Roy Del Ruth (October 18, 1893, Delaware â€" April 27, 1961) was an
American filmmaker.Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack
Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film Hungry
Lions (1919) for the producer. By the early 1920s, he had moved over
to features including Asleep at the Switch (1923), The Hollywood Kid
(1924), Eve's Lover (1925) and The Little Irish Girl (1926).Following
several more titles, many now lost, he directed The First Auto (1927),
a charming look at the introduction of the first automobile to a small
rural town. Also once believed lost, the film's almost entirely
unsynchronised soundtrack features several elaborate sound effects for
the time.Del Ruth directed another half dozen projects before the
musical The Desert Song (1929), the first color film ever released by
Warner Bros. That same year, Del Ruth directed Gold Diggers of
Broadway (1929), Warner's second two-strip Technicolor, all-talking
feature that also became a big box office hit. Having successfully
segued into the talkie era, Del Ruth directed two more two-strip color
musicals, Hold Everything (1930) and The Life of the Party (1930),
before directing James Cagney and Joan Blondell in the cheerfully
amoral gangster film, Blonde Crazy (1931).
American filmmaker.Beginning his Hollywood career as a writer for Mack
Sennett in 1915, Del Ruth later directed his first short film Hungry
Lions (1919) for the producer. By the early 1920s, he had moved over
to features including Asleep at the Switch (1923), The Hollywood Kid
(1924), Eve's Lover (1925) and The Little Irish Girl (1926).Following
several more titles, many now lost, he directed The First Auto (1927),
a charming look at the introduction of the first automobile to a small
rural town. Also once believed lost, the film's almost entirely
unsynchronised soundtrack features several elaborate sound effects for
the time.Del Ruth directed another half dozen projects before the
musical The Desert Song (1929), the first color film ever released by
Warner Bros. That same year, Del Ruth directed Gold Diggers of
Broadway (1929), Warner's second two-strip Technicolor, all-talking
feature that also became a big box office hit. Having successfully
segued into the talkie era, Del Ruth directed two more two-strip color
musicals, Hold Everything (1930) and The Life of the Party (1930),
before directing James Cagney and Joan Blondell in the cheerfully
amoral gangster film, Blonde Crazy (1931).
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