Ramar of the Jungle

Though Ramar of the Jungle was probably also filmed at Corriganville, a lot of the jungle scenes were filmed at the LA Arboretum in Arcadia at the Lucky Baldwin estate. in the so called jungle garden. I remember going out there and seeing where it was filmed according to the guides......Also the animal scenes were taken from the ???Johnsons who did extensive filming of animals in Africa. It was a regular viewing at our home even in reruns. The first he was in a tent then a lab then was in India for some reason. Reruns ran a long time on channel 11 in the afternoons and us kids never missed them.....one bad guys were named Galvin and Danforth a favorite line which I still remember was....take your time, but HURRY.......

I stepped off the school bus in 1954 and saw a man installing an antenna on the roof. My brothers and sisters and I ran into the house and the first show we saw was Ramar of the Jungle. I'll never forget it as long as I live. TV was simple and entertaining back then. We weren't allowed to watch all day but there wasn't much for a kid to watch after the cartoons in the morning until late afternoon when Ramar of the Jungle came on and other shows like it. At night we watched mostly westerns and cop shows and shows about WWII. They are all fond memories of my childhood. I watch a lot of the same shows today and think how corny they were compared to what we have today but we loved them at the time. Before we got our TV, we had to go into town and watch my big brother's TV. It was usually the Wednesday night fights we watched.

With the coming of television, the smaller Hollywood studios, which had specialized in low-budget movies and serials, were pushed out of theaters, but found a new market ideally suited for the disciplines of their 'assembly-line' productions (short shooting schedules for each episode, reliance on standing sets and stock footage, simple action-oriented plots) in the new media, and many serial 'flavored' series appeared. "Ramar of the Jungle" was one example, and while it didn't enjoy the success of "The Adventures of Superman" or "The Lone Ranger", it was still a fast-paced, exotic-looking adventure show which captivated younger viewers, like me!

Jon Hall, best-known for his RKO 'Arabian Nights' swashbucklers during WWII, starred, as Dr. Tom Reynolds, a man dedicated to healing ('Ramar' was a native term for 'Medicine Man'), who seemed to spend most of his life working out of his tent in the middle of the jungle. His partner, Prof. Howard Ogden (played by happy-go-lucky Ray Montgomery, another film veteran), had a habit of getting the pair into hot water, but also had the scientific skills to implement the solutions that Reynolds would come up with. Dealing with evil hunters and thieves who would come to the jungle to plunder, Reynolds would always arrive in the nick of time to defend the African natives, and save the day.

It wasn't a particularly intellectual show, but it was fun, and Hall and Montgomery had an easy-going chemistry together (and they looked very cool, dressed in khakis!)

Ah, the joys of television during the early days!

If you want adventure and action this is the show to watch. Ramar brought medical help to all who needed it, the local natives who he had to educate to modern medicine, fellow adventurer Professor Ogden, or animals. After helping out in Africa he spent his final season in India.

Ramar was weekly viewing fare in our house. What would seem corny to today's children was then watched in awe. Information would come to the party via a runner who had to cover more miles than a Range Roveer to get there. I seem to recall a Territorial police official who seems to appear out of nowhere to take someone into custody after Reynolds and Ogden ended their criminal career. Looking back I can still see some of the makeup and costumes that had a lot to be desired to be convincing by today's standards. But, that was then and the good guys always won. There was always a good moral ending to each episode. Babbet the monkey, was a great character too. I even had a "Ramar of the Jungle" board game! I would love to watch this series today.