Fred C. Newmeyer

• Date of Birth:

  24 April 1888 Central City, Colorado, USA

Newmeyer was a professional baseball player from 1909 to 1913, before beginning his career as an extra at Universal. He worked his way up the ladder to become first a prop man, then assistant director, and, finally, director. Notable among his films are 'Seven Keys to Baldpate' (1925) with Douglas MacLean and 'The Potters' (1927) starring W.C.Fields. His interest in baseball never waned and sometimes resurfaced as a theme in his films, particularly with 'Warming Up' (1928), a vehicle for Jean Arthur and... more

Newmeyer was a professional baseball player from 1909 to 1913, before beginning his career as an extra at Universal. He worked his way up the ladder to become first a prop man, then assistant director, and, finally, director. Notable among his films are 'Seven Keys to Baldpate' (1925) with Douglas MacLean and 'The Potters' (1927) starring W.C.Fields. His interest in baseball never waned and sometimes resurfaced as a theme in his films, particularly with 'Warming Up' (1928), a vehicle for Jean Arthur and Richard Dix. Newmeyer specialized almost exclusively in comedy, first as an actor and then as a very capable director. He turned out several entries in the 'Our Gang' series, as well as numerous shorts for Hal Roach. He also worked on some of Harold Lloyd' best films, either as solo director ('Grandma's Boy', 'Doctor Jack') or in collaboration with Sam Taylor ('The Freshman', 'Safety Last'). With the advent of talking pictures, Newmeyer, ill-advisedly, forsook daredevil comedy for more serious subjects. 'Subway Express', a 'thriller' made for Columbia in 1931 was plain dull, and 'General Spanky' (starring ex-'Our Gang', Spanky McFarland) was mushy melodrama at its worst. After that, Newmeyer's directing career quietly petered out.