hand,” because they concluded another deal with Reeve just four days prior to its release. Reeve died four months later.
Arthur B. Reeve
On June 12, 1944, Stage and Screen bought all rights, in perpetuity, to the Craig Kennedy character, and stories, from the Reeve family, but no other films were ever produced. Max and Adolph Weiss retired, leaving Louis Weiss, operating under The Louis Weiss Co., with the film library and all other assets, including the rights to Craig Kennedy. In October of 1944, Louis tried to get a publisher, Novel Selections, Inc. to reprint the stories, but was turned down. Then he went to the first publisher of the Kennedy stories, Harper and Brothers, who had great success with the stories 20 years earlier, but was told the stories were too antiquated.
Adrian and Louis Weiss ca. 1949
Louis suffered a heart attack in 1948, and his son, Adrian, who had a background in films, joined the firm to relieve some of the pressure off his father and to exploit their library of old films on television. Television was just starting to take off, and suddenly there was a big demand for old films, particularly produced in the U.S.A. The major studios were afraid to license their pictures to the new medium because their theatrical exhibitors threatened boycotts. Louis and Adrian had no such qualms, because they were no longer in the theatrical business. They knew years before most other producers that television was going to be big, so early on they acquired many feature films, mostly cheap westerns, to augment what they had actually produced. Because of that demand, Louis and Adrian had the foresight to preserve the negatives of their sound era features and serials, as well and dozens of silent 2-reel comedies Weiss Bros.-Artclass had produced in the late 1920s. Most of this material survives to this day.
In 1949, flush with money from licensing their library to TV stations desperate to fill time slots, Adrian and Louis decided to update the Craig Kennedy character and produce 13 half-hour television episodes to be called, “Craig Kennedy, Criminologist.” It was a roll of the dice because they self-funded the project, filming in expensive 35mm, for television syndication (sales to individual stations on a market-by-market basis) without any guarantee they’d be able to sell the show.
Experts at producing films on the cheap, Adrian and Louis kept the Weiss Bros. tradition of using character actors, and former stars, well beyond their prime. For the part of Craig Kennedy they hired the Canadian actor, Donald Woods, who had a long list of credits, but never reached star-status. (He later went on to perform in scores of television programs). They also talked some of the talent into deferring income until the shows went into the black.
The first 13 shows were picked up in many television markets, where amazingly it hit some home-runs, notably in Cleveland, Philadelphia, Kansas City, and particularly in New Orleans (WDSU-TV), where it got a surprising 50 share (half the people watching television), slightly besting “I Love Lucy” and “Dragnet”. A second season was produced, which also did well.
In 1999, Adrian approached me to buy his entire library, known as Weiss Global Enterprises, which controlled hundreds of films, including the Lippert Pictures library, several independent productions, and the Craig Kennedy stories, but wanted three times it’s actual worth. Adrian died in 2001, and I purchased the entire Weiss library at a fair price in 2004, from his son and daughter.
Please see my forthcoming blog, “Craig Kennedy, Criminologist,” for descriptions of each episode in the TV series.
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