Nick Grinde (January 12, 1893 – June 19, 1979) was an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

and

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

. He directed 57 films between 1928 and 1945.

Biography

Born Harry A. Grinde in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

but nicknamed "Nick," Grinde graduated from 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, t ...

. He later moved to New York and worked in Vaudeville. Grinde became a

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

film writer and director in the late 1920s, and was often assigned to familiarize

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

stage directors with the techniques of film making. As a director, he is considered one of American cinema's early

B film A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double feature ...

specialists. Notable films include ''The Man they Could Not Hang'' with Boris Karloff, and Ronald Reagan's first motion picture: ''Love is on the Air'' (1937). As a screenwriter, he is credited as a co-writer of Laurel and Hardy's '' Babes in Toyland'' (1934). Throughout his career, Grinde was a popular writer of short stories, articles and columns usually about show business and film making in early Hollywood. Prime examples include "Pictures for Peanuts" (''Saturday Evening Post'', December 29, 1945), a humorous B picture "how-to," and "Where's Vaudeville At?" (''Saturday Evening Post'', January 11, 1930). Grinde died in Los Angeles, California in 1979 at the age of 86. In the early 1940s, he was engaged to actress Marie Wilson. Later, he married Korean-American actress Hazel Shon. The

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

houses the Nick Grinde Papers in its Special Collections.

Selected filmography

* ''

The Divorcee ''The Divorcee'' is a 1930 American pre-Code drama film written by Nick Grindé, John Meehan, and Zelda Sears, based on the 1929 novel ''Ex-Wife'' by Ursula Parrott. It was directed by Robert Z. Leonard, who was nominated for the Academy Award ...

'' (1930 - writer) * '' Good News'' (1930) * ''

This Modern Age ''This Modern Age'' is a 1931 American Pre-Code Hollywood, pre-Code Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer feature film directed by Nick Grinde and starring Joan Crawford, Neil Hamilton (actor), Neil Hamilton, Pauline Frederick and Albert Ritter Conti v. Cedassama ...

'' (1931) * ''

Vanity Street ''Vanity Street'' is a 1932 American Pre-Code crime drama film directed by Nick Grinde and starring Charles Bickford, Helen Chandler and Mayo Methot.Scott p.42 A New York policeman assists a down-on-her-luck showgirl, helping her get a job at th ...

'' (1932) * ''

Menu In a restaurant, the menu is a list of food and beverages offered to customers and the prices. A menu may be à la carte – which presents a list of options from which customers choose – or table d'hôte, in which case a pre-established seque ...

'' (1933) * '' Babes in Toyland'' (1934 - writer) * ''

How to Sleep ''How to Sleep'' is a short comedy film written by and starring humorist Robert Benchley. Filmed and released by MGM in 1935 (as part of their "Miniatures" series), it features Benchley as a narrator as well as film subject, discussing four parts o ...

'' (1935) * ''

Ladies Crave Excitement ''Ladies Crave Excitement'' is a 1935 American action–comedy drama film released by Mascot Pictures, directed by Nick Grinde and starring Norman Foster, Evalyn Knapp and Esther Ralston. Plot Don Phelan, the ace newsreel reporter, falls in lo ...

'' (1935) * ''

Lucky Fugitives ''Lucky Fugitives'' is a 1936 Canadian drama film directed by Nick Grinde and starring David Manners, Maxine Doyle and Reginald Hincks.Morris p.268 Cast * David Manners David Joseph Manners (born Rauff de Ryther Duan Acklom; April 30, 1900 ...

'' (1936) * ''

Love Is on the Air ''Love is on the Air'' is a 1937 American film directed by Nick Grinde, and starring Ronald Reagan (in his film debut), June Travis, Eddie Acuff, Robert Barrat, Raymond Hatton and Willard Parker. It was the first of three remakes of the 1933 P ...

'' (1937) * ''

Exiled to Shanghai ''Exiled to Shanghai'' is a 1937 American comedy film directed by Nick Grinde and Armand Schaefer and starring Wallace Ford, June Travis, and Dean Jagger.Dooley p.242 Production Despite its exotic-sounding title, none of the film is actually set ...

'' (1937) * ''

Mis dos amores ''Mis dos amores'' is a 1938 American Spanish-language drama film. Directed by Nick Grinde, the film stars Tito Guízar, Blanca de Castejón, and Emilia Leovalli. It was previewed in New York City on August 11, 1938, and opened in San Juan, Puert ...

'' (1938) * ''

Delinquent Parents ''Delinquent Parents'' is a 1938 American crime film directed by Nick Grinde and written by Nicholas T. Barrows and Robert St. Claire. The film stars Doris Weston, Maurice Murphy, Helen MacKellar, Terry Walker, Richard Tucker and Charlotte Tread ...

'' (1938) * '' Million Dollar Legs'' (1939) * ''

Scandal Sheet Tabloid journalism is a popular style of largely sensationalist journalism (usually dramatized and sometimes unverifiable or even blatantly false), which takes its name from the tabloid newspaper format: a small-sized newspaper also known as ...

'' (1939) * ''

The Man They Could Not Hang ''The Man They Could Not Hang'' is a 1939 American horror film directed by Nick Grinde from a screenplay by Karl Brown. It stars Boris Karloff as Dr. Henryk Savaard,Stephen Jacobs, ''Boris Karloff: More Than a Monster'', Tomahawk Press 2011 pp. ...

'' (1939) * ''

A Woman Is the Judge ''A Woman Is the Judge'' is an American 1939 drama film directed by Nick Grinde and starring Frieda Inescort, Otto Kruger, Rochelle Hudson, Mayo Methot, Gordon Oliver, and Arthur Loft. The film tagline is ''Love bridges the gulf between a judge an ...

'' (1939) * '' The Man with Nine Lives'' (1940) * ''

Before I Hang ''Before I Hang'' is a 1940 American horror film released by Columbia Pictures, starring Boris Karloff. The film was directed by Nick Grinde (under the working title ''The Wizard of Death'') and was one of several films Karloff starred in under co ...

'' (1940) * ''

Convicted Woman ''Convicted Woman'' is a 1940 crime film starring Rochelle Hudson and directed by Nick Grinde Nick Grinde (January 12, 1893 – June 19, 1979) was an American film director and screenwriter. He directed 57 films between 1928 and 1945. Bi ...

'' (1940) * ''

Girls of the Road Girls of the Road is a 1940 American action film, based on an original screenplay by Robert Hardy Andrews, directed by Nick Grinde, and produced by Wallace MacDonald. The main characters of the 61–minute Columbia Pictures feature film were ten f ...

'' (1940) * ''

Hitler - Dead or Alive Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

'' (1942) * ''

The Girl from Alaska ''The Girl from Alaska'' is a 1942 American Western film directed by Nick Grinde and William Witney and starring Ray Middleton, Jean Parker and Jerome Cowan.Martin p.68 The film's sets were designed by the art director Russell Kimball. Plo ...

'' (1942)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grinde, Nick 1893 births 1979 deaths American male screenwriters Film directors from Wisconsin Horror film directors Science fiction film directors Screenwriters from Wisconsin Writers from Madison, Wisconsin 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters