Sol Lesser

Sol Lesser (February 17, 1890 – September 19, 1980) was an American film producer. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960 and was awarded the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1961.

Biography In 1913, while living in San Francisco, Sol Lesser learned that the authorities were about to clean out the Barbary Coast district, a raucous area of gambling houses, saloons and brothels. He grabbed a camera and a friend, future Hollywood cameraman Hal Mohr, and roamed the area, especially the parts that were best-known before the area was shut down. (The Barbary Coast was not actually closed down until 1917.) This film is now considered a lost film.

The resulting film was The Last Night of the Barbary Coast, an early example of an exploitation film that was sold directly to movie theater owners by Lesser. With the profits from the film, he bought several theaters, and soon owned a cinema chain.

Sol Lesser signed Jackie Coogan to a movie contract in 1922, establishing both as major Hollywood names. The Coogan-Lesser hits included Oliver Twist and Peck's Bad Boy. Lesser made a successful transition to sound films, with his own Principal Pictures company; he would either distribute his productions himself under the Principal name, or arrange for a major studio to release them under their own trademarks (as with his Buck Jones westerns and his 1938 novelty western The Terror of Tiny Town, all released by Columbia). In 1933, Lesser produced Thunder Over Mexico a compilation film made from Eisenstein's Que Viva Mexico! with the permission of Upton Sinclair, who had commissioned the Soviet film maker, and his wife.

His productions usually had higher budgets than the usual independent features; Lesser was able to produce entire series with name stars like George O'Brien and Bobby Breen. He also produced serials in 1933 and 1934. Lesser was very successful as an independent producer, later releasing through United Artists. notably with the films Our Town (1940) and the all-star wartime revue Stage Door Canteen (1943).

Tarzan In 1933 Lesser succeeded in buying screen rights to Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan character. A Tarzan the Fearless serial with screen newcomer Buster Crabbe resulted, but Burroughs, deciding to make his own Tarzan films, refused to renegotiate with Lesser. Burroughs's own movie enterprises were short-lived, and the rights passed to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Burroughs sold Lesser options on all his Tarzan novels for seven years, with Lesser producing one Tarzan film a year for 20th Century-Fox. Only one Tarzan film was produced under this arrangement: Tarzan's Revenge (1938) featuring athletes Glenn Morris and Eleanor Holm. MGM objected to Lesser competing with its own Tarzan series, and Lesser agreed to sell the rights back to MGM. When MGM relinquished the rights in 1942, Lesser regained the Tarzan property. Lesser's new Tarzan films were produced for RKO and starred Johnny Weissmuller and later Lex Barker and Gordon Scott, and Lesser devoted himself to these jungle adventures for the rest of his career. Lesser sold the Tarzan rights to producer Sy Weintraub in 1958, and retired. "I had reached the age that one either finishes on top or far below. I decided I would end on top, and I was satisfied," he said.

Toward the end of his life he was actively involved in restoring many of his early productions, often in association with film preservationists at Blackhawk Films. Blackhawk reprinted many of Lesser's silent and sound films for the home-movie market.

Sol Lesser died in 1980, and was buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Accolades Sol Lesser was the recipient of The Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1960. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Filmography

Year Title Notes 1920 What Women Love 1921 One Man in a Million 1923 Circus Days 1923 Daddy 1923 The Drug Traffic 1924 Captain January 1924 Helen's Babies 1924 1924 When a Man's a Man 1925 The Re-Creation of Brian Kent 1925 Balto's Race to Nome 1930 The Eyes of the World 1932 South Sea Adventures 1932 With Williamson Beneath the Sea 1932 1933 Jaws of Justice 1933 Matto-Grosso 1933 Thunder Over Mexico 1933 Tarzan the Fearless Serial 1933 Serial 1934 Peck's Bad Boy 1934 Ferocious Pal 1934 Fighting to Live 1934 Chandu on the Magic Isle 1934 1935 Hard Rock Harrigan 1935 Thunder Mountain 1935 Whispering Smith Speaks 1935 When a Man's a Man 1935 1935 The Calling of Dan Matthews 1936 Let's Sing Again 1936 Rainbow on the River 1936 O'Malley of the Mounted 1937 1937 Make a Wish 1937 Western Gold 1937 Roll Along, Cowboy 1937 Secret Valley 1937 It Happened Out West 1938 Breaking the Ice 1938 Hawaii Calls 1938 Rawhide 1938 Tarzan's Revenge 1938 Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus 1938 Panamint's Bad Man 1938 Hawaiian Buckaroo 1939 Fisherman's Wharf 1939 Way Down South 1939 Everything's on Ice 1939 Escape to Paradise 1940 Our Town 1941 That Uncertain Feeling 1942 1943 Stage Door Canteen 1943 Tarzan's Desert Mystery 1943 Tarzan Triumphs 1944 Three Is a Family 1945 Tarzan and the Amazons 1947 Tarzan and the Leopard Woman 1947 1947 Tarzan and the Huntress 1948 Tarzan and the Mermaids 1949 Tarzan's Magic Fountain 1950 Tarzan and the Slave Girl 1950 Kon-Tiki Academy Award, Best Documentary Feature 1951 Tarzan's Peril 1952 Tarzan's Savage Fury 1952 Under the Red Sea 1952 Without Warning! 1953 Tarzan and the She-Devil 1953 Vice Squad 1953 1955 Quest for the Lost City 1955 Tarzan's Hidden Jungle 1957 Man on the Prowl 1957 X the Unknown 1958 Tarzan's Fight for Life 1958 Tarzan and the Trappers TV pilot