11x14-inch lobby card for "Shanghai Rose," a relatively early Trem Carr production, distributed by W. Ray Johnston. Directed by Scott Pembroke; cinematography by
Hal Depew (a Carr regular); featuring
Irene Rich as the title character,
William Conklin,
Richard Walling,
Ruth Hiatt,
Tony Merlo,
Syd Saylor,
Robert Dudley,
De Sacia Mooers and Viola Porter.
Trem Carr quit the construction trade in Illinois in 1922 and came out West to make movies. By 1926 he was doing just that in Placerita Canyon under his own name, Trem Carr Productions.
In 1928 he teamed up with W. Ray Johnston to form the production company Syndicate Pictures Corp. In 1931, Carr and Johnston reorganized Syndicate into the first iteration of Monogram Pictures Corp.,
with Johnston as president and Carr in charge of production. That same year, Carr leased property in Placerita Canyon which would eventually become part of Walt Disney's Golden Oak Ranch. In 1936,
when Carr's lease was up, he moved his Western movie town down Placerita Canyon Road to property purchased for that purpose by set designer Ernie Hickson, another 1922 arrival.
Hickson's Placeritos Ranch was renamed Melody Ranch when Gene Autry bought it following Hickson's death. Johnston, incidentally, lived in
Newhall part-time in the 1940s, in a Charley Mack house on 8th Street.
Carr also rented the occasional studio space on Poverty Row (Gower Gulch) in Hollywood. Not having seen "Shanghai Rose," we don't know where it was filmed. The movie probably
no longer exists; more than half of all pictures made before about 1930 are lost, and this appears to be one of them. All that's left are lobby cards and other promotional ephemera.
LW3006: 9600 dpi jpeg from original lobby card purchased 2017 by Leon Worden.