Louis Weiss (producer)

Louis Weiss
Louis Weiss, from a 1921 magazine
Born	December 21, 1890 New York
Died	December 14, 1963 Los Angeles
Occupation(s)	film and television producer
Years active	1920–1958
Spouse	Ethel Weiss
Children	Adrian (b 1919), Peggy (b 1921)

Louis Weiss(December 21, 1890 – December 14, 1963, Los Angeles) was an American independent producer of low-budget comedies, westerns, serials, and exploitation films.

Early life

Louis Weiss was born in New York City and left school after third grade (elementary school), according to the 1940 US census. In 1907 he established anickelodeon theater,launching a lifelong enthusiasm for motion pictures. In the 1920s he joined with his brothers Adolph and Max to form the Weiss Brothers production company, with money earned from a New York lamp-and-fixture store, phonograph sales, and ownership of a theater that developed into a small chain.

Silent films

The company produced a series of short films between 1926 and 1928 featuring the comic characterWinnie Winkle.Ethelyn Gibson played Winnie in all of them. This isWeary Winniefrom 1927.

Most of the Weiss productions were never reviewed or copyrighted, apparently deliberately avoiding press attention. The only record of their existence is found in an occasional release chart, a few advertisements and surviving prints. Though mostPoverty Rowproducers averaged a six-reel length, or about 60 minutes, Weiss continually tried to pare that down to five reels, lasting just over 50 minutes.

Like other smaller studios, the Weiss Brothers tried to compete with big-studio movies whenever possible. One favorite ploy was making films based on popular fictional characters. An early success wasThe Adventures of Tarzan(1921), a 15-chapterserialnotable for casting the original screen Tarzan,Elmo Lincoln.In 1925 Weiss released a series of one-reel adaptations of famous literary works, includingThe Scarlet Letter,Macbeth,A Tale of Two Cities,Vanity Fair,Oliver Twist(asFagin), andA Christmas Carol(asScrooge).

The mid-1920s marked a period of ambition and expansion for the Weiss Brothers. They added new short-subject series with comic characters Hairbreadth Harry (played by Earl Montgomery);Winnie Winkle(played by Ethelyn Gibson); and Izzie and Lizzie (played by Georgie Chapman and Bess True). In May 1926 Weiss signed formerHal RoachstarSnub Pollardfor a series of short comedies. These started as solo vehicles for Pollard, but soon devolved into imitations of the then-new comedy team ofLaurel and Hardy,with Pollard in the sad-faced Laurel role andMarvin Lobackas an approximation of Hardy; Pollard was always billed as the solo star. The Pollard shorts, although filmed on low budgets, were popular enough to continue into 1929, and they boosted the Weiss Brothers' standing among comedy producers. Weiss then signed a major star, the cross-eyedMack SennettcomicBen Turpin,to star in two-reel comedies; then hired circus acrobatPoodles Hannefordfor a series of shorts. These films were all released to theaters under the Artclass trademark ( "The Sign of a Good Picture" ).

The Weiss Brothers' advancing progress of the late 1920s came to a screeching halt with the coming of sound to motion pictures, and the stock market crash of 1929. The silent Weiss product had been cheap to begin with—much of it photographed outdoors to avoid building sets—and sound would only add to the expense. Louis Weiss, not having access to any soundstages in Hollywood, made a deal withLee de Forestto make talking short subjects at de Forest's smallPhonofilmstudio in New York.Three were completed (including two Snub Pollard comedies, without Loback) when much of the brothers' producing capital was wiped out by Wall Street. The Weiss Brothers suspended production indefinitely and canceled all contracts. Now they could only afford to release occasional films themselves—including a "sound" reissue of the 1925 reelScroogewith synchronized music—and would acquire the already completed films of other shoestring producers.

Serials

The Weiss Brothers' fortunes took an upturn when they entered the field of adventure serials in 1935. Under the corporate name of Stage and Screen Productions, the brothers announced three promising cliffhangers:Custer's Last Stand(relying heavily on footage from the Weiss Brothers' silentCuster's Last Fight),The Clutching Hand,andThe Black Coin.The Custer serial attracted the most attention, being the brothers' initial serial effort, but all three serials did well on the independent market. The first three chapters ofCuster's Last Standwere combined into a feature film as well. Film archivist Kit Parker, who handles the Weiss Brothers library for home video, notes that the Weiss salary scale for these serials was incredibly low: female leadRuth Mixwas paid only $3.75 per day.

Original poster forJungle Menace(1937)

WhenColumbia Picturesdecided to enter the serial field in 1937, the studio found it quicker and easier to hire a serial unit that was already functioning. Thus theWeiss Brothersfound themselves now making serials for Columbia release. That year's three Weiss serials wereJungle Menacestarring big-game hunterFrank Buck;The Mysterious Pilotwith flying aceFrank Hawks;andThe Secret of Treasure Islandwith Columbia's action starDon Terry.The Weiss serials were very successful, attracting more than the typical number of juvenile audiences for their 15 weekly chapters, and establishing Columbia as a worthy competitor in the serial field. Columbia then took over serial production itself, where it would remain active through the death of the form in 1956.The Weiss Brothers returned to the lower ranks of independent productions.

Exploitation films

Through the 1940s and into the 1950s, Louis Weiss and his son Adrian Weiss specialized in exploitation fare: cheap thrills for undemanding audiences. Their usual choice of director wasHarry Fraser,a silent-era veteran who was noted for making his films look more elaborate than their low budgets allowed. Louis Weiss urgently needed a first-run "gorilla picture" when theaters couldn't get many new films, owing to a shortage of film stock.Fraser wrote and directedThe White Gorilla(1945), which he frankly admitted was pure hokum. True to the Weiss tradition of cutting costs, half of the action was taken from Fraser's 1927 Artclass silent serialPerils of the Jungle,and the new footage withRay Corrigan(playing both the leading role and the white gorilla) was filmed in four days on a standing jungle set.The White Gorilla,as Fraser recalled in his memoirs, "played in movie theaters across the country, making a bundle for several years, for the Louis Weiss company and for Harry Fraser, who got his cut regularly. It was a stinker of a picture, but it made money, Which only goes to prove thatP. T. Barnumwas right. "The film was Louis Weiss's final theatrical feature. Adrian Weiss continued as an independent producer.

Final years

The Weiss production company was among the first to make its film library available to television; its silent comedies were first revived in 1947. Returning to their story property from the 1934 serialThe Clutching Hand,Louis and Adrian Weiss produced the early TV seriesCraig Kennedy, Criminologist,starring veteran screen actorDonald Woods.The Weiss company discontinued further production and managed its film library for the rest of its existence.

In 1971 Adrian Weiss and his son Steven reorganized the company as Weiss Global Enterprises, handling its own productions as well as the independent features ofRobert L. Lippertand the British-based library of Exclusive Films. The appeal of these films was comparatively limited but Weiss's broadcast fees were also comparatively low, making the films feasible for budget-restricted UHF TV stations. Archivist Kit Parker, after extensive negotiations with the Weiss family, bought the film library in 2004.

Bibliography

• Lehrer, Steven (2006).Bring 'Em Back Alive: The Best of Frank Buck.Texas Tech University press. p. 248.ISBN0-89672-582-0.

External links

• Louis WeissatIMDb
• Weiss Bros. – Artclass and Beyond – The Sound Era