Norman Panama
1914 - 2003Norman Panama (April 21, 1914 – January 13, 2003) was an American screenwriter and film director born in Chicago, Illinois. He collaborated with a former school friend, Melvin Frank, to form a writing partnership which endured for three decades. He also wrote gags for comedians such as Bob Hope's radio program and for Groucho Marx.
The most famous films Panama directed were Li'l Abner (1959), the Danny Kaye film The Court Jester (1956), and Bob Hope's How to Commit Marriage (1969). He wrote Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), Road to Utopia (1946), and The Court Jester, among other movies.
He won an Edgar Award for A Talent for Murder (1981), a play he co-wrote with Jerome Chodorov.
Panama continued to write and direct through the 1980s. He died in 2003 in Los Angeles, California from complications due to Parkinson's disease.
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Above and Beyond
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Robert Taylor, Eleanor Parker
The story of Colonel Paul Tibbets, the pilot that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Although unaware of the full potential of this new weapon, he knows that it can do tremendously more damage than any other weapon used before, and that the death toll resulting from it will be huge. He is reluctant to be the person who will end so many lives, but as time goes on, the pressure upon him only increase.
Above and Beyond
Knock On Wood
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Danny Kaye, Mai Zetterling
Ventriloquist Jerry Morgan has failed with another love affair. The reason: when the relationship reaches the point when it is time to discuss marriage, his two dolls become mean and jealous. Morgan's dollmaker Papinek is a member of a spy ring who has stolen the secret plans for the top-secret Lafayette airplane. Since Morgan is leaving for Zurich the same night, he decides to hide the secret plan in the heads of the dolls.
Knock On Wood
The Trap
Norman Panama
Richard Widmark, Lee J. Cobb
Lawyer Ralph Anderson arrives in Tula, an amazingly remote town in the desert, as reluctant emissary of mob chief Victor Massonetti, who wants the airstrip clear for his unofficial exit from the country. Ralph's arrival has a profound effect on his estranged father, the sheriff; his brother Tip, an alcoholic deputy; and his ex-sweetheart Linda, now married to Tip. Tension builds as a small army of gangsters takes over the town. Then the situation abruptly changes...
The Trap
Callaway Went Thataway
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Fred MacMurray, Dorothy McGuire
Two smart marketing people resurrect some old films starring cowboy Smoky Callaway and put them on television. The films are a big hit and the star is in demand. Unfortunately no one can find him. When a lookalike sends in a photo, the marketing team hires him to impersonate Callaway. Things get sticky when the real Callaway eventually shows up.
Callaway Went Thataway
That Certain Feeling
Norman Panama, Melvin Frank
Bob Hope, Eva Marie Saint
When Larry Larkin's comic strip needs some freshening up, he calls in ghost-writer Francis X. Dignan to help him with the strip. Things get complicated when Francis rekindles his love for his ex-wife, who happens to be Larkin's secretary and soon-to-be wife.
That Certain Feeling
The Road to Hong Kong
Norman Panama
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope
When Chester accidentally memorizes and destroys the only copy of a secret Russian formula for a new and improved rocket fuel, they are thrust into international intrigue, trying to stay alive while keeping the formula out of enemy hands.
The Road to Hong Kong
Not with My Wife, You Don't!
Norman Panama
Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi
During the Korean War, Italian nurse Virna Lisi falls in love with two American fliers, Tony Curtis and George C. Scott. Lisi marries Curtis after he convinces her that Scott has been killed in a plane crash. She soon discovers Scott is alive, but remains happily married to Curtis until Scott re-enters their lives 14 years later.
Not with My Wife, You Don't!
How to Commit Marriage
Norman Panama
Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason
A young couple decide to live together and they wind up having a baby. They decide they should give the baby up for adoption. The baby's Mother's parents wind up adopting the baby using a fake name.
How to Commit Marriage
I Will, I Will...For Now
Norman Panama
Elliott Gould, Diane Keaton
Les Bingham takes umbrage that his ex-wife Katie has a new love in life. What he doesn't know is that her new paramour is lawyer Lou Springer. When Katie's sister Sally arrives and tells the two about her new, hip '70s marriage contract, Les and Katie decide to try to get together again under a more liberal marriage contract, like Katie's sister. But, unfortunately for the couple, the contract is planted with the seeds of self-destruction.
I Will, I Will...For Now
