Felix E. Feist

Children6, including Raymond E. FeistParentRelativesLeo Feist (uncle)

Felix Ellison Feist (/faɪst/; February 28, 1910 – September 2, 1965) was an American film and television director and writer born in New York City. He is probably best remembered for Deluge (1933), for writing and directing the film noirs The Devil Thumbs a Ride (1947) and The Threat (1949), and for helming the second screen version of the Curt Siodmak sci-fi tale Donovan's Brain (1953), which starred Nancy Davis before she became known as Nancy Reagan.

He directed Judy Garland and Deanna Durbin in their first significant screen appearances, in the 1936 short film Every Sunday.^[1]

Life

Feist was the son of a MGM sales executive, Felix F. Feist (1884–1936), and nephew of a publishing house magnate, Leo Feist. He was educated at Columbia University. In the late 1920s he found work as a newsreel cameraman, and he was on staff at MGM from 1929 to 1932, directing screen tests and producing one-reel travelogues.^[2]

In 1931, Feist married Dorothy Hart Jacobs.^[3] The two met in New York, NY, and traveled to Los Angeles together where Feist began his career with MGM. They had two daughters, Marjory and Jacqueline Ellison.

His second marriage was to Lisa Howard, a pioneering female journalist and television news anchor, who briefly had an acting career. She appeared in a few of his films such as The Man Who Cheated Himself, Guilty of Treason, and Donovan's Brain. They had a daughter, Fritzi.

In 1955, he married Lulu Estelle "Barbara" Allen, whose son, Raymond, he adopted. Raymond became a fantasy author.^[4]

Feist died of cancer on September 2, 1965, at the age of 55. In his obituary, it was reported that he had three sons and three daughters.^[5]

Filmography

Year	Film	Functioned as
		Director	Producer	Screenwriter	Music	Actor
1930	The Sea Bat				Yes[I]
1932	Football Footwork	Yes
1933	Deluge	Yes
1934	My Grandfather's Clock	Yes		Yes[II]	Yes[III]
	Strikes and Spares	Yes
	MGM's March on in 1934-35 with Metro Goldwyn Mayer: Convention of the Century					Yes
1935	Football Teamwork	Yes
1936	Every Sunday	Yes
	Hollywood Extra!	Yes
	Hollywood - The Second Step	Yes
	How to Train a Dog			Yes[IV]
	How to Vote	Yes
	How to Be a Detective	Yes
1937	The Romance of Digestion	Yes		Yes[V]
	Give Till It Hurts	Yes
	Decathlon Champion: The Story of Glenn Morris	Yes
	What Do You Think?	Yes
1938	The Magician's Daughter	Yes		Yes[VI]
	Follow the Arrow	Yes
1939	Double Diving	Yes
	Happily Buried	Yes		Yes[IV]
	Prophet Without Honor	Yes
	Radio Hams	Yes
	Take a Cue	Yes
	Set 'em Up	Yes
	Let's Talk Turkey	Yes
1940	Pound Foolish	Yes
	Golden Gloves	Yes
	Dreams	Yes
1943	All by Myself	Yes
	You're a Lucky Fellow, Mr. Smith	Yes
1944	Pardon My Rhythm	Yes
	This Is the Life	Yes
	Reckless Age	Yes	Yes
1945	George White's Scandals	Yes
1947	The Devil Thumbs a Ride	Yes		Yes[IV]
1948	The Winner's Circle	Yes
1949	The Threat	Yes
1950	Guilty of Treason	Yes
	The Golden Gloves Story	Yes		Yes[II]
	The Man Who Cheated Himself	Yes
1951	Fixin' Fool			Yes[IV]
	Tomorrow Is Another Day	Yes
	The Basketball Fix	Yes
1952	The Big Trees	Yes
	This Woman Is Dangerous	Yes
	Babes in Bagdad			Yes[VII]
	Battles of Chief Pontiac	Yes
1953	The Man Behind the Gun	Yes
	Donovan's Brain	Yes		Yes[II]
1955	Pirates of Tripoli	Yes

^ I Credited for the lyrics of "Lo-Lo"
^ II Credited for the screenplay
^ III Credited as a composer
^ IV Credited as a writer
^ V Uncredited
^ VI Credited for the story
^ VII Credited for the original screenplay

Television

Year	Title		Credited as
	Series	Episode	Director	Producer
1953	The Revlon Mirror Theater	"Lullaby"	Yes
	General Electric Theater	"The Eye of the Beholder"	Yes
1956	Star Stage	"The Mountain That Moved"	Yes
	Telephone Time	"The Man in the Black Robe"	Yes
	The Jane Wyman Show	"Father Forgets”	Yes
1956–1957	Zane Grey Theater	5 episodes	Yes
1957	Highway Patrol	"Gem Robbery"	Yes
	Dr. Christian	"Amnesia"	Yes
	Tombstone Territory	unknown episodes	Yes
1958	Sea Hunt	"Sixty Feet Below"	Yes
	Harbourmaster	"Strangers in Town"	Yes
	The Texan	unknown episodes	Yes
1958–1959	The Californians	5 episodes directed, 3 episodes produced	Yes	Yes
1959	The Deputy	"Back to Glory"	Yes
	Riverboat	2 episodes	Yes
1960	Bonanza	"Blood on the Land"	Yes
1960–1961	Adventures in Paradise	17 episodes	Yes
1961–1962	Follow the Sun	2 episodes	Yes
1962	Bus Stop	"Verdict of 12"	Yes
1964	Peyton Place	unknown episodes		Yes
1964–1965	Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea	6 episodes	Yes
1965	The Outer Limits	"The Probe"	Yes

References

Bibliography

External links

• Felix E. Feist at IMDb