Jules Levey - Biography

for the television producer please see Jules Levy

Jules Levey (Born 2 May 1896, Rochester, New York, USA; died 2 January 1975, New York (age 78)) was the producer of the Frank Buck movie Jacaré.

Early career

Levey joined Universal Pictures as Eastern sales manager in 1919 and worked for several major producers. He was in charge of sales for RKO Pictures and also headed RKO Theaters, the distributing organization.

Independent Producer

In 1939, Levey became an independent producer. His Mayfair Productions (at 1250 6th Avenue, New York) turned out films including The Boys From Syracuse, Pardon My Sarong, The Hairy Ape, New Orleans and Hellzapoppin'. He also imported several foreign films, among them the Italian movie Fabiola.

In 1942, Levey produced Jacaré, Killer of the Amazon. Former Universal newsreel editor Charles E. Ford directed this filmed record of James Dannaldson's hunting expedition into the Amazon jungles. The film is filled with wild-animal footage, including a terrifying attack by a 28-foot anaconda. Levey incorporated a narration by Frank Buck and music by Miklos Rozsa.

Levey produced The Hairy Ape in 1944. Afterward, he became curious as to how familiar the general public was with the author, Eugene O'Neill. "Have you ever heard of Eugene O'Neill? Have you ever heard of The Hairy Ape?" were the questions posed in eight cities east of the Mississippi to 1,008 individuals. 61 per cent had heard of O'Neill and 52.1 per cent had heard of The Hairy Ape. But a breakdown showed that though the majority had heard of the names of both the author and his work, they didn't all know that O'Neill was a playwright and that "The Hairy Ape" was the title of a play. There was, for instance, the group (0.8 per cent) which believed O'Neill was a baseball player, while a smaller group (0.3 per cent) identified O'Neill as the name of a Liberty ship. Although 17.1 per cent recognized the title as a play, 10.7 per cent thought it was the name of a comic strip character, while 8 per cent were sure "The Hairy Ape" was a wrestler.

In 1955, after a period of inactivity, Levey announced plans to film Thomas Costain's novel The Tontine, starring Spencer Tracy, but the film was never made.

Later life

Levey lived in New York at 970 Park Avenue, then at 24 West 55th Street (the Rockefeller Apartments). He died, apparently of a heart attack, on a Manhattan street.

Filmography

• New Orleans (1947) (producer)
  
• Abilene Town (1946) (producer)
  
• The Hairy Ape (1944) (producer)
  
• Butch Minds the Baby (1942) (producer)
  
• Pardon My Sarong (1942) (producer)
  
• Jacaré (1942) (producer)
  
• Hellzapoppin' (1941) (producer) (uncredited)
  
• Tight Shoes (1941) (producer)
  
• The Boys from Syracuse (1940) (producer)

External links

• video: Frank Buck narrates an anaconda attack in Jacare
• video: Frank Buck narrates a crocodile attack in Jacare
• review of Jacare
• Jules Levey on the Internet Movie Database