Arch Heath

Arch Heath (July 15, 1890 – January 7, 1945), also known as A. B. Heath and Arch B. Heath, was an American film director and screenwriter whose career spanned from the era of silent films to the 1940s. He helped pioneer the introduction of the sound film. Many of his early films are now considered lost.

Career Heath was born in Brooklyn. 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.

He moved to Pathé Studios in New York. He directed his first serial, The Masked Menace, in 1927. In 1930, when the studio moved to Hollywood, Heath was appointed "production manager of all two-reel comedies."

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."

During World War II Heath produced films for the Signal Corps and the Office of War Information.

Filmography Director Beyond the Great Wall, 1920, Eastern Productions, as A.B. Heath 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) 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

Writer 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) White Eagle, 1941, Columbia (serial, 15 chapters) Against the Rules, 1931, RKO Pathé Pictures, (short, as Arch B. Heath)

Other Show Boat, 1929, Universal (sound supervision, prologue directed by Arch Heath)