Robert Youngson

Robert Youngson (November 27, 1917 – April 8, 1974) was a film producer, director, and screenwriter.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was responsible for reacquainting movie audiences with the work of the great silent comedians. His feature-film compilations The Golden Age of Comedy (1958) and When Comedy Was King (1960) were popular successes. Youngson produced six more vintage-comedy anthologies, the last being released in 1970.

Youngson also wrote and produced a long series of historical short subjects for Warner Brothers, two of which won him Academy Awards. Most of these films took an affectionate look back at the fads and lifestyles of the 1920s. Youngson's narration was nostalgic in tone, unlike the facetious commentaries that usually accompanied silent-film revivals like Gaslight Follies (1945) and Warners' compilations of Mack Sennett comedies. Youngson also produced a feature-length documentary for Warners, Fifty Years Before Your Eyes (1950).

He was nominated six times for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film (one reel).

All produced by Warner Brothers and narrators included Dan Donaldson, Jackson Beck, Clem McCarthy, Dwight Weist, Ward Wilson and Jay Jackson. Walton C. Ament produced the earliest shorts. Those not part of a series were marketed as “varieties” and “novelties”.

Youngson also produced the following feature-length compilations:

He died at St. Vincent's Hospital in New York City at age 56, survived by his wife Jeanne Keyes.

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