Melville Shavelson

Screenwriter

About

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Also Known As

Mel Shavelson

Birth Place

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Born

April 01, 1917

Died

August 08, 2007

Cause of Death

Natural Causes

Biography

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Melville Shavelson honed his comedic writing chops while working as a joke writer on comedian Bob Hope's radio show, and traveled with the comic to Hollywood in the '30s. Many of his early screenwriting credits were Hope's early films, like "The Princess and the Pirate," in which Hope's cowardly actor pretends to be a Gypsy woman in order to escape capture by pirates, and "Sorrowful Jone...

Filmography

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The Other Woman (1983)

The Great Houdinis (1976)

The Legend of Valentino (1975)

Mixed Company (1974)

The War Between Men and Women (1972)

Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968)

Photos & Videos

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Five Pennies, The (1959) -- Original Trailer

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) After You've Gone, Armstrong

Bibliography

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"Lualda"

Melville Shavelson (1975)

"How to Make a Jewish Movie"

Melville Shavelson (1971)

Biography

Melville Shavelson honed his comedic writing chops while working as a joke writer on comedian Bob Hope's radio show, and traveled with the comic to Hollywood in the '30s. Many of his early screenwriting credits were Hope's early films, like "The Princess and the Pirate," in which Hope's cowardly actor pretends to be a Gypsy woman in order to escape capture by pirates, and "Sorrowful Jones," where Hope portrayed a flighty gambler who finds himself in charge of a young girl. Shavelson soon turned to directing, and his 1955 debut, the vaudeville biopic "The Seven Little Foys," earned acclaim for both Shavelson's screenplay and Hope's dramatic skills. At the end of the '50s, Shavelson earned another Oscar nomination for the romantic comedy "Houseboat," which starred Sophia Loren as a housemaid who falls in love with Cary Grant, and directed the biopic "The Five Pennies," in which Danny Kaye portrayed noted jazz bandleader Red Nichols. During the '60s Shavelson wrote and directed many of his most famous films, including "Yours, Mine and Ours," which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda as the exasperated but loving parents of a rambunctious 18-child family, and "It Started in Naples," about an uptight lawyer who raises his estranged brother's rebellious son and falls in love with the boy's beautiful mother. A three-time president of the Writers Guild of America, Shavelson also created the highly regarded '70s TV miniseries "Ike," about United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower, and taught screenwriting at the University of Southern California.

Filmography

Director (Feature Film)

The Other Woman (1983)

The Great Houdinis (1976)

The Legend of Valentino (1975)

Mixed Company (1974)

The War Between Men and Women (1972)

Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968)

Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

A New Kind of Love (1963)

The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)

On the Double (1961)

It Started in Naples (1960)

The Five Pennies (1959)

Houseboat (1958)

Beau James (1957)

The Seven Little Foys (1955)

Writer (Feature Film)

Yours, Mine & Ours (2005)

Source Material

The Great Houdinis (1976)

The Legend of Valentino (1975)

Mixed Company (1974)

The War Between Men and Women (1972)

Yours, Mine, and Ours (1968)

Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

A New Kind of Love (1963)

The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)

On the Double (1961)

It Started in Naples (1960)

The Five Pennies (1959)

Houseboat (1958)

Beau James (1957)

The Seven Little Foys (1955)

Written for Screen by

Living It Up (1954)

Trouble Along the Way (1953)

April in Paris (1953)

Room for One More (1952)

I'll See You In My Dreams (1952)

Double Dynamite (1951)

On Moonlight Bay (1951)

The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)

The Daughter of Rosie O'Grady (1950)

Riding High (1950)

Additional Dialogue

The Great Lover (1949)

Sorrowful Jones (1949)

Always Leave Them Laughing (1949)

It's a Great Feeling (1949)

The Paleface (1948)

Contract Writer

Where There's Life (1947)

Where There's Life (1947)

The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)

Wonder Man (1945)

The Princess and the Pirate (1944)

Ice-Capades (1941)

Additional Dialogue

Sis Hopkins (1941)

Producer (Feature Film)

Mixed Company (1974)

Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

A New Kind of Love (1963)

The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)

Trouble Along the Way (1953)

Production Companies (Feature Film)

The Pigeon That Took Rome (1962)

Director (Special)

True Life Stories (1981)

Father On Trial (1972)

Writer (Special)

Bob Hope: Memories of World War II (1995)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

The 62nd Annual Academy Awards Presentation (1990)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

Book As Source Material

The 60th Annual Academy Awards Presentation (1988)

True Life Stories (1981)

Father On Trial (1972)

Three Coins in the Fountain (1970)

The Secret Life of John Monroe (1959)

Producer (Special)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

Executive Consultant

Father On Trial (1972)

Special Thanks (Special)

Bob Hope: Memories of World War II (1995)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

The 62nd Annual Academy Awards Presentation (1990)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

Book As Source Material

The 60th Annual Academy Awards Presentation (1988)

True Life Stories (1981)

Father On Trial (1972)

Three Coins in the Fountain (1970)

The Secret Life of John Monroe (1959)

Misc. Crew (Special)

Bob Hope's "Don't Shoot, It's Only Me" (1990)

Creative Consultant

Writer (TV Mini-Series)

Deceptions (1985)

Ike: The War Years (1979)

Producer (TV Mini-Series)

Ike: The War Years (1979)

Executive Producer

Life Events

Videos

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) After You've Gone, Armstrong With new New York pal Tony (Harry Guardino, and date Valerie Allen) and his own blind date Willa (Barbara Bel Geddes), cornet player Red Nichols (Danny Kaye) from Utah, unfamiliar with the ways of the 1920's speakeasy, gets a look at Louis Armstrong, mentioned so-far only as a new player from New Orleans, who plays then sings, two standards, in The Five Pennies, 1959.

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Go Ahead And Dance True life chronicle of Jazz great Loring

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) Lullaby In Ragtime Leading man Danny Kaye as band leader Red Nichols with his real-life wife Sylvia Fine's song and Eileen Wilson's vocal for Barbara Bel Geddes playing his wife, on the bus with bandmates, including Ray Anthony (who was a top-drawer trumpet player and bandleader and who remains the last surviving member of the Glenn Miller orchestra!) on the clarinet playing Jimmy Dorsey and Shelly Manne with the drumsticks, in the hit bio-pic The Five Pennies, 1959.

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- (Movie Clip) (Back Home Again In) Indiana Red Nichols, the guy Danny Kaye plays, and who also plays Danny's cornet solos throughout the picture, makes his cameo here as one of the radio eskimos (the other guy with the tambourine on the left), in gag montage about getting by in the music business, in the hit Paramount bio-pic The Five Pennies, 1959.

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) -- (Movie Clip) Going Into Combat Henry Fonda (Frank) and Lucille Ball (as Helen) take turns narrating the introduction to the 1968 box office hit from United Artists, Yours, Mine and Ours, and yes, that is young Tim Matheson as "Mike."

Living It Up (1954) -- (Movie Clip) I Mean A Female Girl New Mexico doctor Steve (Dean Martin) is sorry he can’t pretend patient Homer (Jerry Lewis) really has radiation poisoning, even though it’s costing him a trip to New York, until he meets reporter Wally (Janet Leigh) from the sponsoring newspaper, in the remake of Nothing Sacred, Living It Up, 1954.

Living It Up (1954) -- (Movie Clip) Money Burns A Hole In My Pocket Reporter Wally (Janet Leigh) in New York doesn’t want romantic doctor Steve (Dean Martin) to know she’s having his buddy-patient (Jerry Lewis) seen by experts, guides him into a song from the Broadway musical (Hazel Flagg) based on the movie Nothing Sacred, 1937, of which this movie is a remake, in Living It Up, 1954.

Princess And The Pirate, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Take A Load Off My Eyes Princess Margaret (Virginia Mayo), passenger on a British ship, has complained about the noise being made by Sylvester (Bob Hope), whose rehearsal she interrupts, his first appearance, loaned out from Paramount to Samuel Goldwyn, in the Technicolor hit The Princess And The Pirate, 1944.

Princess And The Pirate, The (1944) -- (Movie Clip) Kiss Me In The Moonlight Actor Sylvester (Bob Hope, on to Samuel Goldwyn from Paramount) still doesn’t believe Margaret (Virginia Mayo) is really a princess but sure needs her to rescue his act before a rowdy pirate crowd, with a song by Jimmy McHugh and Harold Adamson, vocal by Louanne Hogan, her outfit by Mary Grant, the future Mrs. Vincent Price, in The Princess And The Pirate, 1944.

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) -- (Movie Clip) The Good Die Young Navy nurse and widow Helen (Lucille Ball) narrates as she monitors teenage Colleen (Jennifer Leak) and finds our what's bothering Phillip (Eric Shea), early in Yours, Mine and Ours, 1968.

Yours, Mine and Ours (1968) -- (Movie Clip) Toughest On The Kids Having just met, both widowed and each parenting many kids, nurse Helen (Lucille Ball) and officer Frank (Henry Fonda) in their respective uniforms talk about Frank's daughter's needs in Yours, Mine and Ours, 1968.

April In Paris (1952) -- (Movie Clip) It Must Be Good Nervous diplomat Sam (Ray Bolger) on Broadway on state department business, discovers showgirl Ethel "Dynamite" Jackson (Doris Day), whom he's accidentally arranged to send to Paris, in a number with a song by Vernon Duke and Sammy Cahn, early in April In Paris, 1952.

Five Pennies, The (1959) -- Original Trailer Paramount's theatrical trailer for the popular Danny Kaye vehicle, based more on the idea of band leader Red Nichols than on his real life, with big contributions from jazz figures including Louis Armstrong, Bob Crosby, Ray Anthony and Shelly Manne, The Five Pennies, 1959, also starring Barbara Bel Geddes.

Bibliography

"Lualda"

Melville Shavelson (1975)

"How to Make a Jewish Movie"

Melville Shavelson (1971)

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