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Edward Finney
Edward Finney
Edward Finney
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Edward Francis Finney (April 18, 1903–January 10, 1983) was an American film producer and director.[1] He is best known as the man who introduced cowboy singer Tex Ritter to the moviegoing public.

Key Information

Biography

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Finney was educated at the City College of New York, and became an engineer at Western Electric. He entered the motion picture industry as a prop man for silent-comedy producer C.C. Burr. Finney was a born salesman and his persuasive ideas landed him a job with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer as press sheet editor. He advanced to managerial posts in studio advertising departments, with gradually increasing responsibilities, at Pathé, United Artists, Monogram Pictures, Republic Pictures, and Grand National Pictures.

Grand National gave Finney his first chance at producing films, in 1936. He established Boots and Saddles Pictures and made a successful series of singing cowboy westerns starring his discovery Tex Ritter. When Grand National ceased operations in 1939, Finney moved his business to Monogram.

Finney became an independent producer in 1941. Occasionally Finney would be hired to make low-budget features for Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC); some of these were good enough to be distributed by the more prosperous Monogram studio. Finney co-produced Andrew L. Stone's farce comedy Hi Diddle Diddle (1943), which was released by major distributor United Artists and became a surprise hit. In 1946 Finney joined forces with California exhibitor turned producer Robert L. Lippert to form Screen Guild Productions. Finney's later films were distributed by Screen Guild and by United Artists.

Finney's wide knowledge of film properties was helpful to him as a producer. He often incorporated elaborately staged file footage from other films into his own films, making the new productions appear more costly than they actually were. This became a drawback by the 1950s, when Finney's stock shots looked noticeably older than the new footage. Finney retired from production in 1952, but in 1957 he partially financed the quickie exploitation film Gun Girls and took screen credit as producer, under the pseudonym "Edward Frank."

Edward Finney found a new outlet for his large library of old films in the 1950s: the lucrative home-movie field. He reprinted dozens of features and shorts, and offered them to collectors in the 16mm and 8mm formats.

In 1959 Edward Finney read newspaper accounts of singing star Gloria Jean now working as a hostess in a restaurant favored by movie people. Finney, a Gloria Jean fan of long standing, decided to make his own Gloria Jean movie and reactivated Boots and Saddles Pictures. He wrote, produced, and edited the new film, the lightweight comedy Laffing Time, co-starring Finney himself (as comedian "Eddie Finn") and veteran comic El Brendel. Finney later added old action footage to it and retitled it The Madcaps. This version was released to theaters in 1964. A third version, Tobo the Happy Clown (1966), added footage from antique comedies and was aimed at the kiddie-matinée market; Finney played the title role.[2]

Tobo the Happy Clown was Edward Finney's last theatrical production. He serviced the home-movie community into the late 1970s.

Selected filmography

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As producer

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As director

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References

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Bibliography

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Edward Finney

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''Edward Finney'' is an American film producer and director known for discovering country and western singer Tex Ritter and producing a series of 20 B-Western films starring him during the late 1930s and early 1940s. Born in New York City on April 18, 1903, Finney initially worked in film advertising and publicity, including as advertising and publicity manager for Grand National Pictures, before transitioning into independent production of low-budget features. In 1936, Finney arranged a screen test for Tex Ritter and signed him to a five-year personal contract, launching Ritter's screen career with the debut film Song of the Gringo (1936). He produced Ritter's early films through Grand National Pictures and later moved his production unit to Monogram Pictures around 1938, where he also served as the company's advertising chief, completing the series with The Pioneers (1941). These singing cowboy Westerns represented the most significant and prolific phase of Finney's career. Beyond his work with Ritter, Finney produced and occasionally directed various low-budget films across genres, including Riot Squad (1941), Queen of the Amazons (1946), and later efforts such as Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory (1957) and Tobo the Happy Clown (1965). He died in Los Angeles, California, on January 10, 1983.

Early life

Birth and early years

Edward Finney was born on April 18, 1903, in New York City, New York, USA. Little information is available on his early years beyond this birth record, with biographical sources providing no verified details about his family background, parents, siblings, or education. He later entered the film industry as a prop man during the silent era.

Entry into the film industry

Edward Finney entered the film industry as a prop man during the silent era. He later became the advertising and publicity manager for the Poverty Row studio Grand National Pictures. This role in publicity and advertising at Grand National laid the groundwork for his transition into producing films at the studio.

Film career

Grand National Pictures and early producing

Edward Finney served as producer, director, advertising manager, and publicity manager at Grand National Pictures, a short-lived Poverty Row studio. The position provided him with his initial opportunities in film production beginning in 1936. He produced early projects for the company, including Song of the Gringo (1936), which marked Tex Ritter's debut as a starring singing cowboy. This involvement helped launch Ritter's career in Western films at the studio. In a significant decision during his time there, Finney urged Grand National president Edward L. Alperson to prioritize production of Angels with Dirty Faces, a property for which the studio had acquired the rights. Instead, Alperson chose to proceed with Something to Sing About (1937), a musical starring James Cagney. Finney had literally begged Alperson to film Angels with Dirty Faces first, but the request was not followed. Something to Sing About proved a commercial failure. The film's poor performance contributed to Grand National Pictures' mounting financial difficulties, leading to the studio's bankruptcy in 1938.

B-Westerns and collaboration with Tex Ritter

Edward Finney is best known for discovering Tex Ritter and launching his film career by giving the singer his first screen test and starring role in the B-Western Song of the Gringo (1936). This marked the start of a prolific collaboration during which Finney produced a series of low-budget Poverty Row B-Westerns starring Ritter. Working initially with Grand National Pictures and later through his own Boots and Saddles Productions, Finney produced numerous such films between 1936 and 1941. These included Headin' for the Rio Grande (1936), Arizona Days (1937), Trouble in Texas (1937), Sing, Cowboy, Sing (1937), The Mystery of the Hooded Horsemen (1937), Starlight Over Texas (1938), Frontier Town (1938), Rollin' Plains (1938), Utah Trail (1938), Down the Wyoming Trail (1939), Riders of the Frontier (1939), Rhythm of the Rio Grande (1940), The Golden Trail (1940), Roll Wagons Roll (1940), Arizona Frontier (1940), Take Me Back to Oklahoma (1940), Rollin' Home to Texas (1940), Ridin' the Cherokee Trail (1941), and The Pioneers (1941). Finney also received presenter credit on several of these titles, including Arizona Frontier (1940), Utah Trail (1938), and Rollin' Plains (1938). This body of work represented Finney's primary focus on Poverty Row B-Western production during the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Directing and mid-career productions

In the early 1940s, Edward Finney expanded his involvement in filmmaking by assuming directorial roles alongside his established producing work, moving beyond the B-Westerns that had marked his earlier career. He directed Silver Stallion (1941), a Western centered on horse thieves and frontier adventure, and Riot Squad (1941), a crime drama. His directorial efforts continued with King of the Stallions (1942), another film emphasizing equine themes and action. Later in the decade, Finney directed Queen of the Amazons (1946), a jungle adventure exploitation film in which a young woman assembles a search party to locate her missing husband in the Asian wilderness, encountering exotic dangers and sensational elements typical of low-budget genre pictures. Concurrently, Finney maintained an active producing presence with credits on Gentleman from Dixie (1941), the World War II-themed Corregidor (1943), Hi Diddle Diddle (1943) as associate producer, Strange Holiday (1945), The Prairie (1947) as executive producer, and Call of the Forest (1949). His prior experience producing modest Westerns likely shaped the emphasis on action, outdoor settings, and resource-constrained storytelling evident in these mid-career projects across varied genres including war dramas and exotic adventures.

Later independent work

In the 1950s and 1960s, Edward Finney's filmmaking output became notably sparse compared to his earlier career, consisting primarily of small-scale independent productions that often employed pseudonyms such as Edward Frank and Eddie Finn. These projects were typically low-budget and included both genre films and children's entertainment. He produced the western Buffalo Bill in Tomahawk Territory in 1952. In 1957, Finney produced the crime drama Gun Girls under the pseudonym Edward Frank. He produced Laffing Time in 1959, a comedy feature in which he also appeared in the cast. Finney's final known production was Tobo the Happy Clown in 1965, a children's-oriented compilation film with a circus theme; he served as producer and director, performed the title role as Eddie Finn, and contributed additional creative input. These later works highlighted his shift toward personal, limited-scope endeavors in the later stages of his career.

Personal life

Available biographical sources, including film industry databases, provide limited details on Edward Finney's personal life and contain no information on family, spouses, children, marriages, or other relationships.

Death

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