![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p19_i1_w1448.png?width=640)
POVERTY ROW ROYALTY: The Films of Producer Sigmund Neufeld and His Brother, Director Sam Newfield
by THOMAS REEDER
They were that rarity in Hollywood: independent filmmakers who thrived.
They were the Neufeld brothers, Sig and Sam, filmdom’s most prolific producer-director team of the Twentieth Century. From the tenements of the Lower East Side to Hollywood’s independent film colony, the brothers flourished from the earliest days of the industry in New York until the B-film’s ubiquity came to a flickering end in the late 1950s.
Producer Sigmund Neufeld and his brother, director Sam Newfield—the modified surname was adopted early on—were permanent denizens of Hollywood’s cinematic underbelly, unflattering known as Poverty Row. While they dabbled in most genres—the comedy shorts of the silent era to the dramas, mysteries, musicals, comedies, and horror films of sound—it was the Western genre that they both thrived in, and are most remembered for. Featuring the likes of such sagebrush heroes as Tim McCoy, Bob Steele, and Buster Crabbe, the brothers were collectively responsible for more than 300 films over their lengthy careers, both as a team and individually. And that’s a modest count: Sig had his hands in countless films from 1911 to 1929 for which he received no credit, and Sam directed many using pseudonyms—we know of two for certain—shunning credit altogether for others, the titles of which remain unknown. And despite the frugal underpinnings of most of their films and the casts of green newcomers and fading has-beens alike, several notables received boosts to their fledgling careers in Sig’s films, Shirley Temple, Alan Ladd, and Julie London among them.
Up until 1948 when the U.S. Supreme Court forced the divestiture of the major film studios’ considerable theater holdings, there co-existed thousands of smaller, independently owned neighborhood and rural theaters. Essentially cut off from the major studios’ more prestigious output, these smaller theaters survived on a steady diet of films from independent producers such as Producers Releasing Corp, Monogram, and dozens of other, in many instances fly-by-night operations. Sig and Sam, benefiting from years of experience in production harkening back to cinema’s earliest days, produced a seemingly endless stream of surprisingly entertaining and reliably affordable fare, the lifeblood of those small, unaffiliated theaters. A nearly half-century presence in the industry, the brothers’ longevity and productivity bears mute testimony to their place in the world of low budget cinema, and their importance to theater owners nationwide.
POVERTY ROW ROYALTY provides a frank and detailed look at the lives and careers of two of Hollywood’s minor (but nonetheless important) mainstays, filmmakers who have been unfairly dismissed over the intervening years, now finally receiving the attention and reassessment they most rightly deser
Foreword by Ed Hulse.
Published July 2024. 7x10, 550 pages, softcover.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p20_i1_w1448.jpeg?width=640)
POVERTY ROW ROYALTY: The Films of Producer Sigmund Neufeld and His Brother, Director Sam Newfield
by THOMAS REEDER
They were that rarity in Hollywood: independent filmmakers who thrived.
They were the Neufeld brothers, Sig and Sam, filmdom’s most prolific producer-director team of the Twentieth Century. From the tenements of the Lower East Side to Hollywood’s independent film colony, the brothers flourished from the earliest days of the industry in New York until the B-film’s ubiquity came to a flickering end in the late 1950s.
Producer Sigmund Neufeld and his brother, director Sam Newfield—the modified surname was adopted early on—were permanent denizens of Hollywood’s cinematic underbelly, unflattering known as Poverty Row. While they dabbled in most genres—the comedy shorts of the silent era to the dramas, mysteries, musicals, comedies, and horror films of sound—it was the Western genre that they both thrived in, and are most remembered for. Featuring the likes of such sagebrush heroes as Tim McCoy, Bob Steele, and Buster Crabbe, the brothers were collectively responsible for more than 300 films over their lengthy careers, both as a team and individually. And that’s a modest count: Sig had his hands in countless films from 1911 to 1929 for which he received no credit, and Sam directed many using pseudonyms—we know of two for certain—shunning credit altogether for others, the titles of which remain unknown. And despite the frugal underpinnings of most of their films and the casts of green newcomers and fading has-beens alike, several notables received boosts to their fledgling careers in Sig’s films, Shirley Temple, Alan Ladd, and Julie London among them.
Up until 1948 when the U.S. Supreme Court forced the divestiture of the major film studios’ considerable theater holdings, there co-existed thousands of smaller, independently owned neighborhood and rural theaters. Essentially cut off from the major studios’ more prestigious output, these smaller theaters survived on a steady diet of films from independent producers such as Producers Releasing Corp, Monogram, and dozens of other, in many instances fly-by-night operations. Sig and Sam, benefiting from years of experience in production harkening back to cinema’s earliest days, produced a seemingly endless stream of surprisingly entertaining and reliably affordable fare, the lifeblood of those small, unaffiliated theaters. A nearly half-century presence in the industry, the brothers’ longevity and productivity bears mute testimony to their place in the world of low budget cinema, and their importance to theater owners nationwide.
POVERTY ROW ROYALTY provides a frank and detailed look at the lives and careers of two of Hollywood’s minor (but nonetheless important) mainstays, filmmakers who have been unfairly dismissed over the intervening years, now finally receiving the attention and reassessment they most rightly deser
Foreword by Ed Hulse.
Published July 2024. 7x10, 550 pages, hardcover.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p18_i1_w2150.jpeg?width=640)
STORY OF GROVER JONES
Grover Jones was one of the most prolific screenwriters during the first decade of sound films in Hollywood. It is estimated that over 65% of Paramount Pictures' releases in the 1930s featured work by Grover Jones as the writer, gag man or script doctor. However, in the previous decade Jones, in addition to his work as a writer/gag man, directed some great silent comedies. This book is the story of those days with Jones working with the likes of W.C. Fields, Billy Franey and Joe Rock told in his own words. Also included is a detailed filmography of his work in silent films. An unjustly forgotten filmmaker, this is the first book on Grover Jones.
Published 2024, 6x9 softcover, 293 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p17_i2_w2532.png?width=640)
POKES & JABBS: THE BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER OF THE VIM FILMS CORPORATION ***HARDCOVER***
A history of the Vim Films Corporation, from its start as Wizard Comedies through the years as Vim in Jacksonville, Florida to its last days as Jaxon Comedies. Featuring as the centerpiece the comedy team of Pokes (Bobby Burns) and Jabbs (Walter Stull). Includes also other comedians such as Babe Hardy, Kate Price and Raymond McKee.
Published 2023, 7x10 hardcover, 480 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p16_i1_w687.jpeg?width=640)
POKES & JABBS: THE BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER OF THE VIM FILMS CORPORATION
A history of the Vim Films Corporation, from its start as Wizard Comedies through the years as Vim in Jacksonville, Florida to its last days as Jaxon Comedies. Featuring as the centerpiece the comedy team of Pokes (Bobby Burns) and Jabbs (Walter Stull). Includes also other comedians such as Babe Hardy, Kate Price and Raymond McKee.
Published 2023, 7x10 softcover, 480 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p7_i3_w714.jpeg?width=640)
THE POKES & JABBS PICTURE BOOK
Compiled by ROB STONE
All the photos that weren't fit to print! Actually, a collection of photos and trade ads that wouldn't fit into the book POKES & JABBS. A fun collection of images that are a great compliment to the larger book, or just plain fun on their own.
Published 2022. 8 1/2 x 11 softcover, 72 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p14_i1_w724.jpeg?width=640)
VICTOR MOORE AND HIS KLEVER KOMEDIES
by STEVE MASSA & ROB STONE
Victor Moore was a successful stage actor but left the stage temporarily in 1916 to film a series of silent short comedies called Klever Komedies. This book details those films made before he became a well known character actor in sound films.
Published 2023. 6x9 softcover, 128 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p9_i4_w781.png?width=640)
THE KLEVER KOMEDIES PICTURE BOOK
Compiled by ROB STONE & STEVE MASSA
A gallery of photographs, most not used in the VICTOR MOORE AND HIS KLEVER KOMEDIES book.
Published 2023. 8 1/2 x 11 softcover, 76 pages.
![](/uploads/1/3/8/2/138222679/s461805115692416767_p2_i4_w791.jpeg?width=640)
LAUREL OR HARDY: THE SOLO FILMS OF STAN LAUREL & OLIVER "BABE" HARDY
by ROB STONE
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made 107 films together (depending on whose counting) but three times that many as solo comedians. LAUREL OR HARDY looks at both of the Boys' careers before they became the greatest comedy team of all time. A detailed film-by-film look.
Published 1995; 6x9 hardback, 576 pages.