Albert Lewis (producer)

Albert Lewis (producer)
Albert E. Lewis (15 March 1884 – 5 April 1978) was a Polish-born Broadway and film producer. His family emigrated to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York when he was a boy. He became a vaudeville comedian, then started a partnership producing one-act plays for vaudeville. Around 1930 he moved to Hollywood and worked as a film producer with Paramount, RKO, and MGM until after World War II.
Early years
Albert E. Lewis was born on 15 March 1884 in Kolno, Poland, then part of the Russian Empire.
His parents were Nathan and Ida Lewis.
The family was Jewish. They settled in Manhattan's Lower East Side.
Albert E. Lewis attended public high school in New York City.
He was an actor from 1909 to 1913.
He would perform "Dutch" comedy skits in vaudeville shows.
In 1913 he became a member of the firm "Lewis & Gordon".
His partner, Max Gordon, was also from a Lower East Side family of Polish Jewish immigrants and had also performed a "Dutch" act in vaudeville.
Their booking and production agency became known for creating high-quality single-act plays for inclusion in vaudeville programs, such as Eugene O'Neill's In the Zone.
This partnership produced the plays Welcome Stranger, Six Cylinder Love, The Nervous Wreck, Rain, Easy Come, Easy Go, Secrets and The Spider.
In 1925 Lewis produced and directed the original Broadway production of The Jazz Singer, starring George Jessel.
The Jazz Singer opened at the Fulton Theatre on 14 September 1925 and ran for 315 performances.
It was the basis for the breakthrough talking picture The Jazz Singer (1927) starring Al Jolson.
Film producer
Lewis was New York representative of Fox Film Corporation from 1922 to 1929.
By the late 1920s, vaudeville was dying, and the Lewis & Gordon partnership was dissolved.
Lewis moved to Hollywood to work for William Fox, who had once partnered with Max's brother Cliff Gordon in vaudeville acts.
From 1930 to 1931, he was head of the story department at the Fox studio.
In September 1932, he joined the production staff of Paramount in Hollywood. He was made an associate producer.
He produced Torch Singer in 1933.]
In 1934 Lewis produced Ready for Love (1934) for Paramount Pictures.
The film was directed by Marion Gering and starred Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino, Marjorie Rambeau and Trent Durkin.
He produced Come on Marines the same year, directed by Henry Hathaway, also starring Arlen and Lupino.
In 1937 Lewis produced Fight for Your Lady for RKO. The comedy was directed by Ben Stoloff, and starred John Boles, Jack Oakie, and Ida Lupino.
Frank Nugent of The New York Times called the film "a fumbling, unoriginal and infantile farce [which] comes unpleasantly close to being the composite year's worst picture.
In 1942 Lewis and George Balanchine co-produced and co-directed Cabin in the Sky, a Broadway musical with an all-black cast.
Lewis was an associate producer of the film version directed by Vincente Minnelli that was released in 1943.
He was assigned to give Minnelli technical advice since this was the first film he was directing.
Lewis also helped with casting for the film, which was seen as a prestigious opportunity for black actors.
Later career
Lewis' eldest son Arthur Lewis (1916–2006), collaborated with his father on the screenplay for Oh You Beautiful Doll (1949) and on the story for Golden Girl (1951). George Jessel, who had starred in The Jazz Singer, produced these two films. In 1952 Albert and Arthur Lewis produced the Broadway musical Three Wishes for Jamie. Arthur Lewis went on to a distinguished career producing film, TV, and stage shows.
Albert Lewis died on 5 April 1978 in Beverly Hills, California.
He was aged 93.
Filmography
Lewis produced the following films:
1932 No Man of Her Own (uncredited): Paramount, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard
1933 Torch Singer (uncredited): Paramount, directed by Alexander Hall and George Somnes, starring Claudette Colbert, Ricardo Cortez, David Manners
1934 Come On, Marines!: Paramount, directed by Henry Hathaway, starring Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino
1934 One Hour Late: Paramount, directed by Ralph Murphy, starring Joe Morrison, Helen Twelvetrees
1934 Shoot the Works: Paramount, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Jack Oakie, Ben Bernie and band, Dorothy Dell
1934 Ready for Love: Paramount, directed by Marion Gering, starring Richard Arlen, Ida Lupino
1935 College Scandal: Paramount, directed by Elliott Nugent, starring Arline Judge, Kent Taylor
1935 Men Without Names: Paramount, directed by Ralph Murphy, starring Fred MacMurray, Madge Evans, David Holt
1935 Stolen Harmony: Paramount, directed by Alfred L. Werker, starring George Raft and Ben Bernie
1935 The Gilded Lily: Paramount, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Claudette Colbert, Fred MacMurray, Ray Milland
1936 Florida Special: Paramount, directed by Ralph Murphy, starring Jack Oakie, Sally Eilers, Kent Taylor
1936 My American Wife: Paramount, directed by Harold Young, starring Francis Lederer, Ann Sothern, Fred Stone
1936 Till We Meet Again: Paramount, diirected by Robert Florey, starring Gertrude Michael and Herbert Marshall
1937 Fight for Your Lady: RKO, directed by Ben Stoloff, starring John Boles, Jack Oakie, Ida Lupino
1937 She's Got Everything: RKO, directed by Joseph Santley, starring Gene Raymond, Ann Sothern, Victor Moore
1937 The Woman I Love:RKO Radio, directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Paul Muni, Miriam Hopkins, and Louis Hayward
1937 There Goes the Groom: RKO, directed by Joseph Santley, starring Ann Sothern, Burgess Meredith, Mary Boland
1940 Remember the Night (uncredited): Paramount, directed by Mitchell Leisen, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray
1943 Cabin in the Sky (associate producer): MGM, directed by Vincente Minnelli, starring Ethel Waters, Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Lena Horne etc.
1946 The Show-Off: MGM, directed by Harry Beaumont, starring Red Skelton, Marilyn Maxwell, Marjorie Main
1947 Merton of the Movies: MGM, directed by Robert Alton, starring Red Skelton, Virginia O'Brien, Gloria Grahame
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
1884 births
1978 deaths
People from Kolno
People from Łomża Governorate
Emigrants from Congress Poland to the United States
American people of Polish-Jewish descent
American theatre managers and producers
American film producers