Renfrew of the Royal Mounted
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Renfrew of the Royal Mounted was a popular series of boy's adventure books written by Laurie York Erskine that later were filmed and became a series on both radio and television.
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[edit] Canon
Douglas Renfrew was a former Royal Flying Corps officer who joined the Royal North West Mounted Police, later the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
- Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1922)
- The River Trail (1923)
- The Laughing Rider (1924)
- Renfrew Rides Again (1927)
- Renfrew Rides the Sky (1928)
- Renfrew Rides North (1931)
- Renfrew's Long Trail (1933)
- Renfrew Rides the Range (1935)
- Renfrew in the Valley of the Vanished Men (1936)
- Renfrew Flies Again (1941)
Erskine also wrote approximately seventeen Renfrew short stories in The American Boy (1899-1941) magazine.
[edit] Radio
A radio series about "Sergeant Douglas Renfrew" starring House Jameson in the title role that was narrated by author Erskine ran from 1936 to 1940.[1] Several premiums from the program were made by the sponsor Wonder Bread.
[edit] Films
With the popularity of the books, magazine short stories and radio show, a film series was inevitiable and made by Criterion Pictures that released two Renfrew films through Grand National Pictures and six more through Monogram Pictures. As the film and musical Rose Marie was well known as were singing cowboys on the silver screen, Criterion decided that Renfrew would sing. They picked a radio singer named James Newill who had studied opera and made his film debut in Grand National's Something to Sing About. Renfrew also had a faithful dog named Lighting that predated Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. The films were-
- Renfrew of the Royal Mounted (1937)
- On the Great White Trail (1938)
- Fighting Mad (1939) (based on Renfrew Rides Again)
- Crashing Thru (1939)(based on Renfrew Rides the Range)
- Yukon Flight (1940)
- Murder on the Yukon (1940) (based on Renfrew Rides North)
- Danger Ahead (1940)(based on Renfrew's Long Trail)
- Sky Bandits (1940) (based on Renfrew Rides the Sky)
[edit] Television
In 1953 the films were edited into a Renfew of the Royal Mounted television series that featured Newill in new scenes relating events from the films.[2] A television pilot with Arthur Franz as Refrew was filmed but never picked up.[3]
[edit] Parody
Canadian comedian Dave Broadfoot featured a "Corporal Renfrew" character on the Royal Canadian Air Farce radio series. His popularity was such with the RCMP that his character was promoted to Sergeant, then Sergeant Major.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
Renfrew of the Mounties series at IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0259852/
