B. F. Zeidman (October 4, 1896 – August 7, 1970) was a Hollywood film producer whose long film career began while he was still in his teens during the era of

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

Early life

He was born Benjamin "Bennie" Zeidman at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, the middle of five children raised by Joseph and Clara Zeidman. Bennie's birth-mother most likely died sometime around the turn of the century leaving his father to wed Clara about 1902. His father was Russian, as were his mother and step-mother, and supported his family as an owner of a Philadelphia area butcher shop.

Career

As early as 1911 Bennie was doing publicity for

Lubin Studios The Lubin Manufacturing Company was an American motion picture production company that produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Lubin films were distributed with a Liberty Bell trademark. * * History The Lubin Manufacturing Company was forme ...

, and had gained the nickname "Bennie of Lubinville." In 1914 Zeidman worked as publicity manager for the Liberty Motion Picture Company, and then for Eaco Films in New York. Over the next several years he would work as publicist for

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the n ...

, Fine Arts Films, Yorke-Metro Studios, and

Douglas Fairbanks Douglas Elton Fairbanks Sr. (born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman; May 23, 1883 – December 12, 1939) was an American actor and filmmaker best known for being the first actor to play the masked Vigilante Zorro and other swashbuckler film, swashbu ...

. In 1922 he produced the film ''Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?'', and would go on to produce or co-produce some twenty-six films over the following twenty-two years including ''

Prison Train ''Prison Train'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Gordon Wiles. Released by Equity Pictures Corporation, the film stars Fred Keating and Dorothy Comingore (billed as Linda Winters). Burlesque dancer Faith Bacon also appears in h ...

'', ''

Grand Central Murder ''Grand Central Murder'' is a comedy/mystery film released in 1942. It was based on Sue MacVeigh's 1939 novel of the same name, and stars Van Heflin as a private investigator who is one of the suspects in a murder on a private train car in Grand ...

'', and the 1936 documentary ''Beneath the Seas''. His last two productions were the

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

films ''

Air Raid Wardens ''Air Raid Wardens'' is a 1943 comedy film directed by Edward Sedgwick and starring Laurel and Hardy. It was the first of two feature films starring the duo for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Plot Set during World War II, Stan and Ollie face a series of m ...

'' and '' Nothing But Trouble''. At 101 pounds and just under five feet, Zeidman was once described as the "smallest press agent in captivity".

Death

Bennie Zeidman died in 1970 at the age of 73 in Los Angeles.Social Security Death Index (Bennie Zeidman)

Filmography

As producer

As actor

As editor

* ''

The Fleet's In ''The Fleet's In'' is a 1942 movie musical produced by Paramount Pictures, directed by Victor Schertzinger, and starring Dorothy Lamour and William Holden. Although sharing the title of the 1928 Paramount film starring Clara Bow and Jack Oaki ...

'' (1928) * ''

Just Married ''Just Married'' is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Shawn Levy, written by Sam Harper, and stars Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy as a young newlywed couple from different social classes who take their honeymoon to Europe, where obs ...

'' (1928)

As writer

* ''

Figures Don't Lie ''Figures Don't Lie'' is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by A. Edward Sutherland and written by Ethel Doherty and Louise Long from an adaptation by Grover Jones of a story by B. F. Zeidman, with intertitles by Herman J. Mankiew ...

'' (1927)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zeidman, B. F. Film producers from Pennsylvania 1896 births 1970 deaths Businesspeople from Philadelphia American people of Russian descent American public relations people 20th-century American businesspeople