Dann Cahn

Daniel Richard "Dann" Cahn (April 9, 1923 – November 21, 2012) was an American film editor who received the Career Achievement Award from the American Cinema Editors (ACE). Cahn was best known as the head editor of the TV series, I Love Lucy and for his work as the head of post-production of Desilu Playhouse. Cahn would also go on to edit several more movies and TV series such as The Beverly Hillbillies. Cahn worked with Orson Welles, Russ Meyer and others.

Early life Cahn was born and raised in Hollywood. His parents were Philip and Gertrude (Barsha) Cahn. Some members of the Cahn family were already in the film business at the time Danny Cahn was born. His family (his grandparents and his father, a baby at the time) had migrated from Poland and Russia to Philadelphia, before settling in New York on the lower east side of Manhattan.

The Cahn family would later move to Hollywood, where his uncle Edward L. "Eddy" Cahn had managed to join the film business in 1913. Eddy Cahn worked first as a prop man and then later moved up to become one of the top film editors at Universal Studios.

Of making films for the military, Cahn said, "I was an editor in the unit and two of us were sent to the Pentagon for a year and we made newsreels. We were all in for 3½ years, and most of us got a world of experience." and was elected president of the Motion Picture Editor's Guild at the beginning of 2011.

Career highlights Dann Cahn started out working in a film library and then later moved up as an assistant editor on motion pictures. His first job in television came in 1949, the Lucky Strike Showtime. Most notably, Cahn worked at Desilu on the TV series, I Love Lucy. Cahn also edited The Untouchables, and The Loretta Young Show. Dann Cahn also worked at Glenn Larson Productions as head of post production.

I Love Lucy was the first sitcom to shoot with three cameras and ship in 35 mm instead of kinescopes. Cahn was one of the first editors to master cutting on a film Moviola with four heads (three for picture and one for sound). They had two children. His son Daniel T. Cahn is also an editor.

Cahn's hobby was collecting exotic birds.

Death Cahn died of natural causes at his West Los Angeles home on November 21, 2012, at the age of 89. His remains were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Selected filmography I Love Lucy's 50th Anniversary Special (2001) (TV) (consultant) Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus (1991) (TV) Jake Spanner, Private Eye (1989) (TV) Bates Motel (1987) (TV) My Sister Sam (1986) TV series Tough Enough (1983) Remington Steele (1982) TV series The Fall Guy (1981) TV series The Octagon (1980) Man from Atlantis (1977) TV series Shaft TV series (associate producer) (3 episodes, 1974) Police Woman (1974–1975) TV series The Most Deadly Game (1970) TV series Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) The Beverly Hillbillies (28 episodes, 1963–1964) Leave It to Beaver (1 episode, 1961) Director The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour (1959) Frances Langford Presents (1959) TV series (writer) Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1 episode, 1959) Director The Scarface Mob (1959) (TV) (second unit director) The Fountain of Youth (1958) (TV) (editorial supervisor) The Californians (1957) TV series (editorial supervisor) I Love Lucy (editorial supervisor) (106 episodes, 1952–1957) Cavalcade of America (2 episodes, 1956–1957) Make Room for Daddy (1953) TV series I Love Lucy film (1953) I Love Lucy (33 episodes, 1951–1952) Our Miss Brooks (1952) TV series Airborne Lifeboat (1945)