Charles Schoenbaum

Charles Edgar Schoenbaum A. S. C. (April 28, 1893 – January 21, 1951) was an American cinematographer. His known film credits began in 1917--although he probably had earlier films--and ended with his untimely death from cancer in 1951. He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1949 for his work on Little Women.

Early life 
He was born in Los Angeles, California, to Anna A. Campbell (age 20) and William E. Schoenbaum (age 22). His brother was Hollywood still photographer Emmett Schoenbaum.

Career 
He began working for Fox Film sometime in the 1910s. Some of the stars he worked with closely were Elizabeth Taylor, W. C. Fields, Mickey Rooney, Gary Cooper, Norma Shearer, Wallace Reid, Abbott and Costello, Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, and many others.

Schoenbaum worked on over 100 films, including several of the Lassie films in the late 1940s. Jeanette MacDonald (who was a dog lover), joked to him, "I've come to this, working with a dog!" He was frequently a cinematographer for Cecil B. DeMille, Louis B. Mayer, Jesse Lasky, and his good friend Victor Fleming. Schoenbaum was also known for Westerns, often shooting on location in the American Southwest and Canada.

Other work 
He sometimes registered screenplays under the pseudonym "Charles Edgar."
 He was also frequently uncredited on films when he was brought in on other people's projects to help fix problems. Some of his films are also missing because he worked under different versions of his name, C. Edgar Schoenbaum, Charles E. Schoenbaum, and C. E. Schoenbaum. Sometimes it has been misspelled "Shoenbaum."

Personal life 
He married Hazel Faye Pfeiffer (1892-1983) on February 11, 1915, in Los Angeles. They had a daughter, Vera Marie, on October 9, 1916, and a son, Charles Layton, in 1917. The son died at age six months, and is buried in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. The daughter became a playwright, lived to be 98, and enjoyed sharing her stories of old Hollywood with various researchers. The family lived in Beverly Hills, where their daughter Vera attended Beverly Hills High School.

Vera Schoenbaum (later Gebbert), under the pen name Vera Mathews, had one play on Broadway. She worked for Broadway agent Audrey Wood, and worked closely with playwright Tennessee Williams. Her play Third Cousin was performed at Margo Jones' Theater-in-the-Round in 1947, where actor Jack Warden was just getting started, and also where Tennessee Williams debuted his first play. She corresponded for years with C. S. Lewis.

Partial filmography 

The Woman God Forgot  (1917)
The Girl Who Came Back (1918)
The Mystery Girl (1918)
The Way of a Man with a Maid (1918)
Women's Weapons (1918)
A Very Good Young Man (1919)
Fires of Faith (1919)
Hawthorne of the U.S.A. (1919)
An Adventure in Hearts (1919)
Something to Do (1919)
The Best Man (1919)
The Winning Girl (1919)
The Woman Next Door (1919)
Venus in the East (1919)
It Pays to Advertise (1919)
Love Insurance (1919)
Why Smith Left Home (1919)
Too Much Johnson (1919)
Always Audacious (1920)
Exit the Vamp (1921)
The Hell Diggers (1921)
The Love Special (1921)
Too Much Speed (1921)
Burglar Proof (1920)
Held by the Enemy (1920)
Miss Hobbs (1920)
Sham (1921)
The Six Best Cellars (1920)
The Charm School (1921)
Across the Continent (1922)
On the High Seas (1922)
Rent Free (1922)
The World's Champion (1922)
The Siren Call (1922)
The Heart Raider (1923)
Mr. Billings Spends His Dime (1923)
Nobody's Money (1923)
Empty Hands (1924)
Code of the Sea (1924)
The Heritage of the Desert (1924)
A Son of His Father (1925)
The Devil's Cargo (1925)
The Vanishing American (1925)
In the Name of Love (1925)
Adventure (1925)
Desert Gold (1926)
Forlorn River (1926)
Man of the Forest (1926)
The Last Frontier (1926)
Born to the West (1926)
Arizona Bound (1927)
Drums of the Desert (1927)
Nevada (1927)
The Mysterious Rider (1927)
The Vanishing Pioneer (1928)
The Water Hole (1928)
Beau Sabreur (1928)
The Vanishing Pioneer (1928)
Under the Tonto Rim (1928)
Sally (1929)
Bride of the Regiment (1930)
She Got What She Wanted (1930)
The Rogue Song (1930)
Bright Lights (1930)
Command Performance (1931)
Hell Bound (1931)
Woman Hungry (1931)
Women Go on Forever (1931)
Salvation Nell (1931)
Men Are Such Fools (1932)
If I Had a Million (1932)
Goodbye Love (1933)
Sailor Be Good (1933)
Racetrack (1933)
Skyway (1933)
Kickin' the Crown Around (short, 1933)
Tomorrow at Seven (1933)
Here Comes the Band (1935)
It's in the Air (1935)
Rainbow on the River (1936)
Daughter of Shanghai (1937)
Love on Toast (1937)
On Such a Night (1937)
Secret Valley (1937)
Sons of the Legion (1938)
Escape to Paradise (1939)
Fisherman's Wharf (1939)
Way Down South (1939)
Honeymoon in Bali (uncredited, 1939)
Always a Bride (1940)
New York Town (1941)
Junior Army (1942)
Unexpected Riches (Our Gang short, 1942)
Hi Diddle Diddle (1943)
Salute to the Marines (1943)
Portrait of a Genius (short, 1943)
Benjamin Franklin, Jr. (Our Gang short, 1943)
Return from Nowhere (short, 1944)
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
Son of Lassie (1945)
Bad Bascomb (1946)
Cynthia (1947)
Good News (1947)
The Mighty McGurk (1947)
Hills of Home (Lassie series, 1948)
Summer Holiday (1948)
Annie Was a Wonder (1949)
Challenge to Lassie (1949)
Little Women (1949)
Stars in My Crown (1950)
The Outriders (1950)
Duchess of Idaho (1950)

References

External links

 

1951 deaths
1893 births
American cinematographers