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Gordon Douglas (director)
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Gordon Douglas (director)
Gordon Douglas Brickner (December 15, 1907 – September 29, 1993) was an American film director and actor, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures.
Brickner was born in New York City. He began his career as a child actor, appearing in some films directed by Maurice Costello. He also worked at MGM as a book-keeper.
As a teenager, Douglas got a job at the Hal Roach Studios, working in the office and appearing in bit parts in various Hal Roach films. He made walk-on appearances in at least three Our Gang shorts: Teacher's Pet (1930), Big Ears (1931) and Birthday Blues (1932).
By 1934, Douglas was assistant to director Gus Meins and served as assistant director on Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's 1934 film Babes in Toyland and on the Our Gang comedies made between 1934 and mid-1936.
Beginning with Bored of Education in 1936, Our Gang moved from two-reel (20-minute) comedies to one-reel (10-minute) comedies, and Douglas became the senior director of the series. Bored of Education won the 1936 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film, and was the only Our Gang entry ever honored with the award.
Douglas remained with the Our Gang series as director for two years. His Our Gang shorts, featuring Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Waldo, Butch and Woim, are the most familiar in the series’ 22-year canon. In addition to Bored of Education, the twenty Hal Roach Our Gang shorts Douglas directed include entries such as Pay as You Exit (1936), Rushin' Ballet (1937), Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937), and Three Men in a Tub (1938). He also co-directed, with Fred Newmeyer, the 1936 Our Gang feature-film General Spanky.
Roach sold the Our Gang unit to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 1938. Douglas directed two MGM Our Gangs that year on loan from Roach, The Little Ranger and Aladdin's Lantern, before deciding that he could not get used to the more industrialized atmosphere at the larger studio.
Returning to his home studio, Douglas directed the feature Zenobia (1939) with Oliver Hardy teamed with Harry Langdon instead of Stan Laurel; it was a box office disappointment. Laurel and Hardy were reunited for Douglas' next film, Saps at Sea (1940), which became Laurel and Hardy's last film produced by the Hal Roach Studios. Douglas next helmed All-American Co-Ed, starring former Our Gang member Johnny Downs (and Langdon).
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Gordon Douglas (director)
Gordon Douglas Brickner (December 15, 1907 – September 29, 1993) was an American film director and actor, who directed many different genres of films over the course of a five-decade career in motion pictures.
Brickner was born in New York City. He began his career as a child actor, appearing in some films directed by Maurice Costello. He also worked at MGM as a book-keeper.
As a teenager, Douglas got a job at the Hal Roach Studios, working in the office and appearing in bit parts in various Hal Roach films. He made walk-on appearances in at least three Our Gang shorts: Teacher's Pet (1930), Big Ears (1931) and Birthday Blues (1932).
By 1934, Douglas was assistant to director Gus Meins and served as assistant director on Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's 1934 film Babes in Toyland and on the Our Gang comedies made between 1934 and mid-1936.
Beginning with Bored of Education in 1936, Our Gang moved from two-reel (20-minute) comedies to one-reel (10-minute) comedies, and Douglas became the senior director of the series. Bored of Education won the 1936 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film, and was the only Our Gang entry ever honored with the award.
Douglas remained with the Our Gang series as director for two years. His Our Gang shorts, featuring Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla, Porky, Buckwheat, Waldo, Butch and Woim, are the most familiar in the series’ 22-year canon. In addition to Bored of Education, the twenty Hal Roach Our Gang shorts Douglas directed include entries such as Pay as You Exit (1936), Rushin' Ballet (1937), Our Gang Follies of 1938 (1937), and Three Men in a Tub (1938). He also co-directed, with Fred Newmeyer, the 1936 Our Gang feature-film General Spanky.
Roach sold the Our Gang unit to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in May 1938. Douglas directed two MGM Our Gangs that year on loan from Roach, The Little Ranger and Aladdin's Lantern, before deciding that he could not get used to the more industrialized atmosphere at the larger studio.
Returning to his home studio, Douglas directed the feature Zenobia (1939) with Oliver Hardy teamed with Harry Langdon instead of Stan Laurel; it was a box office disappointment. Laurel and Hardy were reunited for Douglas' next film, Saps at Sea (1940), which became Laurel and Hardy's last film produced by the Hal Roach Studios. Douglas next helmed All-American Co-Ed, starring former Our Gang member Johnny Downs (and Langdon).