Jerry Fairbanks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gerald Bertram Fairbanks was born in San Francisco, California USA on November 1, 1904, and survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. He began his career in film as a cameraman on silent movies (John Barrymore's The Sea Beast) followed by work on early sound productions such as Howard Hughes' film Hell's Angels.
His first foray into producing involved an innovative color series of theatrical short subjects for Universal Studios called "Strange As It Seems". Based on the success of these productions he was able to sell Paramount Pictures on a new series of short subjects entitled "Popular Science." Produced with the cooperation of the editors of Popular Science magazine, these color films showcased a vast assortment of groundbreaking wonders from the world of science and industry. In 1945 he won the Academy Award for Best Short Subject, One Reel for Who's Who in Animal Land, and was nominated again in that category in 1948 for Moon Rockets.
In the mid 1940s, Fairbanks was intrigued by television and became one the first film producers to create filmed programs specifically for this new medium. Viewing TV as the great rival to its continued success, in 1949 Paramount Pictures issued an ultimatum to Fairbanks — either stop making shows for TV or his association with Paramount was at an end. Fairbanks chose television and continued his success with his Popular Science films in this new media.
In addition to the Popular Science series, Fairbanks also broke new ground in television by inventing the multiple-camera setup of production in 1950 (assisted by producer-director Frank Telford), which is still utilized by sitcoms today.[1] (Desi Arnaz and Karl Freund are often cited as the inventors when producing I Love Lucy, but Arnaz himself gave credit to Jerry Fairbanks as the originator of this system. The only enhancement Arnaz made was to use 35 mm film instead of 16 mm which Fairbanks employed.)
Jerry Fairbanks also gave a young actor named James Dean his very first performances on film, first in two Pepsi Cola TV commercials and next as the disciple John in his production for television entitled "Hill Number One."
Jerry Fairbanks died in Santa Barbara, California on June 21, 1995 at the age of 90. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6384 Hollywood Blvd.
