Puritan Pictures Corporation

Background
Puritan Pictures was founded by Sam Katzman, who was also the founder of Victory Productions, in 1935. (In fact, Katzman ran both companies at the same time.) Like most studios on Hollywood's "Poverty Row", they produced mainly outdoor pictures featuring talent who were either underemployed (Tim McCoy, Herman Brix) or desperate (did anyone say Bela Lugosi?). Also, like most small filmmakers, Puritan distributed other studios' output as well. They were more successful in distribution, and by 1936 had abandoned filmmaking completely to concentrate on distributing Excelsior, C. C. Burr, Fanchon Royer and Sentinel pictures. Puritan was history by 1938; Katzman went on to greater reknown at Monogram.

1st Logo (1935-1938)


Nickname: "The Smiling Pilgrim"

Logo: We see a head-and-shoulders portrait of a Puritan pilgrim in traditional garb, looking over his right shoulder and giving the audience a hint of a smile. Bowed above his head is the company's name in Old English font, and below the portrait in block letters is the word "PRESENTS". This usually dissolves, as the theme continues to play, into the film's title.

FX/SFX: None; it's a still logo.

Music/Sounds: The opening theme of the movie, which, true to the studio's low-budget nature, is usually the same theme used throughout Puritan's history, or a slight variation of the same.

Availability: Rare.

Editor's Note: None.