Director
Robert Youngson
108 years · Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA · 18 films
Robert Youngson (November 27, 1917 – April 8, 1974) was a film producer, director, and screenwriter, specializing in reviving antique silent films. Robert George Youngson, born in Brooklyn, New York, graduated from Harvard University with a master's degree in business administration. He entered the film business in 1941, writing newsreel scripts. In 1948 Warner Bros. hired him to produce a series of short subjects about sports. Most of these were straight roundups of current sporting events, but in some of them Youngson indulged his fascination with antique newsreels of the 1920s, and included vintage sports footage in the new productions. This led to Youngson writing and producing a long series of historical short subjects for Warners, two of which won him Academy Awards. Most of these films took an affectionate look back at the fads and lifestyles of the 1920s. Youngson's narration was nostalgic in tone, unlike the facetious commentaries that usually accompanied silent-film revivals like Gaslight Follies (1945) and Warners' compilations of Mack Sennett comedies. Youngson also produced a feature-length documentary for Warners, Fifty Years Before Your Eyes (1950). Warners discontinued live-action short subjects in 1956 and released Youngson, forcing him to work as an independent producer. He assembled a full-length feature of silent-comedy highlights, The Golden Age of Comedy (1958). This was a triumphant success, earning rave reviews from national columnists and receiving network exposure on TV talk shows. He followed this with When Comedy Was King (1960) and six more vintage-comedy anthologies, the last being released in 1970.
Best known for
Filmography 18
4 Clowns
1970 · Director
On Mometu
The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy
1967 · Writer, Director
Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's
1965 · Director
On Hoopla
The Big Parade of Comedy
1964 · Producer, Director
30 Years of Fun
1963 · Writer, Director
Days of Thrills and Laughter
1961 · Writer, Director
On Philo
When Comedy Was King
1960 · Director, Writer
The Golden Age of Comedy
1957 · Director
On Hoopla
I Never Forget a Face
1956 · Writer, Director
Gadgets Galore
1955 · Director, Writer
When the Talkies Were Young
1955 · Writer, Producer
This Mechanical Age
1954 · Producer, Director
Look at Life: Lighter than Air
1952 · Director
World of Kids
1951 · Director
Blaze Busters
1950 · Director
Cavalcade of Girls
1950 · Director, Writer
Fifty Years Before Your Eyes
1950 · Director
Spills and Chills
1949 · Director, Writer