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Edward F. Cline

 
Director: Edward F. Cline
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Nov 07, 1892 in Kenosha, Wisconsin
  • Died: May 22, 1961 in Hollywood, California
  • Occupation: Director, Writer, Actor
  • Active: teens-'40s
  • Major Genres: Comedy
  • Career Highlights: The Bank Dick, Cops, You Can't Cheat an Honest Man
  • First Major Screen Credit: Sunshine (1916)

Biography

Entering films as one of Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops in 1913, Cline began assisting Sennett and by 1916 was directing shorts at Keystone. In the early '20s he co-wrote and co-directed seventeen of Buster Keaton's shorts, including such classics as The Playhouse, The Boat, and Cops, as well as Keaton's first feature, the Intolerance-parody The Three Ages. Later in the decade he was reunited with Sennett when he directed two-reelers for such comics as Ben Turpin and Carole Lombard. In 1932 Cline directed W.C. Fields in the memorable satire Million Dollar Legs and became one of the few directors whom the irascible comedian could tolerate. Called in to helm most of Fields' scenes in You Can't Cheat an Honest Man (signed by George Marshall), Cline went on to direct the classic features that capped Fields' career in the early '40s: My Little Chickadee (co-starring Mae West), The Bank Dick, and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break. Cline's last important work was with Olsen and Johnson on Crazy House and Ghost Catchers. He ended his career with Monogram's low-budget "Jiggs & Maggie" comedy programmers. ~ All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Edward F. Cline
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Eddie Cline
Born November 4, 1891
Died May 22, 1961

Edward F. Cline (November 4, 1891–May 22, 1961) was a screenwriter, actor, writer and director. He was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and died in Hollywood.

Contents

Career

Eddie Cline began working for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios in 1914. At one time he claimed credit for having come up with the idea for the Sennett Bathing Beauties.[1] When Buster Keaton began making his own shorts, after having worked with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle for years, he hired Cline as his co-director.[2] In Keaton's short films Cline and Keaton himself were the only two regular gag men.[3] For Keaton's 1921 short, Hard Luck, Cline is credited with originating Keaton's personal favorite gag from his films. At the end of the film, Keaton dives into a swimming pool which has been emptied of water. Years later he emerges from the hole which his fall created, accompanied by a Chinese wife and two small Chinese-American children.[4] Besides working on most of Keaton's early shorts, Cline co-directed Keaton's first feature, Three Ages (1923).[1]

Though he worked mostly in comedy, Cline also directed some melodramas, and the musical Leathernecking (1930), Irene Dunne's film debut.[1]

Cline began his association with W. C. Fields in the 1932 Paramount film Million Dollar Legs. The film had several veterans of Mack Sennett's Keystone films, including Andy Clyde, Ben Turpin, and Hank Mann. Producer Herman J. Mankiewicz recalled of Cline, "He was very much of the old, old comedy school. He didn't know what was happening in Million Dollar Legs. At all. But he enjoyed doing it, because he had Andy Clyde. And Ben Turpin. And Bill Fields."[5]

During troubles with the shooting of Fields' 1939 film You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, largely resulting from Fields' clashes with director George Marshall, Fields managed to put Cline in the director's chair. Co-star Constance Moore remembered, "Before Mr. Fields did the famous Ping-Pong scene he wanted Mr. Cline. He said, 'I've worked with Cline. He knows my work.' He first put out his feelers. Then he started asking for Cline. Then he demanded him..."[6] Cline's work on the film lasted only ten days during which he shot the party scene containing the ping pong game.[7]

As director of My Little Chickadee (1940), Cline's desire that the actors follow the script caused some difficulties with Fields, until Cline finally submitted to Field's tendency to ad-lib. Cline objected to the ad-libbing because it caused the crew to laugh, and Cline's own laughter necessitated a quick cut at the end of one of Fields' barroom scenes.[8]

The same year Cline directed Fields' The Bank Dick (1940). Recalling their work together, Cline said that Fields chose him to direct his films because he was the only person in Hollywood who knew "less about making movies" than Fields himself.[9] Director Edward Montagne remembered instead, "Fields and Cline were basically the same type. They both had great comedy sense... With actors, if he thought they were on the right track, he'd let them go."[9]

Selected filmography

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Curtis, James (2003). W.C. Fields: A Biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. p. 405. ISBN 0-06-017337-8. 
  2. ^ Meade, Marion (1995). Buster Keaton: Cut to the Chase. New York: Harper Collins. p. 93. ISBN 0-06-017337-8. 
  3. ^ Meade, p. 134.
  4. ^ Meade, p. 104.
  5. ^ Curtis, p. 241.
  6. ^ Curtis, pp. 384-385.
  7. ^ Curtis, pp. 386-387.
  8. ^ Curtis, p. 407.
  9. ^ a b Curtis, p. 407.

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