Irving Fein (June 21, 1911 – August 10, 2012) was an American television and film producer, and the manager of entertainers
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...
and
George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
.
[Tobias, Ted. ''In Tribute: Eulogies of Famous People'' Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1999. 9–10.]
Biography
Early life
Irving Fein was born on June 21, 1911, in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, New York to Harry Fein, a builder, and his wife Fannie.
An exceptional student, Irving skipped three grade levels before graduating grade school at just twelve years old. After graduating from
Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899–925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Ac ...
, he went on to attend the
University of Baltimore
The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt's schools and colleges provide education in business, law, public affairs, and the applied arts and sc ...
before transferring to the
Alexander Meiklejohn
Alexander Meiklejohn (; 3 February 1872 – 17 December 1964) was a philosopher, university administrator, educational reformer, and free-speech advocate, best known as president of Amherst College.
Background
Alexander Meiklejohn was born ...
Experimental College at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, ...
.
It was during the summer months, while Fein was attending children's camps, that he became interested in dramatics and writing.
Career
After writing several short stories, Fein was hired to work in the publicity and advertising department for
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
in New York City. He attended
Brooklyn Law School
Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty.
Brookly ...
in the evening, concurrently with his job at Warners', and eventually earned his law degree. He turned down an offer to work in the legal department at Warner Brothers, and instead moved to their California office where he began in the mailroom. He soon joined their publicity department, making thirty-five dollars a week. Less than a year after moving to California, Irving received an offer to join the publicity department at
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
. He accepted, and his salary jumped to one hundred fifty dollars a week. During his career as a publicist he worked for
Warner Brothers
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...
,
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
and
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 through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
.
Jack Benny
In 1947, Fein began his twenty-eight-year association with
Jack Benny
Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky, February 14, 1894 – December 26, 1974) was an American entertainer who evolved from a modest success playing violin on the vaudeville circuit to one of the leading entertainers of the twentieth century wit ...
when he was hired as Benny's publicity and advertising director. From 1936 to 1940, Benny's radio show had been number one, but soon dropped to number four, with
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was a British-American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer and dancer. With a career that spanned nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in Bob Hope filmography, more than 70 short and ...
,
Edgar Bergen, and the
Lux Radio Theatre
''Lux Radio Theatre'', sometimes spelled ''Lux Radio Theater'', a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company ...
gaining in popularity. Six months after Fein joined Benny, his show was back at number one. Over the next nine years, Fein became Benny's manager and producer, as well as handling all of the PR work involved. During the many years of their long association, Fein kept Jack Benny a number-one star on TV, in personal appearances, and in the concert world performing with the most notable symphony orchestras in the U.S. and Europe.
In 1956,
William S. Paley
William Samuel Paley (September 28, 1901 – October 26, 1990) was an American businessman, primarily involved in the media, and best known as the chief executive who built the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS) from a small radio network into ...
wooed Irving away from Jack, naming him a vice president at
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
and moving him and his family to New York City. However, Jack Benny did not want any other manager but Fein, and in less than a year Irving came back to Hollywood as President of "J&M Productions", Jack Benny's company
MCA_acquired_the_company_in_1962.html" ;"title="MCA_Inc..html" ;"title="reated in 1955 to guarantee additional income by producing his own series and several others;
MCA_acquired_the_company_in_1962">MCA_Inc..html"_;"title="reated_in_1955_to_guarantee_additional_income_by_producing_his_own_series_and_several_others;_MCA_Inc.">MCA_acquired_the_company_in_1962_Along_with_all_of_the_Jack_Benny_shows,_J&M_produced_the_popular_television_series_''Checkmate_(American_TV_series).html" ;"title="MCA Inc.">MCA acquired the company in 1962">MCA_Inc..html" ;"title="reated in 1955 to guarantee additional income by producing his own series and several others; MCA Inc.">MCA acquired the company in 1962 Along with all of the Jack Benny shows, J&M produced the popular television series ''Checkmate (American TV series)">Checkmate'', as well as ''The Gisele MacKenzie Show'' (1957–58), ''The Marge and Gower Champion Show'' (1957), ''Holiday Lodge'', starring Wayne and Shuster in their first American TV series (1961) and ''Ichabod and Me'' (1961–62). Fein also served as executive producer of The Jack Benny Program, Jack's weekly series until it ended in 1965, and his yearly NBC specials until Benny's death in 1974.
George Burns
Near the end of Jack's life, Fein had become helpful to
George Burns
George Burns (born Nathan Birnbaum; January 20, 1896March 9, 1996) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer, and one of the few entertainers whose career successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television. His arched eyebr ...
. After the death of
Gracie Allen
Grace Ethel Cecile Rosalie Allen (July 26, 1895 – August 27, 1964) was an American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian who became internationally famous as the zany partner and comic foil of husband George Burns, her straight man, ...
, George struggled as a single act. Irving became George's manager and producer and turned his career around. George's star turn in
The Sunshine Boys
''The Sunshine Boys'' is an original two-act play written by Neil Simon that premiered December 20, 1972 on Broadway starring Jack Albertson as Willie Clark and Sam Levene as Al Lewis and later adapted for film and television.
Plot
The pla ...
, a role which Irving was instrumental in getting him, earned George an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. This was the beginning of another long personal and business relationship which lasted twenty-two years, until George Burns died.
Awards and achievements
During Fein's long and distinguished career he earned many awards, including an
Emmy for one of the Jack Benny television shows he produced. He also authored several books, including the bestseller "Jack Benny: An Intimate Biography". In film, Irving Fein produced or co-produced several of George Burns' films.
Fein was included in the In Memorium segment of the Primetime Emmys broadcast September 23, 2012.
Personal life
Fein was first married to Florence Kohn, with whom he had two children, Tisha Fein (a television producer), and Michael Fein (a doctor). He married Marion Schechter in 1969 and has a stepson, Dan Schechter. He died of congestive heart failure on the morning of August 10, 2012, at the age of 101. Fein was buried in
Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Fein, Irving
1911 births
2012 deaths
American centenarians
Men centenarians
20th-century American Jews
Film producers from California
Television producers from California
Brooklyn Law School alumni
Erasmus Hall High School alumni
People from Brooklyn
People from Hollywood, Los Angeles
Emmy Award winners
Television producers from New York City
Film producers from New York (state)
21st-century American Jews