# S. Sylvan Simon > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/S._Sylvan_Simon > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/S._Sylvan_Simon.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Sylvan_Simon > Source revision: 1264639947 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American film director This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "S. Sylvan Simon" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2010) (Learn how and when to remove this message) S. Sylvan Simon S. Sylvan Simon (left) with Abbott and Costello during the filming of Rio Rita (1942) Born (1910-03-09)March 9, 1910 Chicago, Illinois, United States Died May 17, 1951(1951-05-17) (aged 41)[1] Hollywood, Los Angeles, California Alma mater University of Michigan Spouse Harriet Berk (m. 1935) **S. Sylvan Simon** (March 9, 1910 – May 17, 1951) was an American [stage](/source/Theatre_director)/film director and producer. He directed numerous [Hollywood films](/source/Cinema_of_the_United_States) in the late 1930s to 1940s, and was the producer of *[Born Yesterday](/source/Born_Yesterday_(1950_film))* (1950). ## Life and work Born in Chicago, Simon earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan), and later attended [Columbia Law School](/source/Columbia_Law_School).[1] Simon began his film career at [Warner Bros.](/source/Warner_Bros.) in 1935, directing screen tests. He became so proficient that [Universal Pictures](/source/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](/source/MGM) to direct. He became a comedy specialist, supervising many of the [slapstick](/source/Slapstick) sequences in the [Marx Brothers](/source/Marx_Brothers)' *[The Big Store](/source/The_Big_Store)*. He directed [Red Skelton](/source/Red_Skelton)'s first starring feature, 1941's *[Whistling in the Dark](/source/Whistling_in_the_Dark_(1941_film))*, and in 1948 worked on two more Skelton vehicles, MGM's *[A Southern Yankee](/source/A_Southern_Yankee)* (replacing the scheduled director [Edward Sedgwick](/source/Edward_Sedgwick)) and [Columbia Pictures](/source/Columbia_Pictures)' *[The Fuller Brush Man](/source/The_Fuller_Brush_Man)*. Simon also directed [Wallace Beery](/source/Wallace_Beery) in *[Bad Bascomb](/source/Bad_Bascomb_(1946_film))* (1946), and a [Glenn Ford](/source/Glenn_Ford) western, *[Lust for Gold](/source/Lust_for_Gold)* (1949). Simon was the producer of *[Born Yesterday](/source/Born_Yesterday_(1950_film))*,[1] a 1950 comedy that was nominated for five Academy Awards. He died of a heart attack, in [Hollywood](/source/Hollywood%2C_Los_Angeles), California, at the age of 41.[1] 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 Cemetery](/source/Forest_Lawn_Memorial_Park_(Glendale)), [Glendale, California](/source/Glendale%2C_California). ## Filmography ### Director Screen Test (1937 short) A Girl with Ideas (1937) Prescription for Romance (1937) The Crime of Doctor Hallet (1938) The Road to Reno (1938) The Nurse from Brooklyn (1938) Spring Madness (1938) Four Girls in White (1939) The Kid from Texas (1939) These Glamour Girls (1939) Dancing Co-Ed (1939) Two Girls on Broadway (1940) Sporting Blood aka Sterling Metal (1940) Dulcy (1940) Keeping Company (1940) Washington Melodrama (1941) Whistling in the Dark (1941) The Bugle Sounds (1942) Rio Rita (1942) Grand Central Murder (1942) 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 (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) The Fuller Brush Man (1948) Lust for Gold (1949) ### Producer - *[Abbott and Costello in Hollywood](/source/Abbott_and_Costello_in_Hollywood)* (uncredited, 1945) - *[I Love Trouble](/source/I_Love_Trouble_(1948_film))* (1948) - *[The Fuller Brush Man](/source/The_Fuller_Brush_Man)* (1948) - *[Shockproof](/source/Shockproof)* (1949) - *[Lust for Gold](/source/Lust_for_Gold)* (1949) - *[Miss Grant Takes Richmond](/source/Miss_Grant_Takes_Richmond)* (1949) - *[Father Is a Bachelor](/source/Father_Is_a_Bachelor)* (1950) - *[The Good Humor Man](/source/The_Good_Humor_Man_(1950_film))* (1950) - *[The Fuller Brush Girl](/source/The_Fuller_Brush_Girl)* (1950) - *[Born Yesterday](/source/Born_Yesterday_(1950_film))* (1950) ## References 1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-nytimes-obit_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-nytimes-obit_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-nytimes-obit_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-nytimes-obit_1-3) "[S. Sylvan Simon, Film Executive, 41; Columbia Producer-Director Is Dead – 'Born Yesterday' Among his Movie Credits](https://www.nytimes.com/1951/05/19/archives/s-sylvan-simon-film-executive-41-columbia-producerdirector-is.html)". *[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)*. May 19, 1951. Retrieved June 6, 2020. ## External links - [Biography portal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Biography) - [S. Sylvan Simon](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0800373/) at [IMDb](/source/IMDb_(identifier)) - [S. Sylvan Simon](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7972526) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave) Authority control databases International ISNI VIAF GND WorldCat National United States France BnF data Spain Netherlands Poland Israel Catalonia People Deutsche Biographie Other SNAC Yale LUX This article about a United States film director born in the 1910s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:US-film-director-1910s-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AUS-film-director-1910s-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:US-film-director-1910s-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [S. Sylvan Simon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Sylvan_Simon) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S._Sylvan_Simon?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.