Irving Cummings
3 credits on HibingeTV
American actor and director, born in 1888. He began as a stage and screen actor in the 1910s before turning to directing in the 1920s, producing and directing features such as Broken Hearts of Broadway (1923). He later became a reliable contract director at 20th Century Fox, helming musicals and comedies through the 1940s. He died in 1959.
Directed
Mystery, Crime
The earliest surviving film to feature the character Charlie Chan, directed by Irving Cummings and produced by Fox Film Corporation. Warner Baxter stars as Col. John Beetham, a man under suspicion in a complex murder mystery. Lois Moran plays Eve Mannering Durand, whose husband's death sets the investigation in motion. Boris Karloff appears as Beetham's sinister manservant in an early role before his horror fame. Charlie Chan, played by the Chinese American actor E. L. Park, gets one mention early in the film and then makes only a few momentary appearances after 75 minutes. Park was the first Chinese American to play Charlie Chan on screen. Producer William Fox chose this film to open the palatial Fox Theatre in San Francisco on June 28, 1929. The film is in the public domain.
Mystery · Crime · Thriller
Behind That Curtain
1929 - Mystery
Drama, Silent
A stage-struck country girl arrives in New York chasing Broadway stardom and lands in a chorus line, a Chinese cabaret, and finally a murder charge she did not commit. Colleen Moore stars as the aspiring actress, with Johnnie Walker as the songwriter who loves her and Alice Lake as a fellow hoofer. Irving Cummings produced and directed this independent feature, based on James Kyrle McCurdy's 1917 play, for release through Select Pictures. The film is in the public domain in the United States.
Drama · Silent
Broken Hearts of Broadway
1923 - Drama