Crabbe had to have his hair bleached and waved for the part. He was not happy about this. He wore a hat outside the studio to hide his hair. Crabbe did his own stunts in the serial.
"Flash Gordon" was said to cost $350,000. Most of this cost went into science fiction sets, special effects, and costumes that looked like those in the comic strip. Crabbe was every boy's dream of a hero. He was strong, handsome, and honest. Jean Rogers played his girlfriend Dale Arden. Charles B. Middleton played his enemy, Ming the Merciless, the ruler of the planet Mongo.
"Flash Gordon" opened in movie theaters in 1936. It was a great success. Crabbe enjoyed the success, but wished he would get a part in a major motion picture. Paramount renewed his 1937 and 1938 contracts with raises. In 1938, he was paid $600 per week. He also played in crime movies and westerns at this time.
A sequel to "Flash Gordon" was made in 1938 called "Flash Gordon's Trip to Mars". It was a low budget serial and used scenes from the prequel. Crabbe was disappointed with the serial, but he was happy playing Flash again because the part had made him famous.
In 1938, he made another serial for Universal called "Red Barry". It was a modern detective story set in San Francisco. The serial was based on a comic strip by Will Gould.
Crabbe left Paramount in 1939. Crabbe told an interviewer that the studio did not want to give him a raise. "I spent more time away from my lot than I put there ... I was under contract there (Paramount) from 1932 to 1939. And it didn't cost them a penny. Every time I was loaned out they were paid ... I was supposed to get a $250 raise per week. And the studio called my agent and said we would like him to stay but we don't want to give him a raise." Crabbe's agent knew Universal had the star in mind for more serials and convinced him to leave Paramount. He had made 26 B-movies during his six years with Paramount, but never a major movie.
In 1939, he made another serial for Universal called "Buck Rogers". Like "Flash", it was based on a popular science fiction comic strip. Crabbe was paid $1,000 per week. Universal made Crabbe's third and final Flash Gordon serial, "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe" in 1940. Crabbe was paid a flat $25,000. He became known as "The King of the Serials". He had made five serials for Universal and owed Universal (not Paramount) the stardom he had won.
Crabbe was disappointed with "Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe". He said, "I never forgave Universal for making a cheateryou know, using stock stuffof the last one ... The first serial ("Flash Gordon"), however, was the most expensive serial ever made, about $500,000 ... To risk this kind of money for a serial ... well, I thought they were crazy. Crazy."
Crabbe made a total of nine movie serials during his career. The last three were made for Columbia Pictures. In 1947, he made "The Sea Hound", and, in 1950, "Pirates of the High Seas". His last serial was "King of the Congo" in 1952.
Between 1941 and 1946, Crabbe starred in a series of westerns for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC). He played a crime-fighting cowboy called Billy the Kid. Billy was not based on the real life outlaw of the American Old West, but the character's name was changed to Billy Carson to avoid confusion. Crabbe had signed with PRC for only two movies, but those two movies were hugely popular so the studio continued the series.
These PRC westerns took 10–12 days to make, and cost about $25,000 each. They were 50–60 minutes long, and were the second features on double bills. Crabbe made about eight of these westerns every year. He had time to make other movies during the year, too. He made jungle pictures and crime movies.
When World War II started, PRC had to make budget cuts. The shooting schedules for the "Billy" westerns were cut back from 10–12 days to 7–8 days. There was no time or money to correct mistakes. In one scene, for example, Crabbe bumps his head on a window frame as he jumps through the window. There was no time or money to reshoot the scene; it had to be left as it was.
Crabbe did not serve in the military during World War II because he was 34 years old and had a family. Instead, he made training movies for the Field Artillery. He kept making westerns for PRC during the war. In 1942 and 1943, he made 15 westerns. Crabbe's PRC contract ran out in 1946. He had made 36 "Billy" westerns for PRC.
Crabbe made five movie westerns between 1957 and 1965. None of these movies was special in any way. In 1970, he played an old cowboy in "The Comeback Trail". The movie did not do well. Crabbe said it was the best movie he ever made, but there were too many sexy scenes so families stayed away. He tried to convince the producers to make the movie more family-friendly by cutting the "heavy" scenes, but they refused. His last movies were "Swim Team" in 1979 and "The Alien Dead" in 1980.
During the summer months through the years he made the "Billy" movies, Crabbe kept swimming and also did water shows. About 1946, he put his savings into his own show. He called it, "The Aqua Parade". He said his two-hour show was a "labor of love" as well as a "profitable occupation". In 1947, his show played in cities and state fairs across the United States over a five-month period. The show got good reviews. Crabbe was in the water ballet and in a part of the show called "The Evolution of Swimming".
In 1950, the show went to Europe. It had problems. The company was asked to make new costumes and scenery for the Paris show. Crabbe knew this would cost a lot of money, but everyone in the show agreed that doing this would be better than going back to America. The show met more problems in Italy. The company had to swim in cold water in Milan because there was no time to heat the pool. Additionally, the show lost money because it played in a small arena with limited seating. In the end, Crabbe was $100,000 in debt and went back to America wondering what he was going to do. He started doing television.
Crabbe moved to the East Coast of the United States to be the host of a live, local New York City children's program called, "The Buster Crabbe Show". The series was televised on weekday evenings starting on March 12, 1951. The series setting was a western bunkhouse. Old western movies, serials, and comedies were shown. Crabbe shared games, stories, and other activities with the program's viewers.
During the production days of this show, Crabbe was also a swimming and boating counselor at his 16-building, boys and girls summer camp called "Buster Crabbe's Camp Meenahga" at Saranac Lake, New York in the Adirondack Mountains.
Although the program's title was changed to "Buster's Buddies", it was cancelled on October 3, 1952. It returned to television on September 21, 1953. A live kiddie audience was brought to the program, but the program was not popular. It was cancelled again on March 26, 1954.
Crabbe played Michael Gallant in the NBC adventure television series, "Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion". The series was televised from 1955 to 1957. It is set in modern Morocco where Captain Gallant was in charge of an outpost in the desert. He fought thieves, desert tribes, and other villains. Crabbe's son Cullen played Cuffy Sanders in the series. Cuffy was an orphan boy whose father had died in action with the Legion.
The Crabbes had signed a contract for three 30-minute episodes. These three episodes could be changed into a 90-minute movie for theaters if the television series failed. The three episodes were a success. The H. J. Heinz Company agreed to sponsor the series. Thirty-six 30-minute episodes were made. Crabbe was paid $1,000 per episode. Working on the series would take most of his time. He dropped his New York City television series, "The Buster Crabbe Show", so he could make "Captain Gallant".