Norman Z. McLeod
1898 - 1964McLeod made several successful and influential movies such as Taking A Chance (1928), Monkey Business (1931), Horse Feathers (1932), Topper (1937) and Merrily We Live (1938). Other memorable films directed by McLeod includes It's a Gift (1934) with W.C. Fields, and the Danny Kaye comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).
His nickname, as recorded on a publicity still on the set of Monkey Business, was "Macko."
Description above from the Wikipedia article Norman Z. McLeod, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Merrily We Live
Norman Z. McLeod
Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne
Society matron Emily Kilbourne has a habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants. Her latest find is a handsome tramp who shows up at her doorstep and ends up in a chauffeur's uniform. He also catches the eye of Geraldine.
Merrily We Live
Topper
Norman Z. McLeod
Constance Bennett, Cary Grant
Madcap couple George and Marion Kerby are killed in an automobile accident. They return as ghosts to try and liven up the regimented lifestyle of their friend and bank president, Cosmo Topper. When Topper starts to live it up, it strains relations with his stuffy wife.
Topper
It's a Gift
Norman Z. McLeod
W.C. Fields, Kathleen Howard
After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.
It's a Gift
Coronado
Norman Z. McLeod
Johnny Downs, Betty Burgess
Southern California's Hotel Coronado caters to and is frequented by members of the social upper-crust. Although she lives on the wrong side of the San Diego track, in a tent-city with her father. Otto, and ditzy sister, Violet, June Wray is a singer with the Eddy Duchin Orchestra appearing to the hotel. Johnny Marvin, an aspiring songwriter and the son of a wealthy automobile manufacturer, is staying at the hotel and, from they moment June and Johnny meet, they fall instantly in love. Trouble arises when Johnny's father objects to the romance, and complications and help arrive in the form of two Marine-hating sailors,Chuck Hornbostel and "Pinky" Falls, when Chuck marries June's ditzy sister.
Coronado
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Norman Z. McLeod
Danny Kaye, Virginia Mayo
Walter Mitty, a daydreaming writer with an overprotective mother, likes to imagine that he is a hero who experiences fantastic adventures. His dream becomes reality when he accidentally meets a mysterious woman who hands him a little black book. According to her, it contains the locations of the Dutch crown jewels hidden since World War II. Soon, Mitty finds himself in the middle of a confusing conspiracy, where he has difficulty differentiating between fact and fiction.
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Road to Rio
Norman Z. McLeod
Bing Crosby, Bob Hope
Scat Sweeney, and Hot Lips Barton, two out of work musicians, stow away on board a Rio bound ship, after accidentally setting fire to the big top of a circus. They then get mixed up with a potential suicide Lucia, who first thanks them, then unexpectedly turns them over to the ship's captain. When they find out that she has been hypnotized, to go through a marriage of convenience, when the ship reaches Rio, the boys turn up at the ceremony, in order to stop the wedding, and to help catch the crooks.
Road to Rio
The Miracle Man
Norman Z. McLeod
Sylvia Sidney, Chester Morris
A gang of crooks evade the police by moving their operations to a small town. There the gang's leader, John Madison, encounters a faith healer and uses him to scam the gullible public of funds for a supposed chapel. But when a real healing takes place, a change comes over the gang.
The Miracle Man
Melody in Spring
Norman Z. McLeod
Lanny Ross, Charles Ruggles
It's love at first sight for singer John Craddock and Jane Blodgett who meet while John is seeking a radio job with the "Blodgett Dog Biscuit Hour," and John learns that the sponsor is Jane's father, Warren Blodgett, an avid souvenir and antiques collector. John gets himself in bad with Blodgett when he accidentally ruins a deal in which Blodgett was attempting to acquire a bedpost for his collection. To break up the romance, Blodgett and his wife take Jane to Switzerland, where Blodgett has his heart set on obtaining a jealously-guarded cowbell.
Melody in Spring
Early to Bed
Norman Z. McLeod
Mary Boland, Charles Ruggles
Chester Beatty and Tessie Weeks have been engaged for 5 years and going together for 15 years before that. Chester is reluctant to burden Tessie with marriage because of his secret problem. He is a sleepwalker. When Tessie finally does rope Chester into marriage, he can't get time off from his boss of 26 years, Mr. Frisbee. To resolve the problem, Chester sets out to impress his boss by securing a big sales contract of glass eyes. He takes Tessie and follows the rich doll company owner Horace B. Stanton to a lakeside resort and befriends him. However, his sleep-walking makes him a prime suspect in a thievery/murder case.
Early to Bed
Casanova's Big Night
Norman Z. McLeod
Bob Hope, Joan Fontaine
Italy 1757, Pippo Popolino, a lowly tailor, disguises himself as the great Casanova in order to romance the attractive widow Francesca. He little suspects what awaits him... Locked into the incongruous role by the desperation of the real Casanova's creditors, Pippo must journey to Venice on a delicate mission far beyond his capabilities.
Casanova's Big Night
The Paleface
Norman Z. McLeod
Bob Hope, Jane Russell
Bob Hope stars in this laugh-packed wild west spoof co-starring Jane Russell as a sexy Calamity Jane, Hope is a meek frontier dentist, "Painless" Peter Potter, who finds himself gunslinging alongside the fearless Calamity as she fights off outlaws and Indians.
The Paleface
Pennies from Heaven
Norman Z. McLeod
Bing Crosby, Madge Evans
Larry Poole, in prison on a false charge, promises an inmate that when he gets out he will look up and help out a family. The family turns out to be a young girl, Patsy Smith, and her elderly grandfather who need lots of help. This delays Larry from following his dream and going to Venice and becoming a gondolier. Instead, he becomes a street singer and, while singing in the street, meets a pretty welfare worker, Susan Sprague. She takes a dim view of Patsy's welfare under the guardianship of Larry and her grandfather and starts proceedings to have Patsy placed in an orphanage.
Pennies from Heaven
