All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom TV-series, broadcast on the CBS television network for nine seasons, from January 12, 1971 to April 8, 1979. The following September, it was continued with the spin-off series Archie Bunker's Place, which picked up where All in the Family had ended and ran for four more seasons. All in the Family was produced by Bud Yorkin, it starred Carroll O'Connor, Jean Stapleton, Sally Struthers, Rob Reiner. The show revolves around the life of his family; the show broke ground in its depiction of issues considered unsuitable for a U. S. network television comedy, such as racism, infidelity, women's liberation, religion, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with more dramatic moments and realistic, topical conflicts; the show was an American version of an earlier British show, the BBC sitcom Till Death Us Do Part, with Archie Bunker modeled after his British counterpart, Alf Garnett.
All in the Family is regarded in the United States as one of the greatest television series of all time. Following a lackluster first season, the show soon became the most watched show in the United States during summer reruns and afterwards ranked number one in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976, it became the first television series to reach the milestone of having topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive years. The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked number 13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time. TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as number four. Bravo named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time. In 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked All in the Family the fourth-best written TV series and TV Guide ranked it as the fourth-greatest show of all time. All in the Family is about a typical working-class Caucasian family living in New York, its patriarch is Archie Bunker, an outspoken, narrow-minded man prejudiced against everyone, not like him or his idea of how people should be.
Archie's wife Edith is understanding, though somewhat naïve and uneducated. Their one child, Gloria, is kind and good-natured like her mother, but displays traces of her father's stubbornness and temper. Gloria is married to college student Michael Stivic – referred to as "Meathead" by Archie – whose values are influenced and shaped by the counterculture of the 1960s; the two couples represent the real-life clash of values between the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers. For much of the series, the Stivics live in the Bunkers' home to save money, providing abundant opportunity for them to irritate each other; the show is set in the Astoria section of Queens, with the vast majority of scenes taking place in the Bunkers' home at 704 Hauser Street. Occasional scenes take place in other locations during seasons, such as Kelsey's Bar, a neighborhood tavern where Archie spends a good deal of time and purchases, the Stivics' home after Mike and Gloria move to the house next door; the house seen in the opening is at 89-70 Cooper Avenue near the junction of the Glendale, Forest Hills, Rego Park sections of Queens.
Supporting characters represent the demographics of the neighborhood the Jeffersons, a black family, who live in the house next door in the early seasons. Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker: Frequently called a "lovable bigot", Archie was an assertively prejudiced blue-collar worker. A World War II veteran, Archie longs for better times when people sharing his viewpoint were in charge, as evidenced by the nostalgic theme song "Those Were the Days". Despite his bigotry, he is portrayed as loving and decent, as well as a man, struggling to adapt to the changing world, rather than someone motivated by hateful racism or prejudice, his ignorance and stubbornness seem to cause his malapropism-filled arguments to self-destruct. He rejects uncomfortable truths by blowing a raspberry. Former child actor Mickey Rooney was Lear's first choice to play Archie, but Rooney declined the offer because of the strong potential for controversy, in Rooney's opinion, a poor chance for success. Scott Brady of the Western series Shotgun Slade declined the role of Archie Bunker, but appeared four times on the series in 1976 in the role of Joe Foley.
O'Connor appears in all but seven episodes of the series' run. Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker, née Baines: Edith is Archie's kind-hearted wife. Archie tells her to "stifle" herself and calls her a "dingbat", although Edith defers to her husband's authority and endures his insults, on the rare occasions when Edith takes a stand, she proves to have a simple but profound wisdom. Despite their different personalities, they love each other deeply. Stapleton developed Edith's distinctive voice. Stapleton decided to leave at that time. During the first season of Archie Bunker's Place, Edith was seen in five of the first 14 episodes in guest appearances. After that point, Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off-camera, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat". Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes of All in the Family. In the series' first episode, Edith is portrayed as being less of a ding
Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures is an American film studio owned by Comcast through the Universal Filmed Entertainment Group division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Founded in 1912 by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane, Jules Brulatour, it is the oldest surviving film studio in the United States, the world's fifth oldest after Gaumont, Pathé, Nordisk Film, the oldest member of Hollywood's "Big Five" studios in terms of the overall film market, its studios are located in Universal City and its corporate offices are located in New York City. Universal Pictures is a member of the Motion Picture Association of America, was one of the "Little Three" majors during Hollywood's golden age. Universal Studios was founded by Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley, Robert H. Cochrane and Jules Brulatour. One story has Laemmle watching a box office for hours, counting patrons and calculating the day's takings.
Within weeks of his Chicago trip, Laemmle gave up dry goods to buy the first several nickelodeons. For Laemmle and other such entrepreneurs, the creation in 1908 of the Edison-backed Motion Picture Trust meant that exhibitors were expected to pay fees for Trust-produced films they showed. Based on the Latham Loop used in cameras and projectors, along with other patents, the Trust collected fees on all aspects of movie production and exhibition, attempted to enforce a monopoly on distribution. Soon and other disgruntled nickelodeon owners decided to avoid paying Edison by producing their own pictures. In June 1909, Laemmle started the Yankee Film Company with partners Abe Julius Stern; that company evolved into the Independent Moving Pictures Company, with studios in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where many early films in America's first motion picture industry were produced in the early 20th century. Laemmle broke with Edison's custom of refusing to give screen credits to performers. By naming the movie stars, he attracted many of the leading players of the time, contributing to the creation of the star system.
In 1910, he promoted Florence Lawrence known as "The Biograph Girl", actor King Baggot, in what may be the first instance of a studio using stars in its marketing. The Universal Film Manufacturing Company was incorporated in New York on April 30, 1912. Laemmle, who emerged as president in July 1912, was the primary figure in the partnership with Dintenfass, Kessel, Swanson and Brulatour. All would be bought out by Laemmle; the new Universal studio was a vertically integrated company, with movie production and exhibition venues all linked in the same corporate entity, the central element of the Studio system era. Following the westward trend of the industry, by the end of 1912 the company was focusing its production efforts in the Hollywood area. On March 15, 1915, Laemmle opened the world's largest motion picture production facility, Universal City Studios, on a 230-acre converted farm just over the Cahuenga Pass from Hollywood. Studio management became the third facet of Universal's operations, with the studio incorporated as a distinct subsidiary organization.
Unlike other movie moguls, Laemmle opened his studio to tourists. Universal became the largest studio in Hollywood, remained so for a decade. However, it sought an audience in small towns, producing inexpensive melodramas and serials. In its early years Universal released three brands of feature films—Red Feather, low-budget programmers. Directors included Jack Conway, John Ford, Rex Ingram, Robert Z. Leonard, George Marshall and Lois Weber, one of the few women directing films in Hollywood. Despite Laemmle's role as an innovator, he was an cautious studio chief. Unlike rivals Adolph Zukor, William Fox, Marcus Loew, Laemmle chose not to develop a theater chain, he financed all of his own films, refusing to take on debt. This policy nearly bankrupted the studio when actor-director Erich von Stroheim insisted on excessively lavish production values for his films Blind Husbands and Foolish Wives, but Universal shrewdly gained a return on some of the expenditure by launching a sensational ad campaign that attracted moviegoers.
Character actor Lon Chaney became a drawing card for Universal in the 1920s, appearing in dramas. His two biggest hits for Universal were The Phantom of the Opera. During this period Laemmle entrusted most of the production policy decisions to Irving Thalberg. Thalberg had been Laemmle's personal secretary, Laemmle was impressed by his cogent observations of how efficiently the studio could be operated. Promoted to studio chief, Thalberg was giving Universal's product a touch of class, but MGM's head of production Louis B. Mayer lured Thalberg away from Universal with a promise of better pay. Without his guidance Universal became a second-tier studio, would remain so for several decades. In 1926, Universal opened a production unit in Germany, Deutsche Universal-Film AG, under the direction of Joe Pasternak; this unit produced three to four films per year until 1936, migrating to Hungary and Austria in the face of Hitler's increasing domination of central Europe. With the advent of sound, these productions were made in the German language or Hungarian or Polish.
In the U. S. Universal Pictures did not distribute any of this subsidiary's films, but at least some of them were exhibited through othe
Encino, Los Angeles
Encino is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. In 1769, the Spanish Portola expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north through Sepulveda pass into the San Fernando Valley on August 5 and stayed two nights at a native village near what is now Los Encinos State Historic Park. Fray Juan Crespi, a Franciscan missionary travelling with the expedition, named the valley "El Valle de Santa Catalina de Bononia de Los Encinos". All of Crespi's name was dropped except "Encino". Rancho Los Encinos was established in 1845 when a large parcel of former Mission San Fernando land was granted to three Mission Indians by governor Pio Pico. Many ranchos were created after the secularization of the California missions, which began in 1834. Encino derives its name from the rancho; the 2000 U. S. census counted 41,905 residents in the 9.5-square-mile Encino neighborhood — 4,411 inhabitants per square mile, among the lowest population densities for the city but average for the county.
In 2008, the city estimated that the resident population had increased to 44,581. In 2000 the median age for residents was 42, considered old for county neighborhoods; the neighborhood was considered "not diverse" ethnically within Los Angeles, with a high percentage of white residents. The breakdown was whites, 80.1%. Iran and Russia were the most common places of birth for the 32.8% of the residents who were born abroad—an average percentage for Los Angeles. The median yearly household income in 2008 dollars was $78,529, considered high for the city; the percentage of households that earned $125,000 and up was high for Los Angeles County. The average household size of 2.3 people was low when compared to the rest of the city and the county. Renters occupied 38.4% of the housing stock and house- or apartment-owners held 61.6%. The percentages of divorced residents and of widowed men and women were among the county's highest. In 2000 military veterans amounted to 10.6 % of a high rate for the county.
Encino is situated in the central portion of the southern San Fernando Valley and on the north slope of the Santa Monica Mountains. It is flanked on the north by Reseda and the Sepulveda Basin, on the east by Sherman Oaks, on the southeast by Bel-Air, on the south by Brentwood and on the west by Tarzana; the local economy provides jobs in health care, social services, professional services sectors. There are 3,800 businesses employing about 27,000 people at an annual payroll of $1.4 billion. Encino is in Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors district 3 and Los Angeles City Council District 5, it is represented within the city of Los Angeles by the Encino Neighborhood Council, an advisory body under the auspices of the city Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. The United States Postal Service operates the Encino Post Office at 5805 White Oak Avenue and the Balboa Van Nuys Post Office at 4930 Balboa Boulevard. Forty-six percent of Encino residents aged 25 and older had earned a four-year degree by 2000, a high percentage for both the city and the county.
The percentage of those residents with a master's degree or higher was high for the county. Schools within the Encino boundaries are: Encino is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District. Hesby Oaks Leadership Charter School, LAUSD, 15530 Hesby Street Encino Charter Elementary School, LAUSD, 16941 Addison Street Emelita Street Elementary School, LAUSD, 17931 Hatteras Street Fred E. Lull Special Education Center, LAUSD, 17551 Miranda Street Lanai Road Elementary School, LAUSD, 4241 Lanai RoadAs of 2009, there are no public high schools in Encino. Public high schools serving portions of Encino are Birmingham High School in Lake Balboa, Reseda High School in Reseda. In 1982 the board considered closing Rhoda Street Elementary School in Encino. In April 1983 an advisory committee of the LAUSD recommended closing eight LAUSD schools, including Rhoda Street School. In August 1983 the board publicly considered closing Rhoda. In 1984 the board voted to close the Rhoda Street School. Sage Academy, elementary, 5901 Lindley Avenue Westmark School, 5461 Louise Avenue Holy Martyrs Armenian High School/Ferrahian, 5300 White Oak Avenue Crespi Carmelite High School, 5031 Alonzo Avenue Our Lady of Grace School, elementary, 17720 Ventura Boulevard Los Encinos School, elementary, 17114 Ventura Boulevard Saint Cyril of Jerusalem, elementary, 4650 Haskell Avenue Valley Beth Shalom Day School, 15739 Ventura Boulevard International School of Los Angeles, 5933 Lindley Avenue California State Parks operates the 5-acre Los Encinos State Historic Park in Encino.
The park includes the original nine room de la Ossa Adobe, the Garnier Building, a blacksmith shop, a pond, a natural spring. The Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, located in Encino, includes the Woodley Worel/Magnus Cricket Complex with the four best grass cricket pitches in the United States. Host to many famous stars and games reflecting cricket's origins in Los Angeles from 1888. Included in the basin is the Encino Golf Course and the Balboa Golf Course, having a total of 36 golf holes; the Balboa Municipal Golf Course, a short-length golf course, was lengthened by Steve Timm in 2008. The Balboa course has a banquet room, back nine play, cart rental, club rental, classes, a lighted driving range, a loun
Chase (1973 TV series)
Chase is an American crime drama television series that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1973, to August 28, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and marked the first show created by Stephen J. Cannell, who became known for creating and/or producing his own programs, including NBC's The A-Team. Jack Webb directed the pilot, which aired March 24, 1973; the show's title had a double meaning: it was at once the first name of the lead character, Chase Reddick, the leader of a special team of the Los Angeles Police Department that specialized in solving unusually difficult or violent cases, indicative of the show's emphasis on the determined pursuit and undercover surveillance of hardened criminals. The unit, headquartered in an old firehouse, relied on alternate/undercover means of transportation such as helicopters, custom vans, four wheel-drive vehicles and muscle cars, work trucks and high-speed driving to apprehend its suspects.
For the first fourteen episodes, Reddick, an LAPD captain, was accompanied by K-9 Sergeant Sam MacCray and three young officers: Steve Baker, Norm Hamilton, Fred Sing. In January 1974, Webb and Universal dropped all the regulars except Ryan and Maunder in favor of a new group of officers: Frank Dawson, Ed Rice, Tom Wilson. Never seen, but "appearing" in every episode was actual LAPD dispatcher Shaaron Claridge, who had worked on Dragnet and Adam-12. NBC first scheduled the show on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. Eastern, opposite CBS' hit series Maude and Hawaii Five-O. At about the same time as the casting change, the network moved Chase to Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. against the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Despite the declining appeal and ratings of the latter, Chase did no better there and ended after a one-season run. Cannell would re-use the format of a team of specialists in The A-Team, co-created with Frank Lupo a decade later. Robert A. Cinader, who supervised Mark VII's Adam-12 and Emergency!, was executive producer of Chase.
Mitchell Ryan... Capt. Chase Reddick Craig Gardner... Tom Wilson Brian Fong... Off. Fred Sing Wayne Maunder... Sgt. Sam MacCray Albert Reed... Frank Dawson Gary Crosby... Ed Rice Reid Smith... Off. Norm Hamilton Shaaron Claridge Michael Richardson... Off. Steve Baker Total Television: A Comprehensive Guide to Programming from 1948 to the Present, Alex McNeil, New York: Penguin, revised ed. 1984. ISBN 0-140-15736-0 Chase on IMDb Chase at epguides.com
The Rebels (miniseries)
The Rebels is a 1979 American made-for-television drama film based on the historical novel, The Rebels, written by John Jakes published in 1975. It is second in a series known as the American Bicentennial Series; the story mixes fictional characters with historical events and figures, to narrate the nascent United States of America during the time of the American Revolution. While it continues the story of Philip Kent, started in The Bastard, a large portion focuses on Judson Fletcher, a newly introduced character, as a different rebel. In 1979, the novel was made into this television film by Operation Prime Time; the Rebels was preceded by The Bastard, first in the series, followed by The Seekers, third in the series. Philip Kent takes part in the newly formed congress. Andrew Stevens — Phillipe Charboneau/Philip Kent Don Johnson — Judson Fletcher Doug McClure — Eph Tait Jim Backus — John Hancock Richard Basehart — Duke of Kentland Joan Blondell — Mrs. Brumple Tom Bosley — Benjamin Franklin Macdonald Carey — Dr. Church Rory Calhoun — Breen Kim Cattrall — Anne Kent John Chappell — Henry Knox William Daniels — John Adams Anne Francis — Mrs. Harris Peter Graves — George Washington Pamela Hensley —Charlotte Waverly Gwen Humble — Peggy McLean Wilfrid Hyde-White — Gen. Howe Nehemiah Persoff — Baron Von Steuben William Smith — John Waverly Warren Stevens — Ambrose Waverly Kevin Tighe — Thomas Jefferson Bobby Troup — Sam Gill Forrest Tucker — Angus Fletcher Tanya Tucker — Rachel Robert Vaughn — Seth McLean William Conrad — Narrator The Rebels on IMDb
Quincy, M.E.
Quincy, M. E. is an American medical mystery-drama television series from Universal Studios that aired from 1976 to 1983 on NBC. Jack Klugman stars as a Los Angeles County medical examiner. Inspired by the book Where Death Delights by Marshall Houts, a former FBI agent, the show resembled the earlier Canadian television series Wojeck, broadcast by CBC Television. John Vernon, who played the Wojeck title role guest starred in the third-season episode "Requiem for the Living". Quincy's character is loosely modeled on Los Angeles' "Coroner to the Stars" Thomas Noguchi. Quincy was broadcast as 90-minute telefilms as part of the NBC Sunday Mystery Movie rotation in the fall of 1976, alongside Columbo, McCloud and McMillan; the series proved popular enough that after four episodes of Quincy, M. E. had aired during the 1976–1977 season in the extended format, Quincy was spun off into its own weekly one-hour series without a typical 60-minute pilot. Instead, a two-hour episode kicked off a thirteen-episode shortened run of the series, which concluded the 1976–1977 season, while the Mystery Movie format was discontinued in the spring of 1977.
The Quincy series used the same actors for different roles in various episodes, a common occurrence on many Glen A. Larson TV programs. Writers Tony Lawrence and Lou Shaw received an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1978 for the second-season episode "... The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone...". The series starred Jack Klugman as Dr. Quincy, a strong-willed principled Medical Examiner for the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office, working to ascertain facts about and reasons for possible suspicious deaths, his colleagues and wife all address him by his surname or the shortened "Quince". He was called "Winslow" in the episode. In his investigations, Quincy comes into conflict with his boss, Dr. Robert Asten, the police, in particular, LAPD Homicide Lieutenant Frank Monahan. Quincy and Asten would tussle 37 minutes into an episode, after which time Quincy would close the case for good; each have their own theories about a particular case and about Quincy's deductions. In early episodes, Quincy's relationship with both men is volatile and nearly adversarial.
This changed in episodes where Quincy appears to have much closer professional and personal relationships with the two. Quincy is assisted by Sam Fujiyama, it is revealed in the episode "The Last of Leadbottom" Quincy is a retired Captain in the US Navy and remains in the Naval Reserve. In the episode "Crib Job", Quincy notes he wanted to be a railroad engineer, after revealing a number of facts about the dangers of the occupation. A well-liked man, Quincy lives on a sailboat in a permanent boat slip in Marina Del Rey and frequents Danny's, a restaurant and lounge at the marina owned by his friend Danny Tovo. Quincy is popular with women, he lost his wife Helen to cancer. In the Mystery Movie installments and earliest hour-long episodes, Quincy has a regular girlfriend named Lee Potter who sometimes accompanies him on his cases; this is his only steady relationship until near the end of the seventh season, when Quincy remarries and sells the sailboat in the episode "Quincy's Wedding". Quincy drives an antique car, but friends sometimes ask why he drives his "work vehicle" on his day off.
Quincy claims. Early seasons' episodes contained elements of mystery and whodunit and focused on criminal investigation. Seasons' episodes began to introduce themes of social responsibility. Quincy, M. E. was one of the first dramatic series to use a format like this to further a social agenda. Klugman himself came to testify before the US Congress about some of these issues, describing what he had learned about a difficult or complex social concern as a result of its use in one of the show's episodes. In 2008, Klugman sued NBC, asserting that the network had concealed profits from the show which were owed to him. While many detective series had depicted rudimentary physical evidence analysis such as fingerprints and bullet comparisons, Quincy M. E. was the first to present the in-depth forensic investigations which would be the hallmark of detective shows such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and its spin-offs, NCIS, Diagnosis Murder, Crossing Jordan, inter alia. Klugman himself made guest appearances on the latter two serie
Hal Roach
Harold Eugene Roach Sr. was an American film and television producer and actor, active from the 1910s to the 1990s. He is best known today for producing Our Gang film comedy series. Hal Roach was born in the grandson of Irish immigrants. A presentation by the great American humorist Mark Twain impressed Roach as a young grade school student. After an adventurous youth that took him to Alaska, Hal Roach arrived in Hollywood, California, in 1912 and began working as an extra in silent films. Upon coming into an inheritance, he began producing short film comedies in 1915 with his friend Harold Lloyd, who portrayed a character known as Lonesome Luke. In September 1916, Roach married actress Marguerite Nichols, they had Hal Jr. and Margaret M. Roach. After 25 years of marriage, Marguerite died in March 1941. Roach married a second time on September 1942, to Lucille Prin, a Los Angeles secretary, they were married at the on-base home of Colonel Franklin C. Wolfe and his wife at Wright-Patterson Airfield in Dayton, where Roach was stationed at the time while serving as a major in the United States Army Air Corps.
Roach and Lucille had four children, Elizabeth Carson Roach, Maria May Roach, Jeanne Alice Roach, Kathleen Bridget Roach. Unable to expand his studios in Downtown Los Angeles because of zoning, Roach purchased what became the Hal Roach Studios from Harry Culver in Culver City, California. During the 1920s and 1930s, he employed Lloyd, Will Rogers, Max Davidson, the Our Gang kids, Charley Chase, Harry Langdon, Thelma Todd, ZaSu Pitts, Lupe Vélez, Patsy Kelly and, most famously and Hardy. During the 1920s, Roach's biggest rival was producer Mack Sennett. In 1925, Roach hired away F. Richard Jones. Roach released his films through Pathé Exchange until 1927, he converted his silent movie studio to sound in late 1928 and began releasing talking shorts in early 1929. In the days before dubbing, foreign language versions of the Roach comedies were created by reshooting each film in the Spanish and sometimes Italian and German languages. Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase, the Our Gang kids were required to recite the foreign dialogue phonetically working from blackboards hidden off camera.
In 1931, with the release of the Laurel & Hardy film Pardon Us, Roach began producing occasional full-length features alongside the short product. Short subjects were phased out by 1936, save for the Our Gang series. An Our Gang feature film General Spanky did not do as well as expected. In 1937, Roach conceived a joint business venture partnering with Vittorio Mussolini, son of fascist Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, to form a production company called "R. A. M". Roach claimed the scheme involved Italian bankers providing US$6 Million that would enable Roach's studio to produce a series of 12 films. Eight would be for Italian screening only whilst the remaining four would receive world distribution; the first film for Italy was to be a feature film of the opera Rigoletto. This proposed business alliance with Mussolini caused MGM to intervene and force Roach to pay his way out of the venture; this embarrassment, coupled with the underperformance of much of Roach's new feature product, led to the end of Roach's relationship with MGM.
In May 1938, Roach ended his distribution contract with MGM, selling them the production rights to, actors' contracts for Our Gang in the process, signed with United Artists. From 1937 to 1940, Roach concentrated on producing glossy features, abandoning low comedy completely. Most of his new films were either rugged action fare. Roach's one venture into heavy drama was the acclaimed Of Mice and Men, in which actors Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney Jr. played the leading roles. The Laurel and Hardy comedies, once the Roach studio's biggest drawing cards, were now the studio's least important product and were phased out altogether in 1940. In 1940, Roach experimented with medium-length featurettes, he contended that these "streamliners", as he called them, would be useful in double-feature situations where the main attraction was a longer-length epic. Exhibitors used Roach's mini-features to balance top-heavy double bills. United Artists continued to release Roach's streamliners through 1943. By this time, Roach no longer had a resident company of comedy stars and cast his films with familiar featured players.
Hal Roach, Sr. commissioned in the US Army Signal Reserve Corps in 1927 was called back to active military duty in the Signal Corps in June 1942, at age 50. The studio output he oversaw in uniform was converted from entertainment featurettes to military training films; the studios were leased to the U. S. Army Air Forces, the First Motion Picture Unit made 400 training and propaganda films at "Fort Roach". Members of the unit included Alan Ladd. After the war the government returned the studio to Roach, with millions of doll
