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During the 1930's, a number of low budget film companies proliferated in Hollywood known collectively as Poverty Row. One of their more productive and ambitious residents was young Maurice H. Conn who had served his apprenticeship at another one of the 'minors', Mascot Pictures, as assistant to its president Nat Levine. Deciding to go into independent production himself, Conn set himself up at Talisman Studios on Sunset Boulevard and proceeded to release feature films under three separate labels: Ambassador-Conn Pictures, Conn Pictures and Melody Pictures Corporation. The majority of these were westerns which Conn exhibited via "states rights" film exchanges across thirteen cities in the United States.
Conn's single notable signing was Kermit Maynard, younger brother of established cowboy star Ken Maynard (in whose pictures he sometimes appeared as a stunt double). Kermit was a top class athlete and circus performer, excelling in horsemanship. He was once billed as "The World's Champion Trick and Fancy Rider". Kermit eventually starred in (as well as doing his own stunts) eighteen of Conn's horse operas, including ten in the Northwest Mounted series for Ambassador which were based on stories by James Oliver Curwood. Other semi-regular performers included Frankie Darro and the Native American Olympic athlete Jim Thorpe, who was invariably cast as Indians or henchmen. These low-budget features usually made money at the box office, partly due to a strong supporting cast of character players and mostly due to superior production values. Picturesque on-location shooting and a minimum of stock footage proved to be a definite advantage.
Often filming at breakneck pace, helmed by experienced directors like John English, Conn turned out eight pictures per year from 1935. He hit his peak in 1937 with fourteen releases. For Conn, running a small film studio in competition with the 'majors' was always going to a high risk enterprise. Following a series of expensive flops under the Melody banner in 1938, Ambassador became one of Poverty Row's many fatalities. Conn continued in the industry for most of the 1940's, producing low budget pictures for Monogram, 20th Century Fox and Eagle-Lion.
