Gus Meins

{{short description|German film director (1893–1940)}} {{more citations needed|date=November 2018}} {{Infobox person | name = Gus Meins | image = Gus Meins - Dec 1925 EH.jpg | caption = From a 1925 magazine | birth_name = Gustave Peter Ludwig Luley | birth_date = {{birth date|1893|3|6}} | birth_place = [[Frankfurt]], Germany | death_date = {{death date and age|1940|8|1|1893|3|6}} | death_place = [[La Crescenta, California]], US | other_names = | occupation = [[Film director]] | years_active = [[1922 in film|1922]] - [[1940 in film|1940]] }} '''Gus Meins''' (March 6, 1893 – August 1, 1940), born '''Gustave Peter Ludwig Luley''', was an American [[film director]]. He was born in [[Frankfurt]], [[Germany]].

==Career== Meins started out in the ‘teens as a cartoonist for the ''Los Angeles Evening Herald'' before becoming a comedy writer for Fox Film in 1919.<ref name="RT-Meins">{{cite web |title=Gus Meins |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/celebrity/gus_meins/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref>

In the 1920s, Meins directed a number of [[silent film|silent]] [[short subject]]s [[film]] series for [[Universal Pictures]], including the ''[[Buster Brown]]'' comedies.<ref name="IMDB-Buster">{{cite web |title=Most Popular "Buster Brown Series" Titles |url=https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword?keywords=buster-brown-series |website=Internet Movie Database |publisher=IMDB.com |access-date=28 November 2018}}</ref> He is best known as senior director of [[Hal Roach]]'s ''[[Our Gang]]'' comedies from 1934 to 1936, and also as director of [[Laurel and Hardy]]'s ''[[Babes in Toyland (1934 film)|Babes in Toyland]]'' (1934).<ref name="RT-Meins"/> His assistant director was a young [[Gordon Douglas (director)|Gordon Douglas]], who became senior director in 1936 when Meins left ''Our Gang'' for other directing jobs at Roach. Meins left Roach in 1937 over creative differences.

==Death== In the summer of 1940, Meins faced prosecution on "morals charges", having been accused of sex offenses against six youths. The director swore his innocence but stated that the case would ruin his career, regardless of the outcome. He left home on the night of Thursday, August 1 telling his son, Douglas: "You probably won't see me again."

Meins was found dead in his car on August 4, reportedly having committed suicide by inhaling [[carbon monoxide]] days earlier.<ref name="Reading Eagle">{{cite news |title=Movie Director Named In Morals Case Suicide |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LQUxAAAAIBAJ&pg=2947%2C365515 |agency=AP |newspaper=Reading Eagle |location=Reading, California |date=August 5, 1940 |page=15|access-date=September 11, 2011}}</ref> Bizarrely, the circumstances of his death in a car from suffocation were reminiscent of the demise five years earlier of comedian [[Thelma Todd]], whom he had frequently directed.

He was interred at [[Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery]] in [[Glendale, California]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Wilson|first=Scott|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons|location=Jefferson, N.C.|publisher=McFarland & Company|date=2016|isbn=9780786479924|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ|page=508}}</ref>

He was generally remembered as 'a cheerful, convivial gentleman'.<ref name="RT-Meins"/> His son Douglas Meins (1918–1987) appeared in at least seven Republic and Warner films in the late 1930s and early 1940s; he then served in the U.S. Army Corps during World War II.

==Selected filmography==

'''Feature films:''' * ''[[Babes in Toyland (1934 film)|Babes in Toyland]]'' (1934), starring [[Laurel and Hardy]] * ''[[His Exciting Night]]'' (1939) * ''[[The Covered Trailer]]'' (1939)

'''''[[ZaSu Pitts]]/[[Thelma Todd]]'' shorts:''' *''Sneak Easily'' (1933) *''Asleep in the Feet'' (1933) *''Maids à la Mode '' (1933) *''One Track Minds'' (1933)

'''''[[Thelma Todd]]/[[Patsy Kelly]]'' shorts:''' * ''[[Beauty and the Bus]]'' (1933) * ''[[Backs to Nature]]'' (1933) * ''[[Air Fright]]'' (1933) * ''[[Babes in the Goods]]'' (1934) * ''[[Soup and Fish]]'' (1934) * ''[[Maid in Hollywood]]'' (1934) * ''[[I'll Be Suing You]]'' (1934) * ''[[Three Chumps Ahead]]'' (1934) * ''[[One-Horse Farmers]]'' (1934) * ''[[Done In Oil]]'' (1934) * ''[[An All-American Toothache]]'' (1936) * ''[[Hill-Tillies]]'' (1936)

'''''[[Our Gang]]'' shorts:''' {{div col|colwidth=15em}} * ''[[Second Childhood (film)|Second Childhood]]'' ([[1936 in film|1936]]) * ''[[The Lucky Corner]]'' (1936) * ''[[Our Gang Follies of 1936]]'' ([[1935 in film|1935]]) * ''[[Little Sinner]]'' (1935) * ''[[Little Papa]]'' (1935) * ''[[Sprucin' Up]]'' (1935) * ''[[Teacher's Beau]]'' (1935) * ''[[Beginner's Luck (1935 film)|Beginner's Luck]]'' (1935) * ''[[Anniversary Trouble]]'' (1935) * ''[[Shrimps for a Day]]'' ([[1934 in film|1934]]) * ''[[Mama's Little Pirate]]'' (1934) * ''[[Mike Fright]]'' (1934) * ''[[Honky Donkey]]'' (1934) * ''[[The First Round-Up]]'' (1934) * ''[[For Pete's Sake!]]'' (1934) * ''[[Hi'-Neighbor!]]'' (1934)

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|name=Gus Meins|id=0576940}} * {{tcmdb name|id=129322{{!}}63888|name=Gus Meins}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060207161813/http://www.tbcmo.de/ Life, films and death of Gus Meins]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meins, Gus}} [[Category:1893 births]] [[Category:1940 deaths]] [[Category:1940 suicides]] [[Category:Burials at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery]] [[Category:Film directors from California]] [[Category:Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States]] [[Category:Suicides by carbon monoxide poisoning]] [[Category:Suicides in California]]