Joe Pasternak

Joe Pasternak

Birth : 1901-09-19, Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary

Death : 1991-09-13

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Joseph Herman "Joe" Pasternak (September 19, 1901 – September 13, 1991) was an Hungarian-born American film producer in Hollywood. He was born to a Jewish family in Szilágysomlyó, Austria-Hungary (now Șimleu Silvaniei, Romania). His father was a town clerk and Pasternak was one of eleven children. In 1920 he emigrated to the US as a teenager and went to stay with an uncle in Philadelphia. He worked in a factory, punching holes in leather belts, and did a variety of other jobs. He also studied acting in New York. Pasternak became an assistant director at Paramount on The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Several years later he was directing at Universal. In 1928 Universal sent him as an associate producer to Germany. Upon return from Europe he produced a number of hits with new talent such as Deanna Durbin and Gloria Jean, reputedly saving Universal from Bankruptcy. Pasternak also had careers at MGM, Fox and Euterpe. He made mostly musicals. In 1968 he was stricken with Parkinson's Disease. He recovered slightly two years later but made no more films. He said at the time "I am proud that I have produced 105 pictures and not one of them is adults only." In 1980 he estimated his films had earned $400 million. "If I had a percentage I'd be the richest man in town," he said. His career as a film producer spanned 40 years and earned him two Oscar nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations. He retired in 1968, having produced more than ninety feature-length films as well as three Academy Award shows.

Profile

Joe Pasternak

Movies

Mario Lanza: The American Caruso
Self
Plácido Domingo hosts this tribute to American tenor Mario Lanza. Interviews, rare footage and vintage recordings chronicle Lanza's life from his Philadelphia childhood to his meteoric rise as an opera singer and film actor and his tragic death. Credited with bringing opera and classical music into the home of everyday Americans, Lanza starred in That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans and portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso.
The Sweet Ride
Producer
AA tennis bum (Tony Franciosa) and his Malibu Beach buddies hang out with a TV actress (Jacqueline Bisset) headed for trouble.
Penelope
Executive Producer
When James met Penelope at a club, it took all of three weeks before they were married. But after the marriage, other women became attracted to James and he kept getting promoted, which took him away from Penelope. So Penelope puts on a disguise and robs her husband's bank. Her psychiatrist, Greg, believes that this condition is caused by James being over worked and under romantic with Penelope. She also tells Greg that she robs the business associates of James. But Greg is in love with Penelope - in fact everyone likes her. The problem is when she confesses to her crimes, no one believes her.
Spinout
Producer
Band singer/race driver Mike McCoy must choose between marrying a beautiful rich girl and driving her father's car in a prestigious race.
Made in Paris
Producer
A pretty fashion buyer visiting Paris on business is courted by a famous designer. Boris Sagal's 1966 romantic comedy stars Ann-Margret, Louis Jourdan, Richard Crenna, Chad Everett, Edie Adams, John McGiver, Reta Shaw and Count Basie.
Girl Happy
Producer
A Chicago mobster hires a rock and roll singer and his band to keep an eye on his daughter during Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Looking for Love
Producer
An aspiring young singer unexpectedly gets her big break by inventing a specialized clothes rack.
A Ticklish Affair
Producer
A young widow Amy Martin with three young boys is investigated by the Navy after one of her children inadvertently sends out a distress signal in Morse code by the blinds on his upstairs bedroom window. Commander Weedon and crew observe the signal from their ship and investigates. He falls for the young mother and proposes marriage. However, she is reluctant to have her family live out of a suitcase and initially declines. Gramps tries to bring her on board to sail the sea of love with the commander.
The Courtship of Eddie's Father
Producer
Although he's only seven, Eddie's got it all figured out. He wants his father, a widower, to get remarried — to the girl next door. Unfortunately, she's not one of the women that his dad's been dating.
Billy Rose's Jumbo
Producer
The daughter of a circus owner fights to save her father from a takeover spearheaded by the man she loves.
The Horizontal Lieutenant
Producer
Director Richard Thorpe's 1962 military comedy stars Jim Hutton, Paula Prentiss, Miyoshi Umeki, Jim Backus, Jack Carter, Marty Ingels, Charles McGraw and Argentina Brunetti.
Where the Boys Are
Producer
Good girls Merritt, Melanie, Tuggle and Angie - all students at mid-western Penmore University - are planning on going to Fort Lauderdale, Florida for spring break to get away from the mid-western snow despite not having much money to spend once there. On the drive down, they admit their real purpose is to go where the boys are.
Please Don't Eat the Daisies
Producer
Drama critic Larry Mackay, his wife Kate and their four sons move from their crowded Manhattan apartment to an old house in the country. While housewife Kate settles into suburban life, Larry continues to enjoy the theater and party scene of New York.
Ask Any Girl
Producer
Meg is a young wide-eyed girl who is endures many calamities in her search for a husband in modern-day New York. After losing her suitcase at Penn Station, being kicked out by her roommate, and changing bosses because her boss made a pass at her, she finds herself looking for work at a Manhattan motivational research agency run by punctilious Miles Doughton and his playboy brother, Evan.
Party Girl
Producer
Slick lawyer Thomas Farrell has made a career of defending mobsters in trials. It's not until he meets a lovely showgirl at a mob party that he realizes that there's more to life than winning trials. Farrell tries to quit the racket, but mob boss Rico Angelo threatens to hurt the showgirl if Farrell leaves him.
This Could Be the Night
Producer
To earn extra money, a prim schoolteacher takes a second job as secretary to the uncouth owner of a boisterous nightclub.
Ten Thousand Bedrooms
Producer
In this musical-comedy, Dean Martin plays an American hotel mogul who becomes smitten with a young Italian woman (Anna Maria Alberghetti) when buying a hotel in Rome. To marry this gal, he has to get her three older sisters married off.
The Opposite Sex
Producer
Former radio singer Kay learns from her gossipy friends that her husband, Steve, has had an affair with chorus girl Crystal. Devastated, Kay tries to ignore the information, but when Crystal performs one of her musical numbers at a charity benefit, she breaks down and goes to Reno to file for divorce. However, when she hears that gold-digging Crystal is making Steve unhappy, Kay resolves to get her husband back. The Opposite Sex is a remake of the 1939 comedy The Women.
Meet Me in Las Vegas
Producer
Chuck Rodwell is a gambling cowboy who discovers that he's lucky at the roulette wheel if he holds hands with dancer Marie. However, Marie doesn't like to hold hands with him, at least not in the beginning...
Love Me or Leave Me
Producer
A fictionalized account of the career of jazz singer Ruth Etting and her tempestuous marriage to gangster Marty Snyder, who helped propel her to stardom.
Hit the Deck
Producer
Sailors on leave in San Francisco get mixed up in love and show business.
Athena
Producer
A stuffy young lawyer's outlook on life drastically changes when he meets a perky health food enthusiast and her wacky family.
The Student Prince
Producer
A prince has a romance with a barmaid before he must give up personal happiness for duty.
Flame and the Flesh
Producer
American woman in Europe romanced by local gigolo; problems ensue.
Easy to Love
Producer
Two men vie for the heart of a Cypress Gardens swimming star.
Latin Lovers
Producer
An heiress searches for true love while vacationing in Brazil.
Small Town Girl
Producer
Rick Belrow Livingston, in love with Broadway star Lisa, is sentenced to 30 days in jail for speeding through a small town. He persuades the judge's daughter Cindy to let him leave for one night, so that he can visit Lisa on her birthday. After that he goes on the town with Cindy and she falls in love with him. But Dr. Schemmer wants his son to become her husband.
Because You're Mine
Producer
A famous opera singer falls for his sergeant's sister at boot camp.
The Merry Widow
Producer
Marshovia, a small European kingdom, is on the brink of bankruptcy but the country may be saved if the wealthy American Crystal Radek, widow of a Marshovian, can be convinced to part with her money and marry the king's nephew count Danilo. Arriving to Marshovia on a visit, Crystal Radek change places with her secretary Kitty. Following them to Paris, Danilo has a hard time wooing the widow after meeting an attractive young woman at a nightclub, the same Crystal Radek who presents herself as Fifi the chorus girl. Plot by Mattias Thuresson.
Skirts Ahoy!
Producer
Three young ladies sign up for some kind of training at a naval base. However, their greatest trouble isn't long marches or several weeks in a small boat, but their love life.
The Strip
Producer
Drummer Stanley Maxton moves to Los Angeles with dreams of opening his own club, but falls in with a gangster and a nightclub dancer and ends up accused of murder.
Rich, Young and Pretty
Producer
A rancher's daughter visits Paris to meet her mother and find love.
The Great Caruso
Producer
Loosely traces the life of tenor Enrico Caruso (1873-1921). He loves Musetta, in his home town of Naples, and then Dorothy, the daughter of one of the Metropolitan Opera's patrons. Caruso is unacceptable to both women's fathers: to one, because he sings; to Dorothy's, because he is a peasant. To New York patricians, Caruso is short, barrel chested, loud, emotional, unrefined. Their appreciation comes slowly. The film depicts Caruso's lament that "the man does not have the voice, the voice has the man": he cannot be places he wants to be, because he must be elsewhere singing, including the day his mother dies. Throughout, Mario Lanza and stars from the Met sing.
Summer Stock
Producer
To Jane Falbury's New England farm comes a troup of actors to put up a show, invited by Jane's sister. At first reluctant she has them do farm chores in exchange for food. Her reluctance becomes attraction when she falls in love with the director, Joe, who happens to be her sister's fiance.
The Toast of New Orleans
Producer
Snooty opera singer meets a rough-and-tumble fisherman in the Louisiana bayous, but this fisherman can sing! Her agent lures him away to New Orleans to teach him to sing opera but comes to regret this rash decision when the singers fall in love.
Duchess of Idaho
Producer
Ellen Hallit is in love with her playboy boss, Douglas Morrison, but is too timid to do anything about it. To help her, her roommate Chris decides to step in, and devises a plan. Chris follows Morrison on his trip to Sun Valley, Idaho and plays the overattentive female, hoping that he will send for Ellen (who often played his "fiancée" when he had a female he couldn't discourage otherwise.) Complications arise when Chris catches the eye of band leader Dick Layne, and finds herself caught in a triangle between the two men.
Nancy Goes to Rio
Producer
Mother and daughter compete over same singing role and, unbeknownst to each other, the same man.
That Midnight Kiss
Producer
Opera singer Prudence Budell, overhears truck driver Johnny Donnetti singing opera, and persuades her opera company to give him a chance in her new opera. They fall in love, but on meeting his colleague Mary while visiting Johnny's work, Prudence becomes convinced Johnny is in love with her.
In the Good Old Summertime
Producer
Two co-workers in a music shop dislike one another during business hours but unwittingly carry on an anonymous romance through the mail.
The Kissing Bandit
Producer
Ricardo, the milquetoast son of a Mexican bandit, would rather lead a quiet life in Boston. But the family would rather that he follow in his father's footsteps and become "The Kissing Bandit".
Luxury Liner
Producer
Capt. Jeremy Bradford has a particularly exciting luxury liner cruise in store when he's charged with transporting a troupe of opera singers to Rio de Janeiro. Anxious to become a singer herself, Bradford's young daughter, Polly, decides to skip out on school and sneak onto the ship before it departs. Angry that his daughter disobeyed him, Bradford puts her to work on the ship for punishment, but Polly has her own ideas about how to spend the trip.
A Date with Judy
Producer
Best friends Judy and Carol compete for the affection of an older man during their high school dance. As Carol tries to rekindle Judy's relationship with Carol's bumbling brother, Oogie, Judy suspects that her father is having an affair with a beautiful dance instructor. The two girls team up to expose Judy's father -- who is only taking innocent dance lessons.
On an Island with You
Producer
A young navy lieutenant is brought in as technical adviser on a song-dance-and-swim film being made by screen star Rosalind Reynolds. Having once done a number with her at a Forces show, the young lad somehow believes she should be his girl. Her boyfriend is just one of those disagreeing.
Big City
Producer
A young orphan in New York's Lower East Side is collectively adopted by three neighborhood men--a minister, a cantor, and a cop.
Three Daring Daughters
Producer
Three young girls try to help their divorced mother find the right husband.
This Time for Keeps
Producer
An ex-GI falls for a bathing beauty.
The Unfinished Dance
Producer
A young dance student accidentally cripples a teacher she doesn't like.
Holiday in Mexico
Producer
Christine Evans, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the widowed American ambassador to Mexico Jeffrey Evans, believes that she is no longer a young girl and that she has fully matured into adulthood. Eager to make her mark in the sophisticated world of foreign diplomats living in Mexico, Christine appoints herself as organizer of her father's social activities and takes over the planning of a big garden party he will be hosting. Because he loves his daughter,
Two Sisters from Boston
Producer
Abigail Chandler has written her stuffy Boston relatives that she's a successful opera singer in New York. In reality, she works at a burlesque house and is billed as High-C Susie. When her sister Martha comes for a visit, Abigail tries to hide the truth from her.
No Leave, No Love
Producer
A soldier returns with his pal from fighting in the Pacific during World War II only to discover his fiancee has married someone else. However, he falls in love with a woman at the hotel at which he is staying.
Her Highness and the Bellboy
Producer
In a fictional European country, a beautiful princess meets a handsome American reporter and falls in love with him. On a trip to New York, she hopes to find him again. While staying at one of the city's finest hotels she meets a kind-hearted bellhop who mistakes her for a maid. She invites him to be her escort, not realizing that he believes he has fallen in love with her. Every nice thing the princess does encourages him to believe that she feels the same way he does.
Anchors Aweigh
Producer
Two sailors, Joe and Clarence have four days shore leave in spend their shore leave trying to get a girl for Clarence. Clarence has his eye on a girl with musical aspirations, and before Joe can stop him, promises to get her an audition with José Iturbi. But the trouble really starts when Joe realizes he's falling for his buddy's girl.
Thrill of a Romance
Producer
A soldier falls in love with a newly-married woman after her husband abandons her for a business meeting on their honeymoon.
Music for Millions
Producer
Six-year-old "Mike" goes to live with her pregnant older sister, Babs, who plays string bass in José Iturbi's orchestra. And the orchestra is rapidly turning completely female, what with the draft. As the orchestra travels around the country, Babs' fellow orchestra members intercept and hide her War Office telegram to protect the baby.
Two Girls and a Sailor
Producer
A sailor helps two sisters start up a service canteen. The sailor soon becomes taken with gorgeous sister Jean, unaware that her sibling Patsy is also in love with him.
Song of Russia
Producer
American conductor John Meredith and his manager, Hank Higgins, go to Russia shortly before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Meredith falls in love with beautiful Soviet pianist Nadya Stepanova while they travel throughout the country on a 40-city tour. Along the way, they see happy, healthy, smiling, free Soviet citizens, blissfully living the Communist dream. This bliss is destroyed by the German invasion.
Presenting Lily Mars
Producer
Starstruck Indiana small-town girl Lily is pestering theatrical producer John Thornway for a role but he is reluctant.
Thousands Cheer
Producer
Acrobat Eddie Marsh is in the army now. His first act is to become friendly with Kathryn Jones, the colonel's pretty daughter. Their romance hits a few snags, including disapproval from her father. Eddie's also plagued by fear of having an accident during his family's trapeze act in the army variety show, which also features a gallery of MGM stars.
Seven Sweethearts
Producer
Little Delft, Michigan follows the customs of old-world Holland and is known for its Tulip Festival. The owner of the hotel insists that his seven daughters marry in order, from eldest to youngest.
It Started with Eve
Producer
A young man asks a hat check girl to pose as his fiancée in order to make his dying father's last moments happy. However, the old man's health takes a turn for the better and now his son doesn't know how to break the news that he's engaged to someone else, especially since his father is so taken with the impostor.
The Flame of New Orleans
Producer
In old New Orleans, a beautiful adventuress juggles the attentions of a rich banker and a dashing sea captain.
Nice Girl?
Producer
Jane is a nice girl and has had her eyes on a young man who seems more interested in his hand-built car than in Jane. She decides to shed her "nice girl" image when an associate of her father comes to town on his way to study Australian Aboriginal tribes.
Seven Sinners
Producer
Banished from various U.S. protectorates in the Pacific, a saloon entertainer uses her femme-fatale charms to woo politicians, navy personnel, gangsters, riff-raff, judges and a ship's doctor in order to achieve her aims.
A Little Bit of Heaven
Producer
A child from the New York tenements sings on a radio quiz show and is eventually hired to a big-bucks contract, which allows her and her family to move into a posh apartment, with all the usual problems that accompany sudden wealth.
Spring Parade
Producer
In this light and lovely romantic musical, a Hungarian woman attends a Viennese fair and buys a card from a gypsy fortune teller. It says that she will meet someone important and is destined for a happy marriage. Afterward she gets a job as a baker's assistant. She then meets a handsome army drummer who secretly dreams of becoming a famous composer and conductor. Unfortunately the military forbids the young corporal to create his own music. But then Ilonka secretly sends one of the drummer's waltzes to the Austrian Emperor with his weekly order of pastries. Her act paves the way toward the tuneful and joyous fulfillment of the gypsy's prediction.
It's a Date
Producer
An aspiring actress is offered the lead in a major new play, but discovers that her mother, a more seasoned performer, expects the same part. The situation is further complicated when they both become involved with the same man.
Destry Rides Again
Producer
When a tough western town needs taming, the mild-mannered son of a hard-nosed sheriff gets the job.
First Love
Producer
In this reworking of Cinderella, orphaned Connie Harding is sent to live with her rich aunt and uncle after graduating from boarding school. She's hardly received with open arms, especially by her snobby cousin Barbara. When the entire family is invited to a major social ball, Barbara sees to it that Connie is forced to stay home. With the aid of her uncle, who acts as her fairy godfather, Connie makes it to the ball and meets her Prince Charming in Ted Drake, her cousin's boyfriend.
The Under-Pup
Producer
A young city girl from a poor family is invited to spend the summer at a camp for girls from wealthy families. At first made fun of and ridiculed because of her background, she determines to show the snooty rich girls she's just as good as they are.
Three Smart Girls Grow Up
Producer
Three sisters who believe life is going to be easy, now that their parents are back together, until one sister falls in love with another's fiancé, and the youngest sister plays matchmaker.
That Certain Age
Producer
Dashing reporter Vincent Bullit has just returned from covering the Spanish Civil War. His boss, newspaper magnate Fullerton, has more plans to send him off to China. However, first Fullerton invites Bullit to the peace and quiet of his own home to write a series of European affair articles. When Fullerton's adolescent daughter Alice develops a crush on Bullit, her suitor, boyscout Ken Warren, doesn't seem to stand a chance. Mr. and Mrs. Fullerton, Ken Warren, and even Vincent Bullit himself do their best to sway young Alice's feelings away from the older man. It's a difficult task though, as she is at 'that certain age.'
Youth Takes a Fling
Producer
McCrea plays Joe Meadows, whose only ambition as a Kansas farm boy was a life at sea. He moves to New York to try to get a job as a sailor, finds it more difficult than he thought, and meets Helen Brown, who falls for him and uses her feminine wiles to try to prevent him leaving.
Mad About Music
Producer
A young woman at a girl's school in Switzerland makes up stories about and writes herself letters from an imaginary explorer-adventurer father; and is eventually put in a position where she has to produce him. Interesting things happen as she talks a visiting Englishman into helping her out.
100 Men and a Girl
Producer
The daughter of a struggling musician forms a symphony orchestra made up of his unemployed friends and through persistence, charm and a few misunderstandings, is able to get Leopold Stokowski to lead them in a concert that leads to a radio contract.
Three Smart Girls
Producer
The three Craig sisters Penny, Kay, and Joan, go to New York to stop their divorced father from marrying gold digger Donna Lyons and re-unite him with their mother.
Catherine the Last
Producer
Story of a naive kitchen maid who falls in love with a wealthy womanizer.
Kleine Mutti
Producer
Peter
Producer
Starring Francisca Gaál in a breeches role. Dressed as a boy, a street musician gets a job pumping gas. When s/he starts to have feelings for her patron, watch out for complications in this comedy shot in German in Budapest.
Pardon, tévedtem
Producer
Five from the Jazzband
Producer
By pure chance, Jessie and his four jazz musicians are hired to play at the cabaret theatre “Trocadero”. Unfortunately, she knows nothing about music and it doesn’t help that all four musicians are in love with her. Jessie doesn’t reciprocate their feelings, because she has a thing for Martin. Unfortunately, Martin believes that Jessie stole his car … and so, right before the premiere at the cabaret, she ends up in jail.
I Go Out and You Stay Here
Production Manager
Weimar era screwball comedy about a floor model who is required to go out evenings to escort VIPs while her boyfriend has to wait at home.
One Hour of Happiness
Production Manager
The two happy fitters Eddy and Tommy are doing overtime to ensure the great travel-exhibition of the department store they work in is ready for display. Outside, they see a poor newspaper seller, who looks longingly at the beautiful things in the display window. So they simply decide to smuggle the unfortunate inside and compete to win her favor by giving her gifts from the shelves of the department store. In their frenzy of happiness, they don’t notice that the girl is taking the fun little game for the truth. When she realizes that she has to give back the alleged gifts, she runs away.
Ludwig II, King of Bavaria
Producer
In the last years of his life, Bavarian king Ludwig II (1845 – 1886) devotes himself to ambitious architectural projects, which strain the state coffers to the extreme. The monarch, who is afraid of people, also withdraws more and more into a dream world at his various castles. His brother is already in a psychiatric institute and Ludwig is also eventually put under the care of psychiatrist Bernhard von Gudden. The king attempts to get out from under this guardianship at Starnberg lake…
Der Teufelsreporter
Producer
The Brandenburg Arch
Producer
In the year 1914: The assistants of cobbler Lehmann compete for the affections of his daughter Frieda. Actually she’s in love with her ambitious cousin Fritz, but the cunning Franz knows how to string her along. When Fritz gets drafted, Frieda gives in and marries Franz. Soon Fritz is declared missing and the old cobbler dies of grief. Along the way Franz, who dodged the military service, earns his money with large-scale racketeering. Frieda is miserable. But then Fritz returns from Soviet captivity, prompting Frieda to divorce Franz. Finally Frieda accepts an inheritance from the USA and marries Fritz. With the money they open up a shoe store.