Born Today March 8: Arthur F. Beck

1887-1978

Producer/Presenter (mostly of the silent era) Arthur F. Beck was born somewhere in the state of Indiana today in 1887. Beck is probably best remembered for being the husband of pioneering female film screenwriter and actress Leah Baird, whom he married in 1914. His history is scarce and it is probable that he was involved in films (and possibly theater) long before his current first film credit in 1919.  He enters film history as an executive director of the Artco production The Capitol (1919), a film that starred his wife, was written and directed by Augustus Thomas and was directed by actor George Irving. His dozen or so credits during the 1920's range between 1920 and 1927.  In 1920, he solely produced the Stuart Holmes 15 part western serial Trailed by Three, directed by Perry N. Vekroff under his own company Arthur F. Beck Serial Productions (the series was distributed by Pathé Exchange). As enterprising as the company sounded, it would only turn out two  additional titles, which Beck "presented:" Baird's When Husband's Deceive in 1922 and Destroying Angel in 1923.  His wife had her own production company, which had it's own studio in Cliffside, New Jersey; so it is understandable that he also worked as a producer under that outfit. The company in fact lent out, or rather rented out, space to other companies, and it was in the capacity of producer/presenter that he worked on The Harvest Moon, a 1920 J. Searle Dawley drama that was shot at the Leah Baird Studios (the film starred Doris Kenyon ).  He also worked as a general supervisor on a few productions; and, undoubtedly the most well known picture that he supervised was  The Return Of Boston Blackie, a film in which his wife adapted a popular novel of writer Jack Boyle in 1927. He was also a producer on the 1926 crime drama  Shadow of the Law, a lost Wallace Worsley film, adapted the the screen by Baird and starring Clara Bow. The "Boston Blackie" film was the last silent film that he produced. He worked on two full sound film in the 1930's as a producer--one uncredited and directed (in part) by Harry O. Hoyt, who was the director on the Boston Blackie film, amongst others Beck worked on in the 1920's (the film was the Anita Page crime adventure Jungle Bride (1933)). His last film credit comes as a producer of the lesser Paramount drama Sky Parade released in 1936.  He and Baird both retired from the film industry--both having long since moved to the Hollywood area.  Beck died there at the age of 91 on the 17th of July in 1978. There is no information as to his cremation or burial. His wife's ashes are interred at the Hollywood Forever cemetery--but a careful search of their records shows no Arthur Beck listed. 

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