Jack Cummings (director)

John Cummings (February 16, 1905^[1] – April 28, 1989) was an American film producer and director. He was best known for being a leading producer at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Cummings spent most of his career at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; his uncle, Louis B. Mayer initially hired his nephew in the 1920s as an office boy and expected him to work his way up through the ranks.

Cummings became a staff producer at MGM in 1934, where he worked in the B-feature unit for two years. In 1936, he produced the extravagant Cole Porter musical Born to Dance, which established his reputation as a respected producer. Cummings remained at MGM even after his uncle was fired as head of the studio in 1951. Over the years, Cummings worked with talent such as the Marx Brothers, Red Skelton, Esther Williams, and Fred Astaire, producing some of the era's best-known musicals, including 1953's Kiss Me Kate and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954, for which he received an Academy Award nomination. He left MGM to become an independent producer affiliated with Twentieth Century-Fox and produced the 1959 remake of The Blue Angel and the 1960 movie version of the Abe Burrows-Cole Porter Broadway musical Can-Can. In 1964, he returned to MGM one last time to produce the Elvis Presley musical Viva Las Vegas. Other credits included Easy to Wed, It Happened in Brooklyn, Three Little Words, The Last Time I Saw Paris, Interrupted Melody, and The Teahouse of the August Moon.^[2]

Dorothy Kingsley the writer late said:

Jack Cummings was an excellent producer, though he was L. B.'s [Louis B. Mayer's] nephew, which reacted against him. He let it react against him. Everyone else would go up and ask L. B. for something, but Jack never would because he was his nephew. He went through every department in the studio—cutting, music, sound, everything. He had a good story mind, too. He knew about everything and he was one of the best producers.^[3]

Cummings felt later in life his contribution to the movies had been downplayed because of his connection to Mayer. According to Charles Champlin "he was both rewarded by and rather cruelly punished by the relationship."^[4]

Dore Schary said Cummings was, with Arthur Freed and Joe Pasternak, one of the leading musical producers at MGM but "had talents that fell somewhere between Joe’s and Arthur’s. Jack had taken on the burden of proving he was more than L. B. Mayer’s nephew. The burden ofttimes made him sensitive and quick to resort to truculence. He was the realist.... Jack had a good comedic sense and of the three was the best in the field of nonmusical films.... Jack was lean, a good golfer, a tough and demanding man who dressed the best, always looked trim and showered."^[5]

Lester Cole wrote "He was very intelligent and really learned the craft, but he made his way up only slowly, painfully. He was resented and put down as "the boss's kid nephew," despite his skill."^[6]