F. Herrick Herrick (March 25, 1902 â€" August 11, 1987) was an
American film director and philatelist.Herrick first began to direct
short films in 1925, and within a year The Moving Picture World
magazine wrote that he was poised to become "one of the leading film
directors on the East Coast". While an independent director and
producer, he did most of his work for studios such as Tec-Art, which
wrote to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America in
1927 that "the motion picture industry would be well rid of Mr F.
Herrick Herrick". He frequently produced short travel documentary
subjects, including some entries in the "Vagabond Adventure"
travelogue series for Pathé Exchange and RKO Pictures in the early
1930s. His movies were frequently filmed in Florida, and many of the
short documentary subjects involved fishing.In 1935, he directed
Obeah!, a horror film he had written, which was among the first to be
filmed in Jamaica. He was a founding member of the Screen Directors
Guild when it was established in 1936, and served as its first
Executive Secretary, until he was replaced by Jack McGowan in 1938.By
1971, Herrick was retired from film and lived in Florida, where he had
become friends with several Apollo astronauts. He was also an avid
stamp collector, an interest that he had begun to develop in the 1930s
and had directed a short film about in 1939. During preparations for
Apollo 15, he asked astronaut Alfred Worden to carry 144 postal covers
to the Moon and bring them back for sale. In addition to other postal
covers carried on the mission, the commercialization of Herrick's
covers resulted in the Apollo 15 postal covers incident, resulting in
the astronauts effectively being fired from NASA. Worden later
described Herrick in his old age as "a cross between Santa Claus and
everyone's favorite grandfather", but admitted he should never have
taken the offer: "I was too old to believe in Santa Claus."
American film director and philatelist.Herrick first began to direct
short films in 1925, and within a year The Moving Picture World
magazine wrote that he was poised to become "one of the leading film
directors on the East Coast". While an independent director and
producer, he did most of his work for studios such as Tec-Art, which
wrote to the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America in
1927 that "the motion picture industry would be well rid of Mr F.
Herrick Herrick". He frequently produced short travel documentary
subjects, including some entries in the "Vagabond Adventure"
travelogue series for Pathé Exchange and RKO Pictures in the early
1930s. His movies were frequently filmed in Florida, and many of the
short documentary subjects involved fishing.In 1935, he directed
Obeah!, a horror film he had written, which was among the first to be
filmed in Jamaica. He was a founding member of the Screen Directors
Guild when it was established in 1936, and served as its first
Executive Secretary, until he was replaced by Jack McGowan in 1938.By
1971, Herrick was retired from film and lived in Florida, where he had
become friends with several Apollo astronauts. He was also an avid
stamp collector, an interest that he had begun to develop in the 1930s
and had directed a short film about in 1939. During preparations for
Apollo 15, he asked astronaut Alfred Worden to carry 144 postal covers
to the Moon and bring them back for sale. In addition to other postal
covers carried on the mission, the commercialization of Herrick's
covers resulted in the Apollo 15 postal covers incident, resulting in
the astronauts effectively being fired from NASA. Worden later
described Herrick in his old age as "a cross between Santa Claus and
everyone's favorite grandfather", but admitted he should never have
taken the offer: "I was too old to believe in Santa Claus."
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