Norman Kaye Panama (April 21, 1914 – January 13, 2003) was an American

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. ...

, film producer and

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 ...

born in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. He is known for his partnership with

Melvin Frank Melvin Frank (13 August 1913 – 13 October 1988) was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is known for his partnership with Norman Panama and their work on films such as ''Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'' (1948), ...

and their work on films such as ''

Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House ''Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'' is a 1948 American comedy film directed by H. C. Potter and starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, and Melvyn Douglas. Written and produced by the team of Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, it was an adaptation ...

'' (1948), '' White Christmas'' (1954), and ''

The Court Jester ''The Court Jester'' is a 1955 musical-comedy, medieval romance, costume drama film starring Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury and Cecil Parker. The movie was written, produced, and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman ...

'' (1956). Without Frank, he directed films such as ''

How to Commit Marriage ''How to Commit Marriage'' is a 1969 American comedy film directed by Norman Panama, and starring Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Tina Louise, Irwin Corey, Leslie Nielsen, Tim Matheson and Jane Wyman in her final film role. It was filmed in the current ...

'' (1969).

Life and career

Panama met his future collaborator

in 1933 when they were both at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. After graduating, they formed a partnership in 1935 which endured for four decades; first writing for

Milton Berle Milton Berle (born Mendel Berlinger; ; July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American actor and comedian. His career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and tel ...

before becoming writers for

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 more than 70 short and feature films, with 5 ...

's radio show and for

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, stage, film, radio, singer, television star and vaudeville performer. He is generally considered to have been a master of quick wit an ...

. In 1941, they sold their first script to

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, ''

My Favorite Blonde ''My Favorite Blonde'' is a 1942 American comedy film directed by Sidney Lanfield and starring Bob Hope and Madeleine Carroll. Based on a story by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, the film is about a vaudeville performer who gets mixed up with Bri ...

'' (1942), which starred Hope. They worked for Paramount for five years where, among others, they wrote ''

Road to Utopia ''Road to Utopia'' is a 1946 American semi-musical comedy film directed by Hal Walker and starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour. Filmed in 1943 but not released until 1946, ''Road to Utopia'' is the fourth film of the "'' Road to � ...

'' (1946), starring Hope and

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, musician and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwide. He was a ...

, for which they received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay. They moved to

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 ...

making '' It Had to Be You'' (1947) and ''

The Return of October ''The Return of October'' is a 1948 American comedy film directed by Joseph H. Lewis and starring Glenn Ford Gwyllyn Samuel Newton "Glenn" Ford (May 1, 1916 – August 30, 2006) was a Canadian-American actor who often portrayed ordinary men ...

'' (1948) and also wrote ''

'' (1948) for

RKO RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheu ...

. In 1950, they signed a writing, producing and directing deal with

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 ...

and made films together as co-writers, co-directors and co-producers. They started with ''

The Reformer and the Redhead ''The Reformer and the Redhead'' is a 1950 American romantic comedy film written, produced and directed by Norman Panama and Melvin Frank, and starring June Allyson and Dick Powell. Overview Kathleen Maguire (Allyson) is the daughter of a lon ...

'' (1950) and also made '' Knock on Wood'' (1954) and ''

'' (1956), both with

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; yi, דוד־דניאל קאַמינסקי; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and ...

, with the former earning them another Academy Award nomination. They also co-wrote '' White Christmas'' (1954) with

Norman Krasna Norman Krasna (November 7, 1909 – November 1, 1984) was an American screenwriter, playwright, producer, and film director who penned screwball comedies centered on a case of mistaken identity. Krasna directed three films during a forty-year car ...

. They wrote a Broadway play together in 1956, later adapted into ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbilly, hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written a ...

'' (1959), directed by Frank. They received another Academy Award nomination for '' The Facts of Life'' (1960) and also worked on ''

The Road to Hong Kong ''The Road to Hong Kong'' is a 1962 British semi-musical comedy film directed by Norman Panama and starring Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, as well as Joan Collins, with an extended cameo featuring Dorothy Lamour in the setting of Hong Kong under B ...

'' (1962). He won an

Edgar Award The Edgar Allan Poe Awards, popularly called the Edgars, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America, based in New York City. Named after American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849), a pioneer in the genre, the awards honor the bes ...

for ''A Talent for Murder'' (1981), a play he co-wrote with

Jerome Chodorov Jerome Chodorov (August 10, 1911 – September 12, 2004) was an American playwright, librettist, and screenwriter. He co-wrote the book with Joseph A. Fields for the original Broadway musical ''Wonderful Town'' starring Rosalind Russell. The musi ...

. Panama continued to write and direct through the 1980s. He died in 2003 in

Los Angeles, California 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' ...

, aged 88, from complications of

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

Selected filmography

*''

'' (with

) (1942) (story only) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1946) *'' Monsieur Beaucaire'' (with Melvin Frank) (1946) *'' It Had to Be You'' (with Melvin Frank) (1947) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1948) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1950) (also co-director) *'' Strictly Dishonorable'' (with Melvin Frank) (1951) (also co-director) *''

Callaway Went Thataway ''Callaway Went Thataway'' is a 1951 American comedy western film starring Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire, and Howard Keel. It was written, directed, and produced by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama. Also known as ''The Star Said No'', it is a s ...

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1951) (also co-director) *'' Above and Beyond'' (with Melvin Frank) (1952) (also co-director) *'' White Christmas'' (with Melvin Frank and

) (1954) *'' Knock on Wood'' (with Melvin Frank) (1954) (also co-director) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1956) (also co-director) *'' That Certain Feeling'' (with Melvin Frank) (1956) (also co-director) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1959) *'' The Trap'' (with Melvin Frank) (1959) *''

The Jayhawkers! ''The Jayhawkers!'' is a 1959 American Technicolor VistaVision film directed by Melvin Frank, starring Jeff Chandler as Luke Darcy and Fess Parker as Cam Bleeker. The film is set in pre-Civil War Kansas. Darcy leads a gang which seeks to take ad ...

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1959) *'' The Facts of Life'' (with Melvin Frank) (1960) *''

'' (with Melvin Frank) (1962) (also director) *'' Strange Bedfellows'' (with Melvin Frank and

Michael Pertwee Michael Henry Pertwee (24 April 1916, Kensington, London – 17 April 1991, Camden, London) was an English playwright and screenwriter. Among his credits were episodes of '' The Saint'', ''Danger Man'', '' Alfred Hitchcock Presents'', '' B-A ...

) (1965) *'' Not with My Wife, You Don't!'' (with Melvin Frank, Peter Barnes and

Larry Gelbart Larry Simon Gelbart (February 25, 1928 – September 11, 2009) was an American television writer, playwright, screenwriter, director and author, most famous as a creator and producer of the television series ''M*A*S*H'', and as co-writer of the B ...

) (1966) (also director) *''

The Maltese Bippy ''The Maltese Bippy'' is a 1969 film directed by Norman Panama and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The film is a vehicle for comedy team Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, who had recently found fame in their television show ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In ...

'' (1969) (director only) *''

Coffee, Tea or Me? ''Coffee, Tea or Me?'' is a book of purported memoirs by the fictitious stewardesses Trudy Baker and Rachel Jones, written by the initially uncredited Donald Bain and first published in 1967. The book depicts the anecdotal lives of two lusty yo ...

'' (with

and Stanley Ralph Ross) (1973) (TV) (also director) *'' I Will, I Will... for Now'' (with Albert E. Lewin) (1973) (also director) *''

Barnaby and Me ''Barnaby and Me'' is a 1978 Australian made-for-television film about a girl and her talking koala Barnaby who are pursued by criminals.Ed. Scott Murray, ''Australia on the Small Screen 1970-1995'', Oxford Uni Press, 1996 p11 The film was one o ...

'' (1978)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Panama, Norman 1914 births 2003 deaths American male screenwriters Burials at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery Edgar Award winners Neurological disease deaths in California Panama, Normana Filmmaking duos American film directors Writers from Chicago Screenwriters from Illinois 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters