Sidney "Sy" Bartlett (born Sacha Baraniev; July 10, 1900 – May 29, 1978) was a Ukrainian American author and screenwriter/producer of Hollywood films.

Early life

Sy Bartlett was born on July 10, 1900 in the Black Sea seaport of

Mykolaiv Mykolaiv ( uk, Миколаїв, ) is a city and municipality in Southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, is the location of the most downriver bri ...

in the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. His parents immigrated to the United States in 1904, settling in Chicago. Bartlett attended Northwestern University and was trained at the

Medill School of Journalism The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the Unite ...

. He worked as a newspaper reporter before moving to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. His first credited work was for

RKO Studios RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

in 1933 and he wrote 28 screenplays from 1933 to 1969. In the 1950s, he became interested in producing films, and with film star

Gregory Peck Eldred Gregory Peck (April 5, 1916 – June 12, 2003) was an American actor and one of the most popular film stars from the 1940s to the 1970s. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th-greatest male star of Classic Hollywood ...

founded

Melville Productions Melville may refer to: Places Antarctica * Cape Melville (South Shetland Islands) * Melville Peak, King George Island *Melville Glacier, Graham Land *Melville Highlands, Laurie Island *Melville Point, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Cape Melville, ...

in 1956. Bartlett enjoyed being a Hollywood socialite in the 1930s and was well known for the Sunday barbecues he frequently hosted. He was sometimes connected by tabloids to scandals on occasion, and married three times, each time to Hollywood actresses –

Alice White Alice White (born Alva White; August 25, 1904Katz, Ephraim (1979). ''The Film Encyclopedia: The Most Comprehensive Encyclopedia of World Cinema in a Single Volume''. Perigee Books. , pg. 1228. – February 19, 1983) was an American film ac ...

Ellen Drew Ellen Drew (born Esther Loretta Ray; November 23, 1914 – December 3, 2003) was an American film actress. Early life Drew, born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1914, was the daughter of an Irish-born barber. She had a younger brother, Arden. Her ...

, and

Patricia Owens Patricia Molly Owens (January 17, 1925 – August 31, 2000) was a Canadian-born American actress, working in Hollywood. She appeared in about 40 films and 10 television episodes in a career lasting from 1943 to 1968. Early work Owens moved ...

. Of Jewish descent, Bartlett was strongly anti-

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

, once striking an employee of the German consulate in the face during an argument in a nightclub.Maxwell Street ''Survival in a Bazaar, Publisher Doubleday & Co. Inc., Garden City, New York, 1977 see page 239''

Military service

Bartlett joined the U.S. Army during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

as a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

and was assigned to the

Army Pictorial Service The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

. However, he was not interested in making training films and used connections to meet Beirne Lay, Jr., who was on the staff of

Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Brig. Gen.

Ira Eaker General (Honorary) Ira Clarence Eaker (April 13, 1896 – August 6, 1987) was a general of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Eaker, as second-in-command of the prospective Eighth Air Force, was sent to England to form and ...

. Lay had a background in both journalism and Hollywood and arranged for Bartlett to meet Maj. Gen.

Carl Spaatz Carl Andrew Spaatz (born Spatz; June 28, 1891 – July 14, 1974), nicknamed "Tooey", was an American World War II general. As commander of Strategic Air Forces in Europe in 1944, he successfully pressed for the bombing of the enemy's oil produc ...

, and Bartlett became Spaatz's aide-de-camp. With the establishment of the

Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Forces ...

in England, Bartlett was transferred there and joined the staff of the Eighth's Bomber Command as an intelligence assistant. There he came into daily contact with the inner workings of Air Force commanders in England, including Brig. Gen. Frank A. Armstrong, and was a close observer of the development of the Eighth into a powerful combat force. In November 1944, Major Bartlett became the wing

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way a ...

for the

B-29 The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

315th Bomb Wing under Armstrong and served with it in

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

.Hollywood Man First U.S. Flyer to Bomb Berlin: Maj. Sy Bartlett, Former Film Writer, Drops 4000-Pound 'Cookie' on Target in Nazi Capital
''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the ...

'' via Newspapers.com. Published March 29, 1943. Retrieved June 20, 2022. Bartlett also served as a bombardier flying in the first bombing mission over

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

in March 1943.

Return to Hollywood and writing

Following World War II, Bartlett returned to Hollywood and joined

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film studio, film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm o ...

as a writer. In 1946, he began a collaboration with Beirne Lay which resulted in the 1948 publication of the novel ''

Twelve O'Clock High ''Twelve O'Clock High'' is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force, who flew daylight bombing missions against Germany and Occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II ...

'' (

Harper & Brothers Harper is an American publishing house, the flagship imprint of global publisher HarperCollins based in New York City. History J. & J. Harper (1817–1833) James Harper and his brother John, printers by training, started their book publishin ...

), and in December 1949, the release of the film based on the same story (work on production began a year before publication). Bartlett died in Hollywood on May 29, 1978, aged 77, from cancer.

Filmography (screenwriter)

* ''

Che! ''Che!'' is a 1969 American biographical film directed by Richard Fleischer and starring Omar Sharif as Marxist revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It follows Guevara from when he first landed in Cuba in 1956 to his death in Bolivia in 1967, a ...

'' (1969) – also producer * '' In Enemy Country'' (1968) * '' A Gathering of Eagles'' (1963)-- also producer * '' Cape Fear'' (1962)--also producer * ''

The Outsider The Outsider may refer to: Film * ''The Outsider'' (1917 film), an American film directed by William C. Dowlan * ''The Outsider'' (1926 film), an American film directed by Rowland V. Lee * ''The Outsider'' (1931 film), a film starring Joan Barr ...

'' (1961) – also producer * ''

Beloved Infidel ''Beloved Infidel'' is a 1959 DeLuxe Color biographical drama film made by 20th Century Fox in CinemaScope and based on the relationship of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheilah Graham. The film was directed by Henry King and produced by Jerry ...

'' (1959) * '' Pork Chop Hill'' (1959)-- also producer * ''

The Big Country ''The Big Country'' is a 1958 American epic Western film directed by William Wyler, starring Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Carroll Baker, Charlton Heston, and Burl Ives. The supporting cast features Charles Bickford and Chuck Connors. Filmed in ...

'' (1958) * '' Suspicion'' (TV series; episode: "Doomsday") (1957) * '' The Last Command'' (1955) * ''

That Lady ''That Lady'' is a 1955 British-Spanish historical romantic drama film directed by Terence Young and produced by Sy Bartlett and Ray Kinnoch. It stars Olivia de Havilland, Gilbert Roland, and Paul Scofield. The film is based on a 1946 histor ...

'' (1955)-- also producer * ''

The Red Beret ''The Red Beret'' (aka ''The Red Devils'', ''The Big Jump'' and retitled ''Paratrooper'' for the US release) is a 1953 British-American war film directed by Terence Young and starring Alan Ladd, Leo Genn and Susan Stephen. ''The Red Beret'' i ...

'' (1953) * ''

'' (1949) * '' Down to the Sea in Ships'' (1949) * ''

13 Rue Madeleine ''13 Rue Madeleine'' is a 1947 American World War II spy film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring James Cagney, Annabella, Richard Conte and Frank Latimore. Allied volunteers are trained as spies in the leadup to the invasion of Europe, but ...

'' (1947) * ''

The Princess and the Pirate ''The Princess and the Pirate'' is a 1944 American comedy film directed by David Butler and starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo. Based on a story by Sy Bartlett, the film is about a princess who travels incognito to elope with her true love ins ...

'' (1944) * '' Two Yanks in Trinidad'' (1942) * ''

Bullet Scars ''Bullet Scars'' is a 1942 American film produced and distributed by Warner Bros. It was directed by D. Ross Lederman with top-billed stars Regis Toomey, Adele Longmire and Howard DaSilva. Plot Gangster Frank Dillon (Howard Da Silva) is on ...

'' (1942) * '' Road to Zanzibar'' (1941) * ''

Sandy Gets Her Man ''Sandy Gets Her Man'' is a 1940 American comedy film directed by Otis Garrett and Paul Gerard Smith and written by Sy Bartlett and Jane Storm. The film stars Baby Sandy, Stuart Erwin, Una Merkel, Edgar Kennedy, William Frawley, Edward Brophy, ...

'' (1940) * '' The Amazing Mr. Williams'' (1939) * '' Cocoanut Grove'' (1938) * ''

Sergeant Murphy ''Sergeant Murphy'' is a 1938 American comedy film directed by B. Reeves Eason and written by Sy Bartlett and William Jacobs. The film stars Ronald Reagan, Mary Maguire, Donald Crisp, Ben Hendricks Jr. and William B. Davidson. The film was ...

'' (1938) * '' Danger Patrol'' (1937) * '' The Man Who Cried Wolf'' (1937) * '' Under Your Spell'' (1936) * '' Boulder Dam'' (1936) * '' The Murder of Dr. Harrigan'' (1936) * ''

Going Highbrow ''Going Highbrow'' is a 1935 American comedy-musical film directed by Robert Florey Robert Florey (14 September 1900 – 16 May 1979) was a French-American director, screenwriter, film journalist and actor. Born as Robert Fuchs in Paris, he ...

'' (1935) * '' Kansas City Princess'' (1934) * '' The Big Brain'' (1933)

References

*Duffin, Alan T., and Matheis, Paul. ''The 12 O'Clock High Logbook'' (2005),

External links

*
Portrait of screenwriter Sy Bartlett, Los Angeles, California, circa 1939.

Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library,

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartlett, Sy 1900 births 1978 deaths American film producers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States American people of Ukrainian descent American people of Ukrainian-Jewish descent American male screenwriters 20th-century American novelists United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Army Air Forces officers Deaths from cancer in California Medill School of Journalism alumni People from Chicago People from Greater Los Angeles American male novelists 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters