Sol M. Wurtzel
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Sol M. Wurtzel | |
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Born | Solomon Max Wurtzel September 12, 1890 New York City, New York, US |
Died | April 9, 1958 Los Angeles, California, US | (aged 67)
Resting place | Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California |
Occupation | Motion picture producer |
Sol Wurtzel (born Solomon Max Wurtzel; September 12, 1890 – April 9, 1958) was an American film producer.
Life and career[]
Born in New York City; his parents were both German Jews (Surname Wurtzel is a variant spelling of German and Yiddish wurzel, root in English). Wurtzel worked as an executive assistant to William Fox, founding owner of the Fox Film Corporation. In 1911, Wurtzel hired Alan E. Freedman as a bookkeeper for Fox's fledgling film processing laboratory. Freedman would remain for over 50 years, eventually turning the operation into the gargantuan "Color by DeLuxe" DeLuxe Laboratories. In 1917, Fox sent Wurtzel to California to oversee the studio's West Coast productions. He developed a formula for creating consistently profitable B movies that are heralded today.
Wurtzel eventually became involved in production and between 1932 and 1949 he produced more than 159 films including a large number of both the Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto series as well as other successes such as Bright Eyes in 1934, starring Shirley Temple and featuring her enduring trademark song: "On the Good Ship Lollipop".
He discovered young director John Ford who later went on to earn 4 Academy Awards. He also discovered and made a star of famous cowboy Will Rogers.
Wurtzel cast dancer Rita Hayworth (credited under her given name Rita Cansino) in her first film role, the 1935 production Dante's Inferno. He gave an unknown Marilyn Monroe her first walk-on in his 1947 production of Dangerous Years.
He produced several of Laurel and Hardy's later comedies in the 1940s, including Great Guns (1941), A-Haunting We Will Go (1942), Jitterbugs (1943) and The Big Noise (1944). In 1943, he produced Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas on the guerrilla resistance movement in Serbia.
Personal life and death[]
Ill for many years following a stroke in 1952, Wurtzel died at his home in Hollywood on April 9, 1958.[1] John Ford delivered the eulogy at his funeral. Wurtzel was interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.
Wurtzel served as the first President of Temple Israel of Hollywood.[2]
Neff's house on Bellagio Road in Bel Air, Los Angeles, was designed by Wallace Neff and completed in 1932.[3]
Selected filmography[]
- Rustling for Cupid (1926)
- The Shamrock Handicap (1926)
- Once a Sinner (1931)
- Body and Soul (1931)
- Charlie Chan's Greatest Case (1933)
- The Man Who Dared (1933)
- Smoke Lightning (1933)
- The Last Trail (1933)
- Life in the Raw (1933)
- Walls of Gold (1933)
- Smoky (1933)
- Judge Priest (1934)
- Handy Andy (1934)
- Bright Eyes (1934)
- Charlie Chan in Paris (1935)
- Dante's Inferno (1935)
- Paddy O'Day (1936)
- Ramona (1936)
- Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)
- Gentle Julia (1936)
- Think Fast, Mr. Moto (1936)
- Thank You, Mr. Moto (1937)
- Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)
- The Man Who Wouldn't Talk (1940)
- Charlie Chan in Rio (1941)
- Dressed to Kill (1941)
- Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1941)
- A Haunting We Will Go (1942)
- The Lone Star Ranger (1942)
- Chetniks! The Fighting Guerrillas (1943)
- The Big Noise (1944)
- Backlash (1947)
- Roses Are Red (1947)
- The Invisible Wall (1947)
- Second Chance (1947)
- Half Past Midnight (1948)
- Miss Mink of 1949 (1949)
- Tucson (1949)
Source:[4]
References[]
- ^ "Sol M. Wurtzer, 67, Long a Film-Maker". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- ^ Jewish Journal: "Paul Wurtzel, Son of Hollywood Legendary Producer Sol Wurtzel, Dies at 92" by Rabbi John Rosove June 3, 2014
- ^ Wallace Neff; Virginia Steele Scott Gallery; Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery (1998). Wallace Neff 1895-1982: The Romance of Regional Architecture. Hennessey & Ingalls. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-940512-13-9.
- ^ "Sol M. Wurtzel Filmography". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. American Film Institute. 2019. Retrieved May 22, 2020.
External links[]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sol M. Wurtzel. |
- Works by or about Sol M. Wurtzel at Internet Archive
- Sol M. Wurtzel at IMDb
- Sol M. Wurtzel at Find a Grave
- Sol Wurtzel: The Forgotten Mogul
- "William Fox, Sol M. Wurtzel, and the Early Fox Film Corporation" (McFarland and Company, February 2001) ISBN 0-7864-0857-X
- 1890 births
- 1958 deaths
- Businesspeople from New York City
- Film producers from New York (state)
- American people of German-Jewish descent
- American film studio executives
- Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery
- 20th-century American businesspeople