Edward F. Cline

Template:Infobox person Edward Francis Cline (November 4, 1891 – May 22, 1961) was an American screenwriter, actor, writer and director best known for his work with comedians W.C. Fields and Buster Keaton. He was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin and died in Hollywood, California.

Career

Buster Keaton and Eddie Cline in a 1920 advertisement

Cline began working for Mack Sennett's Keystone Studios in 1914 and supported Charlie Chaplin in some of the shorts he made at the studio. At one time he claimed credit for having come up with the idea for the Sennett Bathing Beauties.<ref name="Curtis 405">Template:Cite book</ref> When Buster Keaton began making his own shorts, after having worked with Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle for years, he hired Cline as his co-director.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In Keaton's short films Cline and Keaton himself were the only two regular gag men.<ref>Meade, p. 134.</ref> For Keaton's 1921 short Hard Luck, Cline is credited with originating Keaton's personal favorite gag from his films. At the end of the film, Keaton dives into a swimming pool which has been emptied of water. Years later, he emerges from the hole which his fall created, accompanied by a Chinese wife and two small Chinese-American children.<ref>Meade, p. 104.</ref> Besides working on most of Keaton's early shorts, Cline co-directed Keaton's first feature, Three Ages (1923).<ref name="Curtis 405"/>

Although he worked mostly in comedy, Cline directed some melodramas and the musical Leathernecking (1930), Irene Dunne's film debut.<ref name="Curtis 405"/>

Cline began his association with W.C. Fields in the 1932 Paramount film Million Dollar Legs. The film had several veterans of Mack Sennett's Keystone films, including Andy Clyde, Ben Turpin, and Hank Mann. Producer Herman J. Mankiewicz recalled of Cline, "He was very much of the old, old comedy school. He didn't know what was happening in Million Dollar Legs. At all. But he enjoyed doing it, because he had Andy Clyde. And Ben Turpin. And Bill Fields."<ref>Curtis, p. 241.</ref>

During troubles with the shooting of Fields's 1939 film You Can't Cheat an Honest Man, largely resulting from Fields's clashes with director George Marshall, Fields managed to put Cline in the director's chair. Co-star Constance Moore remembered "Before Mr. Fields did the famous Ping-Pong scene he wanted Mr. Cline. He said 'I've worked with Cline. He knows my work.' He first put out his feelers. Then he started asking for Cline. Then he demanded him..."<ref>Curtis, pp. 384-385.</ref> Cline's work on the film lasted 10 days during which he shot the party scene containing the ping pong game.<ref>Curtis, pp. 386-387.</ref>

As director of My Little Chickadee (1940), Cline's desire that the actors follow the script caused some difficulties with Fields until Cline finally submitted to Fields's tendency to ad-lib. Cline objected to the ad-libbing because it caused the crew to laugh, and Cline's own laughter necessitated a quick cut at the end of one of Fields's barroom scenes.<ref name="Curtis 407"/>

Cline directed Fields's last two starring films, The Bank Dick (1940) and Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941). Recalling their work together, Cline said that Fields chose him to direct his films because he was the only person in Hollywood who knew "less about making movies" than Fields himself.<ref name="Curtis 407">Curtis, p. 407.</ref> Assistant director Edward Montagne remembered, "Fields and Cline were basically the same type. They both had great comedy sense... With actors, if he thought they were on the right track, he'd let them go."<ref name="Curtis 407"/>

Universal Pictures, which had hired Cline to direct Fields, released Fields in 1941 but retained Cline, signing him to a new contract. Cline directed many of the studio's musical comedies, starring Gloria Jean, The Ritz Brothers, and Olsen and Johnson. He was dismissed, along with other directors, producers, and actors, when new owners took over the studio in 1945. Cline moved over to Monogram Pictures, directing and/or writing the studio's "Jiggs and Maggie" comedies. The last one, in 1950, was co-directed by veteran William Beaudine.

Television

Cline became a pioneer in television when his old crony, Buster Keaton, became one of the first movie comedians to succeed in the new medium. Keaton and Cline collaborated on two of Keaton's series.

Comic bandleader Spike Jones was famous for using wild visual gags in his band's performances, and his television show required even more material. Jones found an ideal resource in Eddie Cline, whose knack for comedy (and long memory for old sight gags) made him a valuable assistant. Cline remained in Jones's employ well into the 1950s.

Personal life

In 1913, Cline became engaged to Minnie Elizabeth Matheis, aged 18, who previously had been engaged three times in three months.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> They married on March 6, 1916.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1918, they had a daughter, named Elizabeth Normand; Minnie contracted an infection in childbirth and died four days later.<ref name="Buster Keaton's Crew">Template:Cite book</ref>

In 1919, Cline married Beatrice Altman. They had no children.<ref name="Buster Keaton's Crew"/> She died in 1949.<ref name="ReferenceA">Template:Cite book</ref>

Cline died of cirrhosis in 1961.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

In popular culture

One of the two detective characters in The X-Files episode "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", is named after him. Just like how the title of the episode itself is named after Clyde Bruckman.

Partial filmography

Cline is credited as director unless noted. He directed nearly 60 Mack Sennett comedies between 1914 and 1933.<ref name="Walker Bio">Template:Cite book</ref>

Year	Title	Notes
1914	Template:Sortname	Short film; actor only<ref name="BFI">Template:Cite web</ref>
1916	His Bread and Butter	Short film<ref name="BFI"/>
1920	One Week	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1920	Convict 13	Short film; also screenwriter, actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1920	Neighbors	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1920	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1921	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1921	Hard Luck	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1921	The High Sign	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1921	Template:Sortname	Short film; actor only<ref name="BFI"/>
1921	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/> and actor
1921	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	Cops	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	My Wife's Relations	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1922	Daydreams	Short film; also screenwriter and actor<ref name="BFI"/>
1923	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1923	Template:Sortname	Short film; also screenwriter<ref name="BFI"/>
1923	Circus Days	<ref name="AFI">Template:Cite web</ref>
1923	Three Ages	Co-director (with Buster Keaton)<ref name="AFI"/>
1923	Template:Sortname	<ref name="AFI"/>
1924	When a Man's a Man
1924	Captain January	<ref name="AFI"/>
1924	Little Robinson Crusoe	<ref name="AFI"/>
1924	Along Came Ruth	<ref name="AFI"/>
1925	Template:Sortname	<ref name="AFI"/>
1925	Old Clothes	<ref name="AFI"/>
1926	Flirty Four-Flushers
1927	Let It Rain	<ref name="AFI"/>
1927	Soft Cushions	<ref name="AFI"/>
1929	Template:Sortname	<ref name="AFI"/>
1930	Leathernecking	<ref name="AFI"/>
1930	Hook, Line and Sinker	<ref name="AFI"/>
1931	Cracked Nuts	<ref name="AFI"/>
1932	Million Dollar Legs	<ref name="AFI"/>
1934	Peck's Bad Boy	<ref name="AFI"/>
1934	Template:Sortname	<ref name="AFI"/>
1935	When a Man's a Man	<ref name="AFI"/>
1935	It's a Great Life
1937	Forty Naughty Girls
1939	You Can't Cheat an Honest Man	<ref name="AFI"/>
1940	My Little Chickadee	<ref name="AFI"/>
1940	Template:Sortname	<ref name="AFI"/>
1941	Never Give a Sucker an Even Break	<ref name="AFI"/>
1942	What's Cookin'?	<ref name="AFI"/>
1942	Give Out, Sisters	<ref name="AFI"/>
1942	Behind the Eight Ball	<ref name="AFI"/>
1943	Crazy House	<ref name="AFI"/>
1944	Hat Check Honey	<ref name="AFI"/>
1944	Ghost Catchers	<ref name="AFI"/>
1945	Penthouse Rhythm	<ref name="AFI"/>
1946	Bringing up Father	<ref name="AFI"/>
1947	Jiggs and Maggie in Society	Also screenwriter<ref name="AFI"/>
1947	Jiggs and Maggie in Court	Also screenwriter<ref name="AFI"/>
1949	Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters	Screenwriter only<ref name="AFI"/>
1950	Jiggs and Maggie Out West	Co-director (with William Beaudine) and screenwriter<ref name="AFI"/>

Further reading

• Jordan R. Young (2005). Spike Jones Off the Record: The Man Who Murdered Music (3rd edition). Albany: BearManor Media. Template:ISBN.
• Scott MacGillivray and Jan MacGillivray (2005). Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven. Bloomington, IN: iUniverse. Template:ISBN.
• Lisle Foote (2014). Buster Keaton's Crew: The Team Behind His Silent Films Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc.. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Template:Wikisource author-inline
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