New Book on B-Film Producer Sigmund Neufeld and His Brother, Director Sam Newfield (by Thomas Reeder)

[Thomas Reeder]

From the Shameless Self-Promotion Department:

POVERTY ROW ROYALTY: THE FILMS OF PRODUCER SIGMUND NEUFELD AND HIS BROTHER, DIRECTOR SAM NEWFIELD, my latest, soon-to-be-published book, details the films and careers of two of Poverty Row’s long-ignored key figures. With careers that spanned that spanned most of the silent era and lasted well into the 1950s, the brothers were collectively responsible for more than 300 films that we know of, dozens more from the earliest years released without credit.

From a start at Carl Laemmle’s IMP in 1911 and an education in all aspects of filmmaking with the Stern Brothers’ comedy studios 1916-29, the 1930s were an extremely prolific period that resulted in films starring the Tiffany Chimps, Tim McCoy, Bob Steele, Kermit Maynard, and many others. The brothers’ critical importance to the success, and comparative longevity of, the studio that would become Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) 1939-46 is documented in detail, followed by a final decade of films for studios that included Lippert, Film Classics, Regal Films, and Associated Film Releasing Corp., along with several series for television.

The Neufeld and Newfield families provided considerable support to the writing of this book, most importantly with the frank and detailed recollections of Sig’s son, Sig Jr., and Sam’s son, Joel, both of whom were frequent observers of, and occasional participants in, many of the films produced from 1939 on. Dozens of never-before-published photos from the families’ albums help to illustrate the text.

POVERTY ROW ROYALTY will be published in the next few months by Split Reel Books. If you are interested in pre-ordering a signed copy of the book, and would like to contribute to the Kickstarter campaign currently running to fund its publication, details can be found here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sp ... uve_backed