Wallace Downey (

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, May 14, 1902 – New York City, January 29, 1978) was an American

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''Di ...

. In 1928 Wallace Downey, an executive of

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, was sent to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

to install a Brazilian branch for his company. He quickly realized Brazil was an entertainment hot bed for potential markets in

records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

and

film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

s. Castro, Ruy in " Carmen - Uma Biografia" -

Companhia das Letras Companhia das Letras is the largest publishing house in São Paulo, Brazil. It was founded by Luiz Schwarcz and his wife Lilia Moritz Schwarcz in 1986. Companhia das Letras began as a literary publishing house and gradually grew into 17 independen ...

, 2005 In 1931 Downey produced and directed, ''Coisas Nossas'', the first successful Brazilian film with sound. His 1935 film, ''

Hello, Hello Brazil! ''Hello, Hello Brazil!'' (Portuguese: ''Allô, Allô, Brasil!'') is a 1935 Brazilian musical film directed by Wallace Downey, Alberto Ribeiro and João de Barro. It stars Carmen Miranda and Adhemar Gonzaga; the latter also produced the film. Th ...

'', first introduced radio singer and actress Carmen Miranda to a larger audience paving the way to her international fame at

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Downey later founded his own production company, Waldow S.A., in a partnership with

Cinédia Cinédia (originally called the Cinearte studios) was a Brazilian film studio established on 15 March 1930 in Rio de Janeiro, and remained in continual operation until 1951. Between 1930 and 1945, Cinédia averaged two films a year, with a high o ...

, producing

musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, but in some cases, they serve merely as breaks ...

s. In 1938 Downey disbanded Waldow S.A., using the resources to create a new production company, Sonofilms.

Selected filmography

Director

* ''Nossas Coisas'' (1931) * '' Alô, Alô Brasil'' (1935) * ''

Estudantes ''Estudantes'' is a Brazilian musical comedy film directed by Wallace Downey and starring Carmen Miranda, Barbosa Júnior, Mesquitinha and Mário Reis. Initially titled Folia de Estudantes, this motion picture was shot entirely in a single we ...

'' (1935)

Producer

* ''Nossas Coisas'' (1931) * '' Alô, Alô Brasil'' (1935) * ''

'' (1935) * '' Alô, Alô, Carnaval '' (1936) * ''

Banana da Terra ''Banana da Terra'' (English: ''Banana of the Land'') is a 1939 Brazilian musical film directed by Ruy Costa and written by Braguinha and Mário Lago. The film stars Carmen Miranda, Dircinha Batista and Aloysio de Oliveira. It was Miranda's las ...

'' (1936)

References

External links

* 1902 births 1967 deaths American film producers American film directors 20th-century American businesspeople {{US-film-bio-stub