Jack Cummings (director)

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John Cummings (February 16, 1905[1] – April 28, 1989) was an American film producer and director. He was best known for being a leading producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Cummings spent most of his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; his uncle, Louis B. Mayer initially hired his nephew in the 1920s as an office boy and expected him to work his way up through the ranks.

Cummings became a staff producer at MGM in 1934, where he worked in the B-feature unit for two years. In 1936, he produced the extravagant Cole Porter musical Born to Dance, which established his reputation as a respected producer. Cummings remained at MGM even after his uncle was fired as head of the studio in 1951. Over the years, Cummings worked with talent such as the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, and Fred Astaire, producing some of the era's best-known musicals, including 1953's Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He left MGM to become an independent producer affiliated with Twentieth Century-Fox and produced the 1959 remake of The Blue Angel and the 1960 movie version of the Abe Burrows-Cole Porter Broadway musical Can-Can. In 1964, he returned to MGM one last time to produce the Elvis Presley musical Viva Las Vegas. Other credits included Easy to Wed, It Happened in Brooklyn, Three Little Words, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Interrupted Melody, and The Teahouse of the August Moon.[2]

Dorothy Kingsley the writer late said:

Jack Cummings was an excellent producer, though he was L. B.'s [Louis B. Mayer's] nephew, which reacted against him. He let it react against him. Everyone else would go up and ask L. B. for something, but Jack never would because he was his nephew. He went through every department in the studio—cutting, music, sound, everything. He had a good story mind, too. He knew about everything and he was one of the best producers.[3]

Cummings felt later in life his contribution to the movies had been downplayed because of his connection to Mayer. According to Charles Champlin "he was both rewarded by and rather cruelly punished by the relationship."[4]

Dore Schary said Cummings was, with Arthur Freed and Joe Pasternak, one of the leading musical producers at MGM but "had talents that fell somewhere between Joe’s and Arthur’s. Jack had taken on the burden of proving he was more than L. B. Mayer’s nephew. The burden ofttimes made him sensitive and quick to resort to truculence. He was the realist.... Jack had a good comedic sense and of the three was the best in the field of nonmusical films.... Jack was lean, a good golfer, a tough and demanding man who dressed the best, always looked trim and showered."[5]

Lester Cole wrote "He was very intelligent and really learned the craft, but he made his way up only slowly, painfully. He was resented and put down as "the boss's kid nephew," despite his skill."[6]

Biography

Jack Cummings was the son of Ida Mayer Cummings, sister of Louis B Mayer. He had two sisters, Ruth (married to film director Roy Rowland) and Mitzi (married to film producer Sol Baer Fielding), as well as a younger half brother Leonard 'Sonny' Cummings.

Cummings went to work at the MGM prop department when seventeen. He worked as an office boy, script clerk, assistant director and short subject director for MGM studios. His short credits include The General (1929) and Gentlemen of Polish (1934).[7]

Producer

Cummings' first film as producer was The Winning Ticket (1935) with Leo Carrillo. He worked uncredited on Tarzan Escapes (1936), taking over from producer Phil Goldston.[8] Then he had a huge hit with Born to Dance (1936), a musical starring Eleanor Powell and James Stewart. Cummings followed this with another musical with Powell, Broadway Melody of 1938 (1938), best remembered for featuring Judy Garland singing "You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want to Do It)". He also made the drama Yellow Jack (1938), starring Robert Montgomery

Cummings made the Judy Garland film Listen, Darling (1938), which was only a minor success, followed by the Eleanor Powell musicals Honolulu (1939) and Broadway Melody of 1940 (1940), the latter co starring Fred Astaire. Cummings made Two Girls on Broadway (1940) a musical with Lana Turner and George Murphy, produced at short notice with available talent in order to fill a gap.[9]

Cummings amde two films with Powell and Red Skelton, Ship Ahoy (1942) and I Dood It (1943), both very popular, plus the comedy Go West (1940) with the Marx Brothers.

After the musical Broadway Rhythm (1944) with George Murphy, Cummings made Bathing Beauty (1944), the starring debut of Esther Williams, alongside Skelton.[10] The movie was massively popular and Cummings produced several more Williams films: Easy to Wed (1946) with Van Johnson, Fiesta (1947) with Ricardo Montalban, Neptune's Daughter (1949) with Skelton and Montalban, Texas Carnival (1951) with Skelton and Howard Keel.[11]

Other musicals Cummings made around this time included It Happened in Brooklyn (1947) with Frank Sinatra; Three Little Words (1950) a biopc with Skelton Fred Astaire, that introduced Debbie Reynolds; Two Weeks with Love (1950), with Powell, Montalban and Renolds; and Lovely to Look At (1952), with Skelton, Keel and Kathryn Grayson. The latter film lost money due to its high cost. In September 1950 Cummings announced he would start up a production company with Roy Rowland but this did not eventuate.[12]

Cummings' non musicals included The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947) with Van Johnson and Janet Leigh, who made her film debut; it was written by Lester Cole who was a friend of Cummings, and lost money at the box office. There was also The Stratton Story (1949) a biopic with James Stewart and June Allyson, which was a huge hit;[13] Excuse My Dust (1951), a comedy with Red Skelton; and Sombrero (1953), with Montalban. Like Fiesta, Sombrero was shot in Mexico, where Cummings enjoyed spending time.[14] Cummings and Cole planned to make a biopic of Zapata but the project was cancelled.

Cummings produced Kiss Me Kate (1953), based on the Cole Porter musical, starring Keel and Grayson, and featuring a young Bob Fosse. Then he made two films directed by Stanley Donen, Give a Girl a Break (1953), starring Marge and Gower Champion, and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), with Keel and Jane Powell. The former flopped but the latter was a huge box office hit and would be the film of which Cummings was the most proud.[4] Howard Keel wrote in his memoirs "Donen did a good job directing Seven Brides, but the real hero and brains behind it was Jack Cummings."[15] Donen later said making the film was "a nightmare because it was a terrible struggle from the beginning of the picture until the end" in part because he clashed with Cummings.[16]

Cummings made some popular non-musicals: The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), a drama with Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson; Many Rivers to Cross (1955) a Western with Robert Taylor and Eleanor Parker, co starring Russ Tamblyn and Jeff Richards from Seven Brides; and Interrupted Melody (1955), a bopic of Marjorie Lawrence starring Parker and Glenn Ford. Cummings had spent three years on Interrupted Melody.[17] These films were all hugely popular. Paris and Melody featured early performances from Roger Moore.

Cummings' last film for MGM was the popular comedy The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956) with Ford and Marlon Brando.

Post MGM Career

In March 1955 Cummings announced he would leave MGM once the 18 months left on his contract ran out.[18]

In June 1957 Cummings formed a company with Louis B Mayer to make two films. The Dragon Tree and Paint Your Wagon.[19] However Mayer died before either could be made. In June 1958 Cummings signed a deal with 20th Century Fox.[20] His films for Fox included The Blue Angel (1959), an unsuccessful remake of the 1930 film, starring May Britt and Curt Jurgens; Can-Can (1960), an adaptation of the Broadway hit, with Frank Sinatra; Bachelor Flat (1961), a Frank Tashlin comedy with Terry Thomas; and The Second Time Around (1961), a comedy with Debbie Reynolds.[21] Of these the most successful was Can Can which Cummings said "wasn't a great picture" but "made a lot of money."[22] Plans for him to produce Birdman of Alcatraz ended due to lack of government co operation.[23] Other unmade films at Fox included a remake of Stage Door, plus The Will Adams Story and Paint Your Wagon.[24]

In July 1961 Cummings returned to MGM signing a deal with head of production Sol Siegel to make eight features over four years through his own company. His projects included a sequel to Seven Brides, The Widow to be made in Mexico, The Will Adams Story and Dragon Tree.[25][26] While at MGM however he made only one film Viva Las Vegas (1964) with Elvis Presley.[27]

Cummings' last credit was Pipe Dreams (1976) with Gladys Knight.

Personal life

Cummings was married to Margery, with whom he had two daughters, Julie Ann and Cathy. He divorced Margert in 1946 after fifteen years of marriage.[28]

In 1947, Cummings married Betty Kern, daughter of composer Jerome Kern.[29] They had daughter Linda Kern (b. 1952) and Cummings adopted Betty's son to Artie Shaw, Steven.

He had another daughter, Carla Luisa. Cummings died at age 84 in 1989 at Cedars Sinai Medical Centre. [1]

Partial filmography

Awards and nominations

27th Academy Awards, held March 1955. Nominated for Best Picture (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers). Lost to Sam Spiegel for On the Waterfront.[30]

References

  1. ^ a b "Jack Cummings, 84, a Producer at M-G-M: [Obituary]". New York Times. April 30, 1989. p. A.40.
  2. ^ The Family Ties of Producer Jack Cummings: [Home Edition] Champlin, Charles. Los Angeles Times 4 May 1989: 1.
  3. ^ McGilligan, Pat (1991). "Dorothy Kingsley: The Fixer". In McGilligan, Pat (ed.). Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. University of California Press. p. 119.
  4. ^ a b Champlin, Charles (May 4, 1989). "The troublesome family ties of Jack Cummigns". The Los Angeles Times. p. 12 Part 4.
  5. ^ Schary, Dore (1979). Heyday. p. 182.
  6. ^ Cole, Lester (1981). Hollywood Red : the autobiography of Lester Cole. p. 225.
  7. ^ Came Up Through the Ranks of MGM Jack Cummings; Film Musical Producer: [Home Edition] Connelly, Michael. Los Angeles Times 30 Apr 1989: 42.
  8. ^ "Cummings takes over Goldstone". Variety. November 6, 1935. p. 6.
  9. ^ Shorris, Sylvia; Bundy, Marion Abbott (1994). Talking pictures : with the people who made them. New Press. p. 53. ISBN 978-1-56584-175-8.
  10. ^ McGilligan, Pat (1991). "Dorothy Kingsley: The Fixer". In McGilligan, Pat (ed.). Backstory 2: Interviews with Screenwriters of the 1940s and 1950s. University of California Press. p. 119.
  11. ^ Looking at Hollywood Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune 28 Mar 1945: 25.
  12. ^ "Cummings, Rowland". Variety. September 6, 1950. p. 5.]
  13. ^ "Top Grossers of 1949". Variety. January 4, 1950. p. 59.
  14. ^ METRO WILL FILM 'MEXICAN VILLAGE': Studio Buys Niggli's Novel About Life in Hidalgo as a Story for Montalbán By THOMAS F. BRADY New York Times 5 June 1951: 49.
  15. ^ Keel, Howard (2005). Only make believe. p. 196.
  16. ^ "Perfect imperfection: that's Donen". The Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1974. p. 32.
  17. ^ Eleanor Parker Plays Convincing Diva Role: Lawrence Life Story Applauded Scott, John L. Los Angeles Times 13 Feb 1955: D3.
  18. ^ COLUMBIA TO BACK SPIEGEL IN 3 FILMS: New York Times ]30 Mar 1955: 35.
  19. ^ MAYER WILL FILM BROADWAY SHOW. New York Times 7 June 1957: 19.
  20. ^ JACK CUMMINGS SIGNS FOX PACT: Producer, a Mayer Nephew, to Work as Independent New York Times 12 June 1958: 35.
  21. ^ Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1. p251
  22. ^ "There's nothing phoney about Debbie Reynolds". The Hamilton Spectator. June 17, 1961. p. 15.
  23. ^ Feds Veto Alacataz Variety 29 October 1958 p 3
  24. ^ Terminating with Fox Variety 7 June 1961 p 2
  25. ^ "Producer returns to MGM". The Gazette. July 31, 1961. p. 10.
  26. ^ "Jack Cummings Back at Metro". Variety. July 19, 1961. p. 14.
  27. ^ Davis, Ronald L. (2005). Just making movies. University Press of Mississippi. p. 79–80. ISBN 9781578066902.
  28. ^ "Margery Cummings divorces MGM producer". Evening Vanguard. May 15, 1946. p. 1.
  29. ^ "Betty Kern Elopes, Takes Third Husband". Baltimore Sun. May 29, 1947. p. 6.
  30. ^ "The 27th Academy Awards (1955) Nominees and Winners". Oscars.org (Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences). October 4, 2014. Retrieved June 6, 2019.
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