Character Contest 51 – Alien Nation
I am a huge fan of matinees and serials from the 1930s and 1940s. I have some recurring characters and plots centered around this “Golden Age” of Hollywood. All are original to HeroMachine: The Queen of Venus, Astro-Captain Jack and the Space Pirate Raiders, Solar Ray, Sugary Sweet Plumdrop Chewing Gum, and Golden Eagle Tobacco.
Solar Ray
Close-up
Backstory
Solar Ray
Starring Jimmy Huntsman (b. March 18, 1914 – d. March 16, 1941)
Solar Ray was a popular Saturday matinee during the 1930s sponsored by Golden Eagle Tobacco Theater. The serial’s star was Hollywood newcomer Jimmy Huntsman (né Arthur James Herschell) as Solar Ray, three-fingered alien Prince of the Sun. With his companion Corona the Helio-chimp, Solar Ray fought the evil Nightmen of Pluto who sought to destroy the sun.
It was not the Nightmen who extinguished Jimmy’s bright star. The studio that produced Astro-Captain Jack and the Space Pirate Raiders sued Golden Eagle Tobacco for copyright infringement. After a three year run of weekly filming, Jimmy was out of work. He never landed another acting gig on the silver screen.
Tragically, Jimmy Huntsman died of pneumonia just two days shy of his 27th birthday. It wasn’t until 1998 when Golden Eagle Tobacco settled his estate with his surviving daughter. Golden Eagle’s official position is that smoking two packs of cigarettes a day while wearing an enclosed fishbowl helmet as stipulated in Jimmy’s contract did not contribute to his lung cancer.
