
Joseph Santley
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Joseph Mansfield Santley (born Joseph Ishmael Mansfield, January 10, 1890 – August 8, 1971) was an American actor, singer, dancer, writer, director, and producer of musical theatrical plays motion pictures and television shows. He adopted the stage name of his stepfather, actor Eugene Santley.
Joseph Santley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a boy, he and older brother Fred began performing in live theatre appearing in summer stock and touring with their parents. In 1906, at age seventeen, Joseph Santley co-wrote and starred on Broadway in the play, Billy the Kid. In 1907, he acted in film for the first time for Sidney Olcott at the Kalem Company in a silent Western film short called Pony Express.
In 1928, Santley directed his first motion picture, a short talkie for Paramount Pictures that featured singer Ruth Etting. The next year, Paramount had Santley direct three more films that were short singing productions, one with Etting, another with crooner Rudy Vallee, plus a third titled High Hat with Broadway singing star Alice Boulden. Also, he directed A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic, a musical film featuring Eddie Cantor along with Eddie Elkins and his orchestra. In 1929, Joseph Santley co-directed, with Robert Florey, the first Marx Brothers feature film The Cocoanuts, a musical comedy for which he is most famous. Based on the George S. Kaufman play, and with music by Irving Berlin, the film was billed as "Paramount's All Talking-Singing Musical Comedy Hit." His other notable directorial efforts include 1935's Harmony Lane, a biographical musical on the life of composer Stephen Foster. In 1940, he directed Melody Ranch starring "singing cowboy" Gene Autry. The film has been deemed "culturally significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
During World War II, Joseph Santley worked for the war effort and in 1942 made the film Remember Pearl Harbor. In 1950, he made his last feature film but came back at age sixty-five to produce the 1954-55 television comedy The Mickey Rooney Show. In 1956, he put together two segments of Jazz Ball, a made-for-TV musical revue created from various filmed performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.
Joseph Santley died in 1971 in Los Angeles.
Directing (63 movies)

The Cocoanuts
1929

Shadow of a Woman
1946
Joan of Ozark
1942

Music in My Heart
1940

Call of the Canyon
1942

Down Mexico Way
1941

Ruth Etting in Favorite Melodies
1929

Sis Hopkins
1941

Young and Beautiful
1934

A Tragedy at Midnight
1942

She's Got Everything
1937

The Loudspeaker
1934

Blond Cheat
1938

Waterfront Lady
1935

Harmony Lane
1935

Melody Ranch
1940
The Harvester
1936

A Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic
1929

Smartest Girl in Town
1936

Brazil
1944

Behind the News
1940

Dancing on a Dime
1940

Earl Carroll Vanities
1945

Always in Trouble
1938

There Goes the Groom
1937

Ice-Capades
1941

Hitchhike to Happiness
1945

Meet the Missus
1937
We Went to College
1936

Remember Pearl Harbor
1942

Walking on Air
1936

The Spirit of Culver
1939

Swing High
1930
Two Americans
1929

The Family Next Door
1939

Dancing Feet
1936

Rosie the Riveter
1944

Her Master's Voice
1936

Puddin' Head
1941

Yokel Boy
1942

Jamboree
1944

Goodnight, Sweetheart
1944

Three Little Sisters
1944
Oh! Oh! Cleopatra
1931

Melody and Moonlight
1940

Thumbs Up
1943

Rookies on Parade
1941

Swing, Sister, Swing
1938

Here Comes Elmer
1943

Shantytown
1943
His College Chums
1929

When You're Smiling
1950

Chatterbox
1943

All Americans
1929

Frisco Waterfront
1935

Make Believe Ballroom
1949

Laughing Irish Eyes
1936

Sleepy Lagoon
1943

Million Dollar Baby
1934
Beautiful Dreamer
1935

Two Bright Boys
1939
Radio Rhythm
1929

The Hour of St. Francis
1962
| Title | Year | Job | 
|---|---|---|
| Swing High | 1930 | Writer | 
| I Like it That Way | 1934 | Screenplay | 
| Million Dollar Baby | 1934 | Screenplay | 
| Harmony Lane | 1935 | Screenplay | 
| Beautiful Dreamer | 1935 | Writer |