David Butler | WatchedThis
David Butler
Directing
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia David Butler (December 17, 1894 – June 14, 1979) was an American actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, and television director. Butler was born in San Francisco, California. His mother was an actress and his father was a theater stage manager. His first acting roles were playing extras in stage plays. He later appeared in two D. W. Griffith films, The Girl Who Stayed Home and The Greatest Thing in Life. He also appeared in the 1927 Academy-Award winning film 7th Heaven. The same year, Butler made his directorial debut with High School Hero, a comedy for Fox. During Butler's nine-year tenure at Fox, he directed over thirty films, including four Shirley Temple vehicles. Butler's last film for Fox, Kentucky, won Walter Brennan an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Butler worked with Bing Crosby in Road to Morocco and If I Had My Way. He directed many films starring Doris Day, among them It's a Great Feeling, Tea for Two, By the Light of the Silvery Moon, Lullaby of Broadway, April in Paris, and Calamity Jane. During the late '50s and 1960s, Butler directed primarily television episodes, mainly for Leave It to Beaver and Wagon Train. For his contributions to the film industry, Butler was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 with a motion pictures star located at 6561 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography Movies
Acting
It's a Great Feeling
A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break may have arrived when actors Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan agree to help her.
The Village Blacksmith
(survived only 10 minutes) As young men, the squire (Marshall) and the village blacksmith (Walling) are in love with the same woman (Boardman), whom the blacksmith marries. This angers the squire. Years later, the squire's son Anson (Yearsley) dares the blacksmith's son Johnnie (Hackathorne) to climb a tree, from which he falls and is crippled. As adults, Anson and the blacksmith's daughter Alice (Valli) fall in love, which angers the blacksmith, who chastises his daughter. The blacksmith's other son Bill (Butler) returns from college and is injured in a train accident. Anson steals $480 from a church fund which is currently in Alice's possession. Alice is struck by lightning. The blacksmith take Anson and the squire to church where they both repent.
Mary of the Movies
Mary's kid brother needs an operation and, in order to pay for it, Mary goes to a Hollywood studio and applies for a job as an actress. Mary is given a job as a waitress in the commissary, and gets to meet 40 actors, actresses and directors, none of whom tip big enough to enable Mary to earn enough money to pay for an operation. Will Mary become an actress and make some big money?
Salute
A comedy-romance about rival brothers attending a military academy.
Hoodman Blind
John Linden, a victim of wanderlust, jumbles up his life and that of his two daughters. One is a daughter by marriage, the other an offspring of Jessie Walton, a young woman of the village. Noting the resemblance of the two, unscrupulous Mark Lezzard, the sea town's only lawyer, arouses the jealousy of the first daughter's husband Jack Yeulette, the skipper of a fishing smack, hoping to gain her for himself and thereby obtain control over the money John provides for her on a regular basis. After much havoc, happiness is the lot of everyone except Lezzard, whom the crowd "fixes" when they learn of what a wretch he is. A lost film.
The Sky Pilot
Arthur Moore, a missionary preacher, attempts to fit into the cowboy community so he can set up a church in the local saloon. Gwen, daughter of the "Old Timer," is injured in a stampede and loses her ability to walk. Though rejected by the townsfolk, the preacher's wisdom and love are needed if the young girl is to be healed. Shot in 'Vidor Village', Vidor's ill-fated studio property in California's High Sierra.
The Rush Hour
Margie Dolan dreams of endless pleasure and adventures abroad, while her sweetheart, Dan Morley, is devoted to his drugstore business and his eventual marriage to Margie. When the horrors of commuting become unendurable Margie boards an ocean liner on a business errand and decides to stowaway. She is soon discovered and is put to work in the linen room. Dunrock and Yvonne, an unscrupulous pair plan to relieve a millionaire called Finch of his fortune. They hire Margie to be an unwitting romantic companion to Finch to make their job that much easier!
Nobody's Widow
Roxanna is married to British official John Clayton, but when she catches John in the apparent embrace of another woman, Roxanna leaves England and goes to visit her friend Betty in America. There she tells people that her 'beloved' husband is dead. Betty's friends take to Roxanna, especially Ned, for whom Betty has strong feelings. Further complications arrive in the presence of John Clayton, who has followed Roxanna and now pretends to be the Duke of Morebay and another potential suitor for 'widowed' Roxanna.
Nugget Nell
Big Hearted Jim, the sheriff, loves the tomboyish Nugget Nell ( Dorothy Gish ), who runs a hash house in the mining country, but although she has romantic feelings, they are not aroused by Jim. Nell agrees to an old miner friend's request to care for his "child," Nell is shocked to meet the six-foot girl, but she cares for her just the same. Nell falls in love with the City Chap, out West to look after his mining property, but he barely notices her, having become intrigued by the Ingenue, whom he met on the stagecoach. The jealous Nell steals stylish clothes to allure him, but she has trouble walking in French high-heels.
The Blue Eagle
Waterfront rivals George Darcy and Big Tim Ryan are both in love with Rose Kelly, and continue their feud when they join the Navy. After the war, they call a temporary truce to take on dope peddlers who are destroying their neighborhood.
Production
The Princess and the Pirate
Princess Margaret is travelling incognito to elope with her true love instead of marrying the man her father has betrothed her to. On the high seas, her ship is attacked by pirates who know her identity and plan to kidnap her and hold her for a king's ransom.
Road to Morocco
Two carefree castaways on a desert shore find an Arabian Nights city, where they compete for the luscious Princess Shalmar.
Sunny Side Up
Molly and Bee, sweet young 'working girls,' live in a cheap room over a New York grocery store. Molly's idol, wealthy Jack Cromwell, lives in a Long Island mansion but is markedly less happy, since his fiancée Jane won't discourage her other admirers. Fleeing in his car, Jack ends up in an urban block party where he meets you-know-who.
It's a Great Feeling
A waitress at the Warner Brothers commissary is anxious to break into pictures. She thinks her big break may have arrived when actors Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan agree to help her.
Prep and Pep
A boy finds it difficult to live up to his father's reputation at his school.
Tea for Two
In this reworking of "No, No, Nanette," wealthy heiress Nanette Carter bets her uncle $25,000 that she can say "no" to everything for 48 hours. If she wins, she can invest the money in a Broadway show featuring songs written by her beau, and of course, in which she will star. Trouble is, she doesn't realize her uncle's been wiped out by the Stock Market crash.
April in Paris
A series of misunderstandings leads to a chorus girl traveling to Paris to represent the American theater, where she falls in love with a befuddled bureaucrat.
Calamity Jane
Sharpshooter Calamity Jane takes it upon herself to recruit a famous actress and bring her back to the local saloon, but jealousy soon gets in the way.
The Little Colonel
After Southern belle Elizabeth Lloyd runs off to marry Yankee Jack Sherman, her father, a former Confederate colonel during the Civil War, vows to never speak to her again. Several years pass and Elizabeth returns to her home town with her husband and young daughter. The little girl charms her crusty grandfather and tries to patch things up between him and her mother.
Bright Eyes
An orphaned girl is taken in by a snobbish family at the insistence of their rich, crotchety uncle, even as her devoted aviator godfather fights for custody.
Gallery
