Arch Heath

Heath was born in Brooklyn.{{cite news |title=Arch Heath, Veteran Film Executive, is Stricken |url=https://archive.org/details/boxofficejanmar146unse/page/n189 |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019 |work=Boxoffice |date=Jan 13, 1945}} Before starting as a director, Heath played semi-pro baseball. He learned drawing as an office boy for a newspaper, and became a cartoonist for the sports page, finally succeeding Herbert Johnson at the Associated Newspapers Syndicate, signing his cartoons "Fields".

He started in movies by creating campaign films for the presidential campaign of Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

From cartooning he also moved on to movie animation. He became general manager of production at Eastern Film Corporation, based in New York City. At Eastern he produced his first serial A Daughter of Uncle Sam, directed by James C. Morton, in 1918.{{cite journal |last1=Krows |first1=Edwin |title=Motion Pictures-Not for Theatres |journal=The Educational Screen |date=September 1939 |volume=VVIII |page=[https://archive.org/details/educationalscree18chicrich/page/244 244] |url=https://archive.org/details/educationalscree18chicrich |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}

He moved to Pathé Studios in New York. He directed his first serial, The Masked Menace, in 1927.{{cite news |title=Arch Heath Completes His First Chapter Play |url=https://archive.org/details/movingpicturewor87july/page/n122 |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019 |work=Moving Picture World |date=Jul 30, 1927}} In 1930, when the studio moved to Hollywood, Heath was appointed "production manager of all two-reel comedies."{{cite news |title=Pathe Studio in Start of Activity |url=https://archive.org/details/insidefacts11-1930-02-08/page/n3 |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019 |work=Inside Facts of Stage and Screen |date=Feb 8, 1930}}

The Heath-directed 1928 film Melody of Love was "Universal's first 100 percent talkie feature," and "also may have been the first all-talking movie musical."{{cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=Edwin M. |title=The First Hollywood Musicals |date=2004 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=0-7864-2029-4 |page=15 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rg-UBJaPD-sC&pg=PA14 |accessdate=Apr 16, 2019}}

During World War II Heath produced films for the Signal Corps and the Office of War Information. He died at home in New York City on January 7, 1945. The Screen Writers Guild created the "Robert Meltzer Award" in honor of Heath, Meltzer and three others for "the writing of an American Film which, in addition to its value as entertainment, most effectively contributes to a better understanding or world problems."{{cite journal |title=Award will honor World War Writers |journal=Motion Picture Daily |date=Jul 8, 1947 |page=[https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai62unse/page/n17 2] |url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturedai62unse |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}

• Beyond the Great Wall, 1920, Eastern Productions, as A.B. Heath{{cite web |title=Beyond the Great Wall |url=http://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/B/BeyondTheGreatWall1920.html |website=Silent Era |accessdate=Apr 15, 2019}}
• On Guard, 1927, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath (serial, 10 chapters)
• The Crimson Flash, 1927, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath (serial, 10 chapters)
• The Masked Menace, 1927, Pathé (serial, 10 chapters)
• Came the Dawn, 1928, Hal Roach Studios (with Leo McCarey)
• Mark of the Frog, 1928, Pathé, (serial, 10 chapters)
• That Night, 1928, Hal Roach Studios (with Leo McCarey)
• Melody of Love, 1928, Universal
• Modern Love, 1929, Universal (part-talkie){{cite book |last1=Hirschhorn |first1=Clive |title=The Universal story |date=2000 |publisher=Hamlyn |isbn=0-600-59736-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/universalstory00hirs/page/65 65] |url=https://archive.org/details/universalstory00hirs |url-access=registration |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}
• Chills and Fever, 1930, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath—writer and director
• Doctor's Orders, 1930, Hal Roach Studios
• Dangerous Youth, 1930, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath
• Against the Rules, 1931, RKO Pathé Pictures, as Arch B. Heath—writer and director

• The Scarlet West, 1925, First National Pictures, as A.B. Heath
• It Can Be Done, 1929, Universal, as A.B. Heath
• Ride 'em Cowboy, 1930, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath—writer and director
• Chills and Fever, 1930, Pathé, as Arch B. Heath—writer and director
• Hearts and Hoofs, 1930, Pathé, (short, as Arch B. Heath)
• Against the Rules, 1931, RKO Pathé Pictures, (short, as Arch B. Heath)
• The Adventures of Captain Marvel, 1941, Republic (serial, 12 chapters){{cite book |last1=Henderson |first1=C.J. |title=The encyclopedia of science fiction movies |date=2001 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-4043-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc00hend/page/4 4] |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsc00hend |url-access=registration |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}
• White Eagle, 1941, Columbia (serial, 15 chapters){{cite journal |title=Advance Production Chart |journal=Variety |date=Jan 22, 1941 |page=[https://archive.org/details/variety141-1941-01/page/n17 18] |url=https://archive.org/details/variety141-1941-01 |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}
• Against the Rules, 1931, RKO Pathé Pictures, (short, as Arch B. Heath)

• Show Boat, 1929, Universal (sound supervision,prologue directed by Arch Heath){{cite book |last1=Kreuger |first1=Miles |title=Show boat : the story of a classic American musical |date=1990 |publisher=Da Capo Press |isbn=0-306-80401-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/showboatstoryofc0000kreu/page/228 228] |url=https://archive.org/details/showboatstoryofc0000kreu |url-access=registration |accessdate=Apr 14, 2019}}

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Category:1890 births

Category:1945 deaths

Category:Film directors from New York City

Category:American male screenwriters

Category:People of the United States Office of War Information

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:20th-century American screenwriters