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Sidney Buchman, 1902-1975, Film Producer, Writer Sidney Robert Buchman (shown here in 1919) was born on
March 27, 1902, in Duluth. His parents were Robert Buchman and Sarah (Zalk)
Buchman. Robert was born in Russia in 1874, immigrated to the U.S., and
settled in Duluth around 1895. He worked as a clothing merchant and for a
while owned his own store, Buchman and Josephs, at 116 West Superior Street.
On February 20, 1898, he married Sarah Zalk in a wedding ceremony in the
large second-floor hall in the Kalamazoo Building at 18 West Superior Street
in Duluth. As the Duluth News Tribune related the next day, “seldom if ever
before in the history of Duluth has there been a larger attendance at a
Jewish wedding.” Mayor Truelsen was one of the 200 guests and gave a speech
congratulating the new couple. Sarah Zalk was the daughter of Max Zalk, who
was born in Poland and moved to Duluth in 1884. He was president of the
Duluth Iron & Metal Co. Robert and Sarah lived at 502 East First Street, later
moving for a while to Superior, Wisconsin, and then back to Duluth in homes
at 421 First Avenue West, 120 East Fourth Street, and finally building their
own brick home at 110 West Fifth Street. Robert continued to work in retail
clothing sales but eventually took a job in his father-in-law’s metal
business. They had four children: Moses, born on March 22, 1900; Sidney;
Marian, born on February 13, 1910; and Harold, born on June 24, 1912. Sidney
apparently had a typical childhood and earned money with a paper route in the
Central Hillside. He later complimented the area, saying that he hadn’t
realized that he had “grown up in one of the real melting pots of the world”
that demonstrated “complete race harmony.” Sidney was a popular and
successful student at Central High School. He was active as an athlete,
participating on the football and track teams and serving as captain of the
basketball team in his senior year. He also was sports editor of the school
newspaper and business manager of the senior class play, and he won the
Wallace Cup for oratory in his junior year. Sidney graduated from Central in
1919 and was chosen to be a commencement speaker. From high school, Sidney
went on to the University of Minnesota, enrolling in the pre-med program. He
left the Twin Cities after a year of studies, however. His parents and siblings
moved to New York City in October of 1919, and Sidney moved there in 1920,
enrolling at Columbia University where he later received his degree. After
graduating, Sidney traveled to England in February of 1924 to study at
Oxford. He left Oxford after a few weeks, later referring to the rigid caste
system of the English university. He traveled for a while in France and
Italy, worked at the Old Vic Theatre in London, and then returned to New York
City. For the next eight years he worked as a playwright in New York and had
two plays produced—This One Man and Storm Song. Sidney went to Hollywood in 1931 when he was hired as a
junior writer for Paramount. His first project was Cecil B. DeMille’s Sign of
the Cross 1932). His most successful scripts were for She Married Her Boss
(1935), Theodora Goes Wild (1936),
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
In 1942 he was production supervisor at Columbia Pictures, and he eventually
became vice-president of production. Sidney returned to Duluth for visits
several times, most notably on February 1, 1950, when he was honored on
“Sidney Buchman Day.” Festivities included a speech to the Chamber of
Commerce, a convocation at Duluth Central High School, a reception and dinner
at the Athletic Club, and a first day’s showing of Sidney’s latest film,
Jolson Sings Again, at the Granada Theater. In his speech to the Chamber,
according to the Duluth News Tribune, Sidney predicted that “in perhaps a
quarter-century, the finest films will be available for a dime or a quarter
to persons in their own living rooms. They will need only to call the
telephone operator to switch on a certain television channel on which the
film is being carried.” At the Central convocation,Sidney expressed special
thanks to his English teacher, Miss Mira Southworth. In September of 1951, Sidney was called to testify before
the House Un-American Activities Committee where he admitted to having
belonged to the Communist Party from 1938 until 1945, but he refused to give
names of people who had been present at meetings he had attended. In January of 1952, he failed to appear before the
committee when subpoenaed, and in February the House of Representatives voted
314-0 to cite him for contempt. On March 13, 1953, he was found guilty of
contempt of Congress in U.S. District Court and eventually was fined $150.
Sidney was blacklisted in Hollywood and moved to Europe, later settling in
Cannes, France. He was hired by 20th Century-Fox in the 1960s to produce
films in Europe. He died in Cannes on August 23, 1975. He had been married
twice and had a daughter, Susan, with his first wife. This is an excerpt from the book Forgotten Duluthians, which is available for sale at all Duluth Public Library locations for $14.95, with all proceeds going to the library. Source and more and photo: |
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