Walter Futter

Walter Futter (January 2, 1900 – March 3, 1958) was a film producer and director in the United States. After an initial career cutting and editing films, Futter began writing and producing his own shorts and movies, often using footage he acquired. He had success with Africa Speaks!, a popular movie, He produced more than 250 short films, including series of shorts entitled Walter Futter's Traveloques and Walter Futter's Curiosities. Hoot Gibson starred in a number of his western films. Another of his more than 50 longer films was Jericho, also called Dark Sands.

Early life Walter Futter was born January 2, 1900, in Omaha, Nebraska. His parents, both born in Germany, were William and Elizabeth Futter. He had an older brother, Frederick. Futter attended University of Omaha.

Career Futter moved to Hollywood, California and worked as a film cutter By 1926, he established the Futter Production Company and began producing films as well as buying and selling films. His brother, Fred, joined him in creating a stock footage library called "Wafilms". They bought up bankrupt stock and film made by amateurs and the venture proved successful, earning them the nickname "the junk-men of filmdom". Futter headed the firm Diversion Pictures, which had a library of 8mm and 16mm film and a reversible processing laboratory. Futter made about 50 movies over the course of his career, including Africa Speaks! (1930) and India Speaks (1933). Futter was writer, director, and editor of the film. In 1932, he released India Speaks,

Also in the early 1930s, he worked on two series of shorts, Walter Futter's Traveloques and Walter Futter's Curiosities, showing unusual incidents that have occurred around the world.

With Fenn Kimball, he produced Hong Kong Nights (1935). He produced the westerns The Riding Avenger, Frontier Justice, Lucky Terror, Feud of the West, Swifty, and Cavalcade of the West, all released in 1936 and starring Hoot Gibson. He also produced Fighting For the Fatherland,

Personal life Futter married actress Adele Lacey in December 1937. She died in Mexico City on July 3, 1953. He married actress Betty Bartley in 1955. The following year, Bartley gave birth to a baby who lived only eight hours. Their marriage ended in 1956, and they began divorce proceedings in 1957. He died on March 3, 1958, in New York,