Tweet Can Anyone Identify This Individual?

Can anyone identify the individual - assumedly the director - in the pith helmet? The fellow looking on with the moustache is B film producer Ben Pivar, and this appears to have been taken in the late '30s or very early '40s. Pivar made a large number of films with director Christy Cabanne during this period, who would have been about 51-53 years old, but I haven't a clue what Cabanne looked like (aside from the one very early image of him that circulates).

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom Reeder

Can anyone identify the individual - assumedly the director - in the pith helmet? The fellow looking on with the moustache is B film producer Ben Pivar, and this appears to have been taken in the late '30s or very early '40s. Pivar made a large number of films with director Christy Cabanne during this period, who would have been about 51-53 years old, but I haven't a clue what Cabanne looked like (aside from the one very early image of him that circulates).

Any help would be appreciated.

Tom Reeder

I'm not sure who it is, but is is not Christy Cabanne. I have seen pictures of Cabanne from the 30's and he usually has a moustache and looks older than that.

RICHARD M ROBERTS

How about Lew Landers? Landers directed a couple of films for Pivar in 1940, and looks kind of like this in the few images I've found of him.

Other possibilities are John Rawlins and Harold schuster, both in their later 30s when they worked for him. Or MR. BOGGS STEPS OUT director Gordon Wiles, perhaps? He would have been about 36 at the time.

Tom Reeder

I wonder if the "G N" on the camera means Grand National, which would at least narrow this down to a few films (one can also make out "GR. NAT" on the piece of equipment on the left--diffuser? reflector?).

And to make what might be a preposterous suggestion--could that be Conrad Nagel (making LOVE IN FLIGHT)?

[Mike Gebert]

Sure looks like Landers to me. That beak is pretty distinctive.

Damn! I didn't even notice those G.N. and Gr. Nat initials, and I should have.
Pivar produced only three films for Grand National, LOVE TAKES FLIGHT, as you mentioned, MR. BOGGS STEPS OUT, directed by Gordon Wiles, and THE GOLD RACKET directed by Louis Gasnier (too old; in his 60s at the time). So that would seem to narrow it down to Wiles or Nagel, and do you think this looks like Nagel? Now that you mention it, I suppose it could be him. He would have been about 40 at the time. he described the experience a year or two after the fact as “Just a quickie, but good experience.”

Tom Reeder

[Mike Gebert]

I never thought of him as being so beaky, but there are a lot more pics of Nagel out there than Lew Landers, and if you look long enough you find a few that give you a profile, like this one...

http://silenthollywood.com/images/Conra ... _Photo.jpg

or this one where the chin looks like that guy's...

http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/s ... rad-nagel/

and yeah, it does start to look like Nagel.

And Nagel was quite fair of hair and complexion, and would have burned quickly in the sun, so the wide brimmed hat and scarf would make sense.

It could be Nagel, the tightened lips alter the profile a bit and accentuate the chin though. Are there any shots of Nagel in short sleeves to compare the hands and forearms?

It could be Nagel, the tightened lips alter the profile a bit and accentuate the chin though. Are there any shots of Nagel in short sleeves to compare the hands and forearms?

Perusing photos of him on Ebay reveals that he wore short sleeves only occasionally while onscreen, and the few photos that have him in that attire are taken from too great a distance to compare to the above photos. But I did find a still from The Pagan Lady (Columbia, 1931) that might be usable (it can be expanded even larger using the auction image about midway down):
http://tinyurl.com/473njbl

-Harold

[Mike Gebert]

Same abundantly hairy arms if you blow it up as much as you can.

Here's a rather poor picture of director Gordon Wiles, but based on this my vote is for Nagel. Thanks everyone for the feedback, and to you Ian for noticing those tell-tale company initials on the equipment.
http://www.cinestills.com/stillscoll/fi ... 9bcd0f8f76

Tom Reeder

Also looks like young Peter Fonda - before he was born. Maybe he was checking out his future...

This is a terrible copy, but I think it carries a lot of weight in the issue of the identity of the pith-helmeted fellow in the above photo. It's taken from the June 5, 1937 issue of BOXOFFICE.


Tom Reeder

The Marx-Fields candid was taken, according to Corbis, at a birthday party for Edgar Bergen in February 1938. I think the blurry guy between them in the background could be Jack Haley, but I'm far from sure.