S. Sylvan Simon

{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2013}} {{More citations needed|date=October 2010}} {{Infobox person | name = S. Sylvan Simon | image = Bud_Abbott,_S_Sylvan_Simon_and_Lou_Costello_1942.jpg | imagesize = | caption = S. Sylvan Simon (left) with Abbott and Costello during the filming of ''[[Rio Rita (1942 film)|Rio Rita]]'' (1942) | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|1910|03|09|mf=y}} | birth_place = [[Chicago, Illinois]], United States | death_date = {{death date and age|1951|05|17|1910|03|09|mf=y}}<ref name="nytimes-obit">"[https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/19/archives/s-sylvan-simon-film-executive-41-columbia-producerdirector-is.html S. Sylvan Simon, Film Executive, 41; Columbia Producer-Director Is Dead – 'Born Yesterday' Among his Movie Credits]". ''[[The New York Times]]''. May 19, 1951. Retrieved June 6, 2020.</ref> | death_place = [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], Los Angeles, California |alma_mater=[[University of Michigan]] | height = | othername = | spouse = Harriet Berk (m. 1935) | yearsactive = }}

'''S. Sylvan Simon''' (March 9, 1910 – May 17, 1951) was an American [[theatre director|stage]]/film director and producer. He directed numerous [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood films]] in the late 1930s to 1940s, and was the producer of ''[[Born Yesterday (1950 film)|Born Yesterday]]'' (1950).

==Life and work== Born in Chicago, Simon earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the [[University of Michigan]], and later attended [[Columbia Law School]].<ref name="nytimes-obit"/>

Simon began his film career at [[Warner Bros.]] in 1935, directing screen tests. He became so proficient that [[Universal Pictures]] assigned him to fashion several tests into a short-subject special titled ''Screen Test''. ''Screen Test'' and a few Universal feature assignments earned him an invitation from [[MGM]] to direct. He became a comedy specialist, supervising many of the [[slapstick]] sequences in the [[Marx Brothers]]' ''[[The Big Store]]''. He directed [[Red Skelton]]'s first starring feature, 1941's ''[[Whistling in the Dark (1941 film)|Whistling in the Dark]]'', and in 1948 worked on two more Skelton vehicles, MGM's ''[[A Southern Yankee]]'' (replacing the scheduled director [[Edward Sedgwick]]) and [[Columbia Pictures]]' ''[[The Fuller Brush Man]]''. Simon also directed [[Wallace Beery]] in ''[[Bad Bascomb (1946 film)|Bad Bascomb]]'' (1946), and a [[Glenn Ford]] western, ''[[Lust for Gold]]'' (1949).

Simon was the producer of ''[[Born Yesterday (1950 film)|Born Yesterday]]'',<ref name="nytimes-obit"/> a 1950 comedy that was nominated for five Academy Awards.

He died of a heart attack, in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles|Hollywood]], California, at the age of 41.<ref name="nytimes-obit"/> His ashes were interred in a small unassuming bronze nameplate niche at Columbarium of Memory (Niche # 20174), in the Great Mausoleum at [[Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)|Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery]], [[Glendale, California]].

==Filmography==

===Director=== {{Col-begin}} {{Col-2}} * ''Screen Test'' (1937 short) * ''[[A Girl with Ideas]]'' (1937) * ''[[Prescription for Romance]]'' (1937) * ''[[The Crime of Doctor Hallet]]'' (1938) * ''[[The Road to Reno (1938 film)|The Road to Reno]]'' (1938) * ''[[The Nurse from Brooklyn]]'' (1938) * ''[[Spring Madness]]'' (1938) * ''[[Four Girls in White]]'' (1939) * ''[[The Kid from Texas (1939 film)|The Kid from Texas]]'' (1939) * ''[[These Glamour Girls]]'' (1939) * ''[[Dancing Co-Ed]]'' (1939) * ''[[Two Girls on Broadway]]'' (1940) * ''[[Sporting Blood (1940 film)|Sporting Blood]]'' aka ''Sterling Metal'' (1940) * ''[[Dulcy (1940 film)|Dulcy]]'' (1940) * ''[[Keeping Company]]'' (1940) * ''[[Washington Melodrama]]'' (1941) * ''[[Whistling in the Dark (1941 film)|Whistling in the Dark]]'' (1941) {{Col-2}} * ''[[The Bugle Sounds]]'' (1942) * ''[[Rio Rita (1942 film)|Rio Rita]]'' (1942) * ''[[Grand Central Murder]]'' (1942) * ''[[Tish (film)|Tish]]'' (1942) * ''[[Whistling in Dixie]]'' (1942) * ''[[Salute to the Marines]]'' (1943) * ''[[Whistling in Brooklyn]]'' (1943) * ''[[Song of the Open Road]]'' (1944) * ''[[Son of Lassie]]'' (1945) * ''[[Abbott and Costello in Hollywood]]'' (1945) * ''[[Bad Bascomb (film)|Bad Bascomb]]'' (1946) * ''[[The Thrill of Brazil]]'' (1946) * ''[[The Cockeyed Miracle]]'' aka ''The Return of Mr. Griggs'' (1946) * ''[[Her Husband's Affairs]]'' (1947) * ''[[I Love Trouble (1948 film)|I Love Trouble]]'' (1948) * ''[[The Fuller Brush Man]]'' (1948) * ''[[Lust for Gold]]'' (1949) {{Col-end}}

===Producer=== * ''[[Abbott and Costello in Hollywood]]'' (uncredited, 1945) * ''[[I Love Trouble (1948 film)|I Love Trouble]]'' (1948) * ''[[The Fuller Brush Man]]'' (1948) * ''[[Shockproof]]'' (1949) * ''[[Lust for Gold]]'' (1949) * ''[[Miss Grant Takes Richmond]]'' (1949) * ''[[Father Is a Bachelor]]'' (1950) * ''[[The Good Humor Man (1950 film)|The Good Humor Man]]'' (1950) * ''[[The Fuller Brush Girl]]'' (1950) * ''[[Born Yesterday (1950 film)|Born Yesterday]]'' (1950)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Portal|Biography}} * {{IMDb name|id=0800373|name=S. Sylvan Simon}} * {{Find a Grave|7972526}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, S. Sylvan}} [[Category:1910 births]] [[Category:1951 deaths]] [[Category:Film directors from Illinois]] [[Category:Film producers from Illinois]] [[Category:American theatre directors]] [[Category:Artists from Chicago]] [[Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale)]] [[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]] [[Category:University of Michigan alumni]]