Joe Pasternak

Producer

About

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Also Known As

Joseph Pasternak, Josef A. Pasternack

Birth Place

Hungary

Born

September 19, 1901

Died

September 13, 1991

Cause of Death

Parkinson's Disease

Biography

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Hungarian immigrant who came to America in his teens and worked his way up through the ranks to become an assistant director at Paramount in 1923. After producing several successful films in Europe, Pasternak revived the flagging fortunes of Universal with a series of hit musicals starring Deanna Durbin in the mid-1930s. He is also credited with discovering Judy Garland, who later starre...

Filmography

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Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

The Sweet Ride (1968)

Made in Paris (1966)

Penelope (1966)

Executive Producer

Girl Happy (1965)

Photos & Videos

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Destry Rides Again (1939) — (Movie Clip) Trouble Is My Business

On An Island With You (1948) — (Movie Clip) Nightingale (Dance)

Family & Companions

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Margaret Flander

Wife

Secretary. Divorced; was his German secretary.

Dorothy Darrel

Wife

Former actor. Married 1941.

Bibliography

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"Easy the Hard Way"

Joe Pasternak (1956)

Notes

Pasternak once said that his boyhood dream was "to have my own bathroom." --quoted in his obituary in The New York Times, September 18, 1991.

Biography

Hungarian immigrant who came to America in his teens and worked his way up through the ranks to become an assistant director at Paramount in 1923. After producing several successful films in Europe, Pasternak revived the flagging fortunes of Universal with a series of hit musicals starring Deanna Durbin in the mid-1930s. He is also credited with discovering Judy Garland, who later starred in his musicals "Presenting Lily Mars" (1943), "In the Good Old Summertime" (1949) and "Summer Stock" (1950). Pasternak also cast Mario Lanza in "The Toast of New Orleans" (1950) and "The Great Caruso" (1951), and rejuvenated the career of Marlene Dietrich with "Destry Rides Again" (1939).

In 1945 Pasternak fought MGM for permission to film the now classic live-action/animated sequence in "Anchors Aweigh," in which Gene Kelly dances with the cartoon mouse, Jerry (at a cost of $150,000).

Over a 40-year career, Pasternak was responsible for 105 films, mostly family-oriented, frothy fare which earned a total of some $400 million. He headed one of MGM's three musical "units" in the 1940s and, in 1960, produced the influential adolescent-romance-on-the-beach film, "Where the Boys Are."

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

Producer (Feature Film)

The Sweet Ride (1968)

Made in Paris (1966)

Penelope (1966)

Executive Producer

Girl Happy (1965)

Looking for Love (1964)

A Ticklish Affair (1963)

The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963)

The Horizontal Lieutenant (1962)

Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1960)

Where the Boys Are (1960)

Ask Any Girl (1959)

Party Girl (1958)

Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957)

This Could Be the Night (1957)

The Opposite Sex (1956)

Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956)

Love Me or Leave Me (1955)

Hit the Deck (1955)

The Student Prince (1954)

Flame and the Flesh (1954)

Small Town Girl (1953)

Easy to Love (1953)

Because You're Mine (1952)

Skirts Ahoy! (1952)

Latin Lovers (1952)

The Merry Widow (1952)

The Strip (1951)

The Great Caruso (1951)

Rich, Young and Pretty (1951)

The Toast of New Orleans (1950)

Nancy Goes to Rio (1950)

Summer Stock (1950)

Duchess of Idaho (1950)

In the Good Old Summertime (1949)

The Kissing Bandit (1949)

That Midnight Kiss (1949)

Three Daring Daughters (1948)

Big City (1948)

On an Island with You (1948)

Luxury Liner (1948)

A Date with Judy (1948)

The Unfinished Dance (1947)

This Time for Keeps (1947)

No Leave, No Love (1946)

Two Sisters from Boston (1946)

Holiday in Mexico (1946)

Music for Millions (1945)

Anchors Aweigh (1945)

Her Highness and the Bellboy (1945)

Thrill of a Romance (1945)

Two Girls and a Sailor (1944)

Thousands Cheer (1944)

Song of Russia (1944)

Presenting Lily Mars (1943)

Seven Sweethearts (1942)

The Flame of New Orleans (1941)

It Started with Eve (1941)

Spring Parade (1940)

It's a Date (1940)

Destry Rides Again (1939)

First Love (1939)

Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939)

Mad About Music (1938)

Youth Takes a Fling (1938)

One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937)

Associate Producer

Three Smart Girls (1936)

Associate Producer

Music (Feature Film)

The King Steps Out (1936)

Vocal seq Conductor by

Production Companies (Feature Film)

Nice Girl? (1941)

Seven Sinners (1940)

A Little Bit of Heaven (1940)

It's a Date (1940)

Destry Rides Again (1939)

The Underpup (1939)

That Certain Age (1938)

Cast (Special)

Mario Lanza: The American Caruso (1983)

Life Events

1921

Emigrated to USA; first worked in a factory, punching holes in leather belts

1923

Became a second assistant director at Paramount

1926

Joined Universal in Hollywood; wrote and directed first two-reel comedy with El Brendel, "Help Yourself" which helped him advance to asssistant director

1928

Appointed manager of Universal's operations in Berlin and as an associate producer (under European production supervisor Paul Kohner) earned $1,500 per week

1929

First film, "Das Schweigen im Walde" (made in Germany)

1933

Fled Germany (later family members died in concentration camps)

1936

Called back to the USA in the mid-1930s when Universal faced bankruptcy

1937

Helped save the studio with his first US production, the Deana Durbin hit musical, "Three Smart Girls"

1941

Moved to MGM where he stayed for the remainer of his career

1964

Produced three Oscar telecasts

1968

Produced last film, "The Sweet Ride"

Photo Collections

Meet Me in Las Vegas - Costume Sketches

Here are a few original costume design sketches by Helen Rose for MGM's Meet Me in Las Vegas (1956), starring Cyd Charisse. Note the approvals by producer Joe Pasternak and director Roy Rowland.

Mad About Music - Behind-the-Scenes Stills

Here are a few photos taken behind-the-scenes during production of Universal's Mad About Music (1938), starring Deanna Durbin and Herbert Marshall.

Anchors Aweigh - Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Here are a number of photos taken behind-the-scenes during production of MGM's Anchors Aweigh (1945). Look for stars Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, and Kathryn Grayson, director George Sidney, and even MGM cartoon stars Tom & Jerry!

Videos

Destry Rides Again (1939) — (Movie Clip) Trouble Is My Business Now properly on the job and armed, the deputy sheriff and title character Tom (James Stewart) follows up on his initial brawling encounter with the singer-hustler-celebrity of Bottleneck, Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich, Lillian Yarbo her servant) in director George Marshall’s Destry Rides Again, 1939.

On An Island With You (1948) — (Movie Clip) Nightingale (Dance) Smitten Navy movie technical adviser Kingsley (Peter Lawford) gets turned down by the star Roz (Esther Williams, backed by her director, Dick Simmons), slipping into a dance number for her fiancè and co-star (Ricardo Montalban) and the second lead (Cyd Charisse), Xaiver Cugat’s group backing with his own composition, in MGM’s On An Island With You, 1948.

Horizontal Lieutenant, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) I Thought You Were A Girl Before the credits Jim Hutton as Lt. Wye narrated his situation, stationed in quiet Hawaii in the later years of WWII, then a bench-warmer beaned by a foul ball on the squad baseball team, awakens to find himself attended by a gal from college (Paula Prentiss), who seems far sexier now, in The Horizontal Lieutenant, 1962, the fourth and final Hutton-Prentiss picture from MGM.

Horizontal Lieutenant, The (1962) -- (Movie Clip) Don't Get Any Ideas Lt. Merle Wye (Jim Hutton), now in his housecoat, has just barely prevailed on his ex-college acquaintance now popular Army nurse Molly (Paula Prentiss) for a friendly date before he’s posted to a remote Pacific island, until she finds out he’s not being all that brave, in MGM’s The Horizontal Lieutenant, 1962.

Duchess Of Idaho (1950) -- (Movie Clip) Baby, Come Out Of The Clouds Second leads John Lund (as "Doug") and Paula Raymond (his secretary "Ellen") in the audience as Lena Horne is introduced, performing Baby, Come Out Of The Clouds by Henry Nemo and Lee Pearl, in MGM's Duchess Of Idaho, 1950.

Athena (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Harmonize Perturbed lawyer Adam (Edmund Purdom) at the home of mystically inclined fitness nuts, Louis Calhern as Grandpa, Jane Powell the title character, Debbie Reynolds and Vic Damone in chorus, and Steve Reeves the disdainful body-builder, another Martin & Blane song, in MGM’s Athena, 1954.

Please Don't Eat The Daisies (1960) -- (Movie Clip) Awful Quiet... Establishing the trials of family life in the city, plus mother Kate (Doris Day) in black negligee, with sons (Charles Herbert, Flip Mark, Baby Gellert, Stanley Livingston), the opening of Please Don't Eat The Daisies, 1960, co-starring David Niven, from the Jean Kerr book.

Party Girl (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Would You Like To Take Me Home? Paid with girlfriends from the night club to attend a party thrown by Chicago gang boss Rico (Lee J. Cobb), who’s distraught over the marriage of movie star Jean Harlow, savvy dancer Vicki (Cyd Charisse) meets thug Louis (John Ireland) and lawyer Farrell (Robert Taylor, his first scene), in director Nicholas Ray’s crime-musical hybrid Party Girl, 1958.

Party Girl (1958) -- (Movie Clip) Happy New Year Gangster Canetto (John Ireland) is transfixed by Vicki (Cyd Charisse) and her New Year's night club dance and can't resist a visit backstage, in Nicholas Ray's Party Girl, 1958.

Anchors Aweigh (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Jealousy! Kathryn Grayson as Susan, widowed de-facto mother of her nephew, who hasn’t sung a note thus far, is eager to thank her new on-leave Navy pals Joe and Clarence (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra), at an L-A Mexican club, the famous song by the Danish composer Jacob Gade, English lyric by Patience Strong, in Anchors Aweigh, 1945.

Anchors Aweigh (1945) -- (Movie Clip) I Always Get Sung To Sleep! On shore-leave in L-A sailors Joe and Clarence (Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra) have agreed to put their new pal Donald (Dean Stockwell) to bed, Frank supplying Brahms’ Lullaby, then hoping to apply Gene’s promised romantic advice to his guardian-aunt Susan (Kathryn Grayson), in MGM’s Anchors Aweigh, 1945.

Anchors Aweigh (1945) -- (Movie Clip) I Begged Her Returning to sailors' lodgings after their first night on leave, Doolittle (Frank Sinatra) forgetting to brag, Brady (Gene Kelly) correcting, into their Sammy Cahn-Jule Styne number, staged by Kelly and Jack Donohue, in Anchors Aweigh, 1945.

Latin Lovers - (Original Trailer) Expect Ricardo Montalban to give Lana Turner a taste for Latin Lovers (1953) in this Technicolor romance.

Love Me or Leave Me -- (Original Trailer) Doris Day stars in the true story of torch singer Ruth Etting and her attempts to escape the gangster (James Cagney) who made her a star in Love Me or Leave Me (1955), directed by Charles Vidor.

Because You're Mine - (Original Trailer) After being drafted, an opera star (Mario Lanza) falls for his sergeant's sister in Because You're Mine (1952).

Athena - (Original Trailer) A society lawyer falls in love with the daughter (Jane Powell) of a family of fitness fanatics in Athena (1954).

Duchess of Idaho - (Original Trailer) During a Sun Valley vacation, a woman tries to solve her roommate's romantic problems in Duchess of Idaho (1950), starring Esther Williams.

Girl Happy - (Original Trailer) A rock singer is hired to chaperone a gangster's daughter in Fort Lauderdale in Girl Happy (1965) starring Elvis Presley and Shelley Fabares.

Anchors Aweigh - (Original Trailer) A pair of sailors on leave try to help a movie extra become a singing star in Anchors Aweigh (1945) starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Kathryn Grayson.

Presenting Lily Mars - (Original Trailer) A small-town girl fights for her chance on Broadway in Presenting Lily Mars (1943) starring Judy Garland.

Merry Widow, The (1952) - (Original Trailer) A prince (Fernando Lamas) from a small kingdom courts a wealthy widow (Lana Turner) to keep her money in the country in The Merry Widow (1952).

Toast Of New Orleans, The - (Original Trailer) Mario Lanza is a Louisiana shrimp hauler who becomes an opera star in the MGM Technicolor musical The Toast Of New Orleans (1950).

Skirts Ahoy! - (Original Trailer) Three women join the Navy to find husbands in the MGM Technicolor musical Skirts Ahoy! (1952) starring Esther Williams.

Student Prince, The (1954) - (Original Trailer) A prince falls in love with a barmaid during his last fling before assuming the crown in the operetta The Student Prince (1954).

Family

Lanca Kardos

Sister

Michael Pasternak

Son

Disk jockey.

Peter Pasternak

Son

Works in music business.

Jeffrey Pasternak

Son

Companions

Margaret Flander

Wife

Secretary. Divorced; was his German secretary.

Dorothy Darrel

Wife

Former actor. Married 1941.

Bibliography

"Easy the Hard Way"

Joe Pasternak (1956)

Notes

Pasternak once said that his boyhood dream was "to have my own bathroom." --quoted in his obituary in The New York Times, September 18, 1991.

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