Many independent American television production companies shot their series outside the United States in the 1950s. Not only did this give audiences a chance to see new locations not shot in a studio but costs were much cheaper, especially as these
runaway productions did not have to pay
residuals or pay American film union wages. In the 1950s a
genre of American television series set in Africa were so popular and prolific they were nicknamed the "Straw Hut Circuit". Unlike most series that were filmed in the United States and used
stock footage of African fauna taken on
safari,
African Patrol was filmed on location in Kenya. Producer and director
George Breakston moved to
Kenya in the early 1950s filming several
safari adventure feature films such as
The Scarlet Spear,
Golden Ivory,
Escape in the Sun and
The Woman and the Hunter. Many of these featured
John Bentley. Breakston also filmed another series in Kenya
The Adventures of a Jungle Boy (1957) also in collaboration with American television producers Jack J. Gross and Philip N. Krasne. ==Episodes==