Gregory La Cava

 Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952)

He is best remembered for his films of the 1930s, including My Man Godfrey and Stage Door, which earned him nominations for Academy Award for Best Director. Around 1913, he started doing odd jobs at the studio of Raoul Barré. By 1915, he was an animator on the Animated Grouch Chasers series. Towards the end of 1915, William Randolph Hearst decided to create an animation studio to promote the comic strips printed in his newspapers. He called the new company International Film Service, and he hired La Cava to run it. As he developed more and more of Hearst's comics into cartoon series, he came to put semi-independent units in charge of each, leading to the growth of individual styles. La Cava's main fault as a producer and director was that his cartoons were too clearly animated comic strips, hampered by speech balloons when rival Bray Studio was creating more effective series with original characters. He was apparently aware of this fault, and he had his animators study Charlie Chaplin films to improve their timing and characterization. But he didn't have time to achieve very much, because in July 1918, Hearst's bankers caught up with him and International Film Service was shut down.

By 1922, La Cava had become a live-action director of two-reel comedies, the direct competitor to animated films. La Cava worked his way up to feature films in the silent era, but it is for his work in sound films of the 1930s—especially comedies—that he is best known today. And though he did not always get credit, he also often had a hand in creating the screenplays for his films. His classic comedies include She Married Her Boss (1935), My Man Godfrey (1936), and Stage Door (1937). However, his output dropped severely in the 1940s, and he only officially directed one film after 1942, Living in a Big Way (1947). La Cava was married twice, and had one child. He died in his sleep on March 1, 1952 at age 59. His remains are interred with those of his Mother Eva at Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.