It was an era in which we needed ......."heroes!" Those years preceding, during, and after WW II. The movie going public clamored for them.....and we got them! Those "cliffhanger" movie serials! 12 to 16 episodes, each averaging 12 to 15 minutes in length.Masked crusaders battling foreign agents....or..............the "mad scientist" who, in his laboratory, developed a contraption to melt mountains enabling him to rule the world....or just a crusader to protect the public from any villain bent to disrupt society as we knew it.
The science fiction heroes, Superman, Captain Marvel, Flash Gordon . Buck Rogers, "King" of the Rocketmen(there was only 'one) and countless others.
All doomed to die, in some fashion, at the end of each episode, whether it being surrounded by villains, or in a vehicle last seen rolling off the edge of a cliff with our hero trapped inside, unconscious and........ helpless........so we thought. And we returned, each week, to see how such a fate was averted. And, we loved them.
They enriched our pride, putting our country"first", proving that "good..........conquered evil. We felt good about ourselves and.......
We still.........................can.......'united'
(Where are you when we need you!)
r.riddle: 12-11-2016
Originally titled "AfterWW II", I changed it to "Cliffhangers." They began in the mid 1930's, although there were some in the "silent" movie years.