George E. Marshall (December 29, 1891 – February 17, 1975) was an American actor,screenwriter,producer,film andtelevision director, active through the first six decades of film history.
In the 1930s, he established a reputation for comedy, directingLaurel and Hardy in three classic films, and also working on a variety of comedies forFox, though many of his films at Fox were destroyed in a vault fire in 1937.[3] Later in his career he was particularly sought after for comedies. He did around half a dozen films each withBob Hope andJerry Lewis, and also worked withW. C. Fields,Jackie Gleason, andWill Rogers.
Marshall decided to return to Hollywood and work in the movies. He initially worked as an extra. He and another extra, future director Frank Lloyd, once pooled their money to buy a suit and get more work.[4] Marshall eventually moved into stunt work, then directing.[5]
In the early 1920s Marshall directed a series of movies starringTom Mix includingPrairie Trails (1920).[7] For most of the 1920s Marshall directed short films, notably at Fox.[8] In the mid 1920s he was appointed general supervisor of Fox comedy shorts.[9] His credits includedA Flaming Affair with Lex Neal.[10]
Marshall went to Paramount, where he directed Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard in a successful horror-comedyThe Ghost Breakers (1940).
Marshall, Goddard and Stewart madePot o' Gold (1941) for United Artists. Then Marshall went to Columbia forTexas (1941) withGlenn Ford andWilliam Holden, and RKO forValley of the Sun (1942) withLucille Ball. During the making of the latter he celebrated his 25th year in films.[12] By the early 1940s he was best known as a director of Westerns.[13][14]
Also popular was a comedy he made with Bob Hope,Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), and one with Hutton,The Perils of Pauline (1947), a tribute to the old serials that Marshall himself used to direct; it was produced bySol Siegel.[18]
Paramount got him to do another revue-style film,Variety Girl (1947).[19]
In 1946Sight and Sound magazine said Marshall had become:
One of our leading directors of comedy. Not comedy of ideas, however fuzzy or pretentious as withPreston Sturges, the "art" comedy. But showmanship, the Paramount, the Hollywood romantic comedy... of recent years had become so syrupy, plotty and ungay. Marshall has not remodelled the form or made drastic changes. But he has lightened it, sped it up, taken stories that would have remained solemn bores with more literal minded directors and made entertainment out of them, by having a little fun, going just a little wild in the process... With a style that is extroverted, clean, limber, above all natural, casual in its use of slapstick with the effect of making Sturges' slapstick seem almost studied, Marshall, you'll probably find, is the director credit that will explain how many a film with all the external attributes of a stinker... kept you in your seat, interested to the end, as it were, in spite of yourself.[20]
In 1948 he quitBonanza (which becameLust for Gold) with Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino after four days of filming due to disputes with producerS. Sylvan Simon.[22] However he bounced back withMy Friend Irma (1949) which introduced Martin and Lewis.
In 1950 Marshall andWilliam Holden announced they had formed a company to make half hour TV shows but it appears they were not made.[24]
Back at Paramount he didThe Savage (1952) withCharlton Heston,Off Limits (1953) with Hope and Mickey Rooney, andScared Stiff (1953) with Martin and Lewis (remaking his earlierGhost Breakers) .
Marshall and Ford madeCry for Happy (1961) at Columbia, which featured location filming in Japan.[26] He announced plans to make a biopic of Ruth Roland with Debbie Reynolds but it was not made.[27]
In 1963 he celebrated his fiftieth year as a director. "You try to keep up with the spirit of the times", he said. ""You go along with it or wonder why they don't call you any more... Some of my friends have let the world go by them. They couldn't understand the changes... I don't think people have basically changed. They still want to be entertained."[6]
Marshall said his credo was "you should see possibilities and they lead you to other things later on. If you're a mechanic you just do it as written. If you're – I wouldn't say an artist – then you try to make more of it. It's easy to be a mechanic."[6]
His last feature that he directed wasHook, Line & Sinker (1969) starring Lewis.
Lucille Ball chose George Marshall to direct eleven episodes of herHere's Lucy television series in 1969, having previously worked in several Marshall comedies herself.[citation needed]
His last professional job was an acting appearance inPolice Woman.[4] Three days before he died he was inducted into the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame.[5]
^Houseman, John (1976). "Lost Fortnight, a Memoir".The Blue Dahlia: A Screenplay. By Chandler, Raymond. Carbondale. pp. xiii.
^Young, Jordan (2012).Directing Laurel and Hardy. USA: Past Times Publishing Co. pp. 292, 298, 302, 334.
^abcd"George Marshall, Director, Diesauthor=Dreyfuss, John".Los Angeles Times. February 8, 1975. p. A3.
^abROBERT McG. THOMAS Jr. (February 18, 1975). "GEORGE MARSHALL, FILM DIRECTOR, 84: Hollywood Figure 62 Years Dies Made 400 Movies".New York Times. p. 32.
^abcdMURRAY SCHUMACH (September 1, 1963). "HARDY HOLLYWOOD: George Marshall Marks His 50th Year As Director at the Same Old Stand Down Memory Lane Fields' Day".New York Times. p. X5.
^"MIX IN THE SADDLE.: But It Isn't the Horsey Kind, Instead Old-Fashioned Bike".Los Angeles Times. March 27, 1921. p. III35.
^Kingsley, Grace (April 2, 1924). "FLASHES: FOX STILL HERE IAGNATE SEES MANY NEW FILMS IN PRODUCTION".Los Angeles Times. p. A11.
^Kingsley, Grace (January 23, 1926). "FLASHES: STAR STARTS WORK HARRY CAPEY BEGINS ON "FRONTIER TRAIL"".Los Angeles Times. p. 7.
^Kingsley, Grace (October 31, 1925). "FLASHES: FOX EXPANDS BIG STORIES INOLUDE HOYT'S "TRIP TO CHINATOWN"".Los Angeles Times. p. A11.
^Shaffer, George (August 29, 1936). "Director Hurt as He Tries to Teach Dancing: Young Autograph Seekers Storm Autos".Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 16.
^"George Marshall to Be Honored".Los Angeles Times. August 5, 1940. p. 11.
^Frank Daugherty (February 27, 1942). "George Marshall Wins Fame As a Director of Westerns: Hollywood Letter".The Christian Science Monitor. p. 10.
^"PUTTING GUFFAWS INTO THE WESTERN".New York Times. October 12, 1941. p. X4.
^""Star Spangled Rhythm": George Marshall Directs the Greatest Star Cast in History".The Tatler and Bystander. Vol. 167, no. 2175. London. March 3, 1943. p. 261.
^"TEXAS GUINAN FILM DUE AT PARAMOUNT: Screen Biography of NightClub Figure, Starring BettyHutton, Opens Today".New York Times (1923-Current file); New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]25 July 1945. p. 18.
^"SCREEN NEWS: Warners Pay $100,000 Down for 'Hasty Heart' Joan Blondell Gets Top Part".New York Times. February 19, 1945. p. 21.
^Frank Daugherty (April 26, 1946). "'Perils of Pauline' Anew".The Christian Science Monitor. p. 5.
^"PARAMOUNT PLANS STAR-STUDDED FILM: Virtually All Contract Players to Appear in 'Variety Girl'-- Two Openings Today".New York Times. July 10, 1946. p. 18.
^Leonard, Harold. "DIRECTORS MOVING UP".Sight and Sound. Vol. 15, no. 57 (Spring 1946). London. p. 9.
^"Paulette Will Make 'Hazard' for Paramount".The Washington Post. October 12, 1947. p. L5.
^THOMAS F. BRADYS (October 30, 1948). "GEORGE MARSHALL LEAVES COLUMBIA: Director Quits 'Bonanza' Work After Four Days of Shooting in Dispute With Simon".New York Times. p. 11.
^"Marshall Starting 36th Year in Show Business".Los Angeles Times. October 23, 1949. p. D3.
^SIDNEY LOHMAN (May 14, 1950). "NEWS OF TV AND RADIO: Cabinet Meeting Will Be Televised by C.B.S.".New York Times. p. 119.
^Scheuer, Philip K. (June 20, 1954). "A TOWN CALLED HOLLYWOOD: 'Oklahoma!' Cast Complete; Mack Sennett Glances Back".Los Angeles Times. p. D4.
^BILL BECKER (June 27, 1960). "JAPANESE ACTORS STAR IN WESTERN: Sequence in 'Cry for Happy,' With Oriental Cowboys and Indians Filmed in Kyoto".New York Times. p. 21.
^Scheuer, Philip K. (May 12, 1961). "TV Ace With 20th; Vallee Goes Legit: Movies for Children Listed; Debbie May Play Ruth Roland".Los Angeles Times. p. A11.
^"George Marshall Set for Daniel Boone Show".Los Angeles Times. October 9, 1969. p. g26.
^Dettmer, Roger (January 26, 1975). "Hiller in the 'Booth': A director on trial".Chicago Tribune. p. e2.
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