David Wood Townsend (November 2, 1891 – August 5, 1935) was an American
art director
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games.
It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...
.
Career
1919 secretary/treasurer of
Otis B. Thayer's
Art-O-Graf film company in Denver.
1920 sales manager of
Otis B. Thayer's
Art-O-Graf film company in Denver.
1921 vice president of
Otis B. Thayer's
Art-O-Graf film company in Denver.
From 1919 through 1921, Art-o-Graf produced the following films: "
Miss Arizona (1919 Film)", "
Wolves of the Street (1920 Film)", "
The Desert Scorpion
''The Desert Scorpion'' (originally titled ''The Last of the Open Range'') is a 1920 American silent Western film directed by Otis B. Thayer and starring Edmund Cobb and Vida Johnson. The film was shot in Denver, Colorado
Colorado (, ...
", "
Finders Keepers (1921 Film)", and
Out of the Depths (1921 Film).
1922 President of the "Mountain Plains Enterprise Film Company" in Denver. There were plans by the "Mountain Plains Enterprise Company" to build "Sunshine Studios" at
Tim McCoy
Timothy John Fitzgerald McCoy (April 10, 1891 – January 29, 1978) was an American actor, military officer, and expert on American Indian life. McCoy is most noted for his roles in B-grade Western films. As a popular cowboy film star, he ap ...
's Owl Creek Dude ranch in order to shoot a film titled, "The Dude Wrangler" written by
Caroline Lockhart
Caroline Cameron Lockhart (1871–1962) was an American journalist and writer.
Biography
Caroline Lockhart was born in Eagle Point, Illinois on February 24, 1871./ref> She grew up on a ranch in Kansas. She attended Bethany College in Topeka, K ...
. The project was abandoned. He was also still listed as a scenario writer for Art-O-Graf Film company.
His work with MGM:
1927
"
Frisco Sally Levy
''Frisco Sally Levy'' (a.k.a. "Véspera de Natal") is a lost 1927 comedy silent film directed by William Beaudine and starring Sally O'Neil and Roy D'Arcy, which was released on April 2, 1927.Tillie the Toiler
''Tillie the Toiler'' is a newspaper comic strip created by cartoonist Russ Westover who initially worked on his concept of a flapper character in a strip he titled ''Rose of the Office''. With a title change, it sold to King Features Syndicate ...
" (art director), "
Foreign Devils (1927 film)
''Foreign Devils'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Tim McCoy and Claire Windsor, which was released by MGM on September 3, 1927.
Plot
Captain Robert Kelly (McCoy) while attached to the American Emba ...
" (art director), "
Spring Fever (1927 film)" (sets), "
The Bugle Call
''The Bugle Call'' is a 1927 American silent drama film directed by Edward Sedgwick and starring Jackie Coogan and Claire Windsor, which was released on August 6, 1927.
The Lost Film Files database lists this film as being lost.
Plot
Billy ...
" (sets), "
The Callahans and the Murphys
''The Callahans and the Murphys'' is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by George W. Hill. The film was based on a novel by Kathleen Norris, and was the first of several MGM films to star Marie Dressler and Polly Moran.
The film was ...
" (sets), "
Rookies (1927 film)
''Rookies'' (aka ''Red, White and Blue'') is a 1927 American silent comedy film directed by Sam Wood and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film pairs the comedy teaming of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur as the stars of ''Rookies''. Because ...
" (sets), "
Slide, Kelly, Slide
''Slide, Kelly, Slide'' is a 1927 American comedy film, released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, directed by Edward Sedgwick, and starring William Haines, Sally O'Neil, and Harry Carey.
Cast
* William Haines as Jim Kelly (fictionalized version of M ...
" (sets), "
The Taxi Dancer
''The Taxi Dancer'' is a 1927 American Silent film, silent comedy film directed by Harry F. Millarde and starring Owen Moore and, in her first film with top billing, Joan Crawford.
Plot
Joselyn Poe is a southern girl who tries her luck as dance ...
" (sets),
"
Winners of the Wilderness
''Winners of the Wilderness'' is a 1927 American silent war drama film directed by W.S. Van Dyke and starring Tim McCoy and Joan Crawford. In this costume drama, set during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), Rene Contrecouer (Crawford), t ...
" (sets)
1933 "
The Prizefighter and the Lady
''The Prizefighter and the Lady'' is a 1933 pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer romance film starring Myrna Loy and the professional boxers Max Baer, Primo Carnera, and Jack Dempsey. The film was adapted for the screen by John Lee Mahin and John Meeh ...
" (art director)
1934 "
You Can't Buy Everything
''You Can't Buy Everything'' is a 1934 American pre-Code romantic drama film directed by Charles Reisner and Sandy Roth and starring May Robson, Jean Parker and Lewis Stone. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Working titles of the film were ...
" (art director), "
The Show-Off
''The Show-Off'' is a 1924 stage play by George Kelly about a working-class North Philadelphian family's reluctance to accept their daughter's suitor Aubrey Piper, an overly confident Socialist buffoon. The play has been revived five times on Bro ...
" (art director) "
Death on the Diamond
''Death on the Diamond'' is a 1934 comedy-mystery film starring Robert Young. It was based on the novel ''Death on the Diamond: A Baseball Mystery Story'' by Cortland Fitzsimmons, directed by Edward Sedgwick and produced and released by Metro-G ...
" (associate art director), "
Hide-Out
''Hide-Out'' is a 1934 American pre-Code comedy, crime, drama, romance film directed by W. S. Van Dyke and starring Robert Montgomery and Maureen O'Sullivan. It also features a young Mickey Rooney. The film was nominated for an Academy Award f ...
" (associate art director), "
Murder in the Private Car
''Murder in the Private Car'' is a 1934 American pre-Code mystery romance film starring Mary Carlisle, Charles Ruggles and Una Merkel. Directed by Harry Beaumont, the production is based on the play ''The Rear Car'' by Edward E. Rose. David ...
" (associate art director), "
The Thin Man (film)
''The Thin Man'' is a 1934 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code comedy-mystery directed by W. S. Van Dyke and based on the 1934 The Thin Man, novel of the same name by Dashiell Hammett. The film stars William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and No ...
" (associate art director)
1935 "
China Seas (film)
''China Seas'' is a 1935 American adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as a suspect character. The oceangoing epic also features Lewis Stone, Rosalind Russell, Akim ...
" (associate art director), "
Murder in the Fleet
''Murder In the Fleet'' is a 1935 American murder mystery/comedy-drama film set aboard . Released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film was directed by Edward Sedgwick and stars Robert Taylor and Jean Parker.
Plot
Captain John Winslow (Arthur Byron ...
" (associate art director), "
The Winning Ticket
''The Winning Ticket'' is a 1935 American comedy film directed by Charles Reisner and starring Leo Carrillo, Louise Fazenda, and Ted Healy. It was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Plot summary
Poor Italian-American barber Joe Thomasello (Leo Car ...
" (associate art director)
1936 "
The Robin Hood of El Dorado
''Robin Hood of El Dorado'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman for MGM. It stars Warner Baxter as real-life Mexican folk hero Joaquin Murrieta and Ann Loring as his love interest, with Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren and ...
" (art director)
Personal life and death
David Wood Townsend was born in
Hoskins
Hoskins is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Allen Hoskins (1920–1980), American child actor who played Farina in the Our Gang series
* Andrew Hoskins (born 1975), Canadian rower
* Anthony Hoskins (1828–1901), Royal Navy a ...
,
Wayne County, Nebraska
Wayne County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 census, the population was 9,595. Its county seat is Wayne.
In the Nebraska license plate system, Wayne County is represented by the prefix 27 (it had the 27th-largest num ...
, the son of Glenn Eli Townsend and Bertha A. (Towberman) Townsend. Grandson of
David Wood Townsend
David Wood Townsend (July 18, 1844 – March 8, 1912) was an American builder.
Townsend was a business owner and builder in Western Iowa. Starting out representing Knapp, Stout & Co. Lumber, he later owned and operated several Townsend Bros. Lum ...
and Mary Ellen (Brown) Townsend. Great-grandson of Eli Townsend and Abigial Mosher (Wood) Townsend.
[''Los Angeles Times,'' August 6, 1935, "Crash Kills Film Expert, David Townsend, Art Aide, Dead and Three Injured as Car Falls in Canyon" pg A2]
In 1910, at the age of 19, Townsend was living with his parents and grandfather whom he was named after in
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
South Dakota
South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
.
In 1913, Townsend married
Lillian Francis Rennick Lillian or Lilian can refer to:
People
* Lillian (name) or Lilian, a given name
Places
* Lilian, Iran, a village in Markazi Province, Iran In the United States
* Lillian, Alabama
* Lillian, West Virginia
* Lillian Township, Custer County, Ne ...
in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is the most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, California. More than 40% of all residents of Illinois live within Cook County. As of 20 ...
. He and Lillian had two children together, Edward Glenn Townsend and Harriet L. (Townsend) Pim Ayers.
In 1915 he was secretary/treasurer for his father's company, G. E. Construction in Norfolk,
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
and was still living in that area by 1917.
In 1919 he worked for the Art-O-Graf Film Company of Colorado.
In 1922 he was President of the "Mountain Plains Enterprise Film Company" in Denver.
In 1926, he moved to
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and began work for the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
Studios as an art director and set designer.
On August 5, 1935 while scouting locations at
Sonora Pass
Sonora Pass (el. 9,624 ft. / 2,933 m.) is a mountain pass in the Sierra Nevada in California. It is the second-highest in California and in the Sierra Nevada. lower by 321 ft. (about 98 m.) than Tioga Pass to the south. State Route 108 ...
for the film, "
The Robin Hood of El Dorado
''Robin Hood of El Dorado'' is a 1936 American Western film directed by William A. Wellman for MGM. It stars Warner Baxter as real-life Mexican folk hero Joaquin Murrieta and Ann Loring as his love interest, with Bruce Cabot as Bill Warren and ...
," the car he was riding in with Lowell L. Ralph, Mrs. Lottie Mundello, and Miss Agnes McMullen, went off the road and plunged 200 feet below. Townsend was killed instantly, while the other three passengers, who were thrown from the car, survived.
[Reno Evening Gazette, August 10, 1935, "Townsend Rites to be in South."]
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, David
1891 births
1935 deaths
American art directors