Today, countless films are released each year across a wide variety of genres with numerous directors, producers, and screenwriters working tirelessly behind the scenes. But when the burgeoning film industry first got its start, it was more of a novelty. 

By the early 1900s, new techniques were introduced that helped propel film into the mass entertainment field it is today. During this expansion period, American screenwriter George Holcombe Plympton is credited with collaborating on more than 300 serials and films. But just how much do you know about him?

George Holcombe Plympton was born on September 2, 1889 in Brooklyn, New York. His earliest known credit dates back to 1912 with the crime short Mrs. Carter’s Necklace. Although he worked on action and comedy shorts, Plympton is noted for concentrating almost exclusively on westerns. This included such films as The Gambling Terror, A Broadway Cowboy, Stolen Ranch, Thunder in the Desert, Arizona Gunfighter, Trail of Vengeance, Doomed at Sundown, Bill the Kid’s Fighting Pals, Feud of the Range, and Gangster’s Den, among others. 

As the early sound era began, Plympton switched his focus to serials, co-scripting and adapting chapter plays for Columbia, Republic, and Universal Studios. One of his earliest credits during this period was for the 12-chapter serial, Tarzan the Fearless, starring Buster Crabbe. He followed this with the science fiction serial Flash Gordon, also starring Crabbe in the titular role, which served as the first screen adventure for the comic strip character. This serial was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1996. Plympton later returned to the character for the serial Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe. 

Along with adapting science fiction characters, Plympton was also involved in the adaption of such pulp magazine characters as The Spider. The Spider’s Web was wildly successful when first released and, according to a tally published in The Motion Picture Herald, was the most popular serial of 1938. As a result, Plympton returned to work on the 1941 follow-up The Spider Returns. At the same time, Plympton adapted a 13-chapter serial based on The Green Hornet radio series. This success also spawned a sequel, The Green Hornet Strikes Again!.

Plympton was also noted for working on The Phantom Creeps serial starring horror icon Bela Lugosi, which was later adapted in DC’s Movie Comics #6. Years later, the screenwriter collaborated on the 15-part Columbia Pictures serial, Superman. This 1948 film is remembered for being the first live-action appearance of Superman on film, portrayed by an uncredited Kirk Alyn. It was praised as a “tremendous financial success” and played in “first-run theaters that had never before booked a serial.” The popularity of both the film and Alyn led to the sequel, Atom Man vs. Superman. DC credits Plympton as playing a role in the creation of both Spider Lady and Lara Lor-Van for the Superman serials.  

Remaining in both the DC and Columbia family, Plympton worked on the serial, New Adventures of Batman and Robin, the Boy Wonder, later known simply as Batman and Robin. Despite serving as a sequel to the Batman serial, this film used different actors, with Robert Lowery as Batman and Johnny Duncan as Robin. The serial was released on DVD in 2005 in Batman and Robin: The Complete 1949 Movie Serial Collection, and throughout 2015 aired weekly on the Turner Classic Movies channel. 

According to IMDB, Plympton’s decade-long career culminated in a total of 307 credits. But despite the significant role he played in the early days of film, and in helping to bring an enduring character such as Superman to film, there is very little information out there on the prolific creator. With the over abundance of movies, television shows, animated series, video games and more starring the Man of Steel, its all too easy to forget his humble beginnings outside of comics. Which is also exactly why Plympton should not be so easily cast aside. 

George H. Plympton died on April 11, 1972 at the age of 82, but his lasting impact on the entertainment industry can be seen to this day.