Duke Goldstone

Born in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1914, Louis "Duke" Goldstone arrived in Hollywood in 1932 and found employment in the property department at Universal Pictures. He later worked as an editor and director at Paramount, RKO and Pathe on numerous theatrical shorts, comedies and serials, including "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood" and Buck Jones westerns. During the late 1940s, while at Paramount, Goldstone began an association with George Pal as director of the three-dimensional animated "Puppetoons" and editor of several of Pal's feature films, including The Great Rupert (1950) and the Oscar-winning Destination Moon (1950). He later worked with Swift-Chaplin Productions, where he directed many of the early classic animated TV commercials including the Speedy Alka Seltzer, Hamms Bear and Jolly Green Giant commercials, among others. There is some speculation that Goldstone was drawn to Hollywood by the success of his uncle, veteran producer Phil Goldstone (22 February 1893-19 June 1963), who had some 48 credits as a producer and eight as a director, spanning both the silent and sound eras. Whether or not this was the case, from the beginning Duke found his own way, never once relying upon favors from his famous uncle. However, it was hard to ignore the fact that the two were related, and after all, Uncle Phil was a philanthropist and founder of the Motion Picture Relief Fund. He loaned money to George Eastman and Samuel Goldwyn--so while Duke chose to ignore the relationship, others were not always so ready to do so, often approaching Duke as a means of reaching his uncle. Duke, however, was not taken in by this approach. By way of background, while Phil Goldstone's films spanned all genres, he is probably best known for his Ken Maynard series of westerns. Maynard starred in 11 Goldstone-produced series westerns released between 1930-32. Best estimates on the production budgets for each was in the $10,000-$15,000 range, but these were exciting and solid fare for the Saturday matinées, as were the Johnny Weissmuller / Maureen O'Sullivan "Tarzan" films that he financed. Uncle Phil produced his last picture in 1940, after which he more or less devoted full time to his philanthropic endeavors. During this period Duke edited the first six episodes of "Hedda Hopper's Hollywood." In 1946 he edited A Night at the Follies (1947). He also directed and edited George Pal's Jasper in a Jam (1946), with Peggy Lee, as well as Hollywood Burlesque (1949). He then re-teamed with his friend George Pal to edit the popular "Puppetoon" series. Soon after his arrival in Hollywood, without any assistance from his famed uncle, Duke was editing two Universal films that went on to spawn a series of Jack London-inspired sequels: On the Great White Trail (1938) and Wolves of the Sea (1936). Turning to television in the 1950s, Goldstone directed episodes of the popular syndicated TV series based upon another Jack London story, Captain David Grief (1957). He also edited and directed many of the Dick Tracy (1950) series episodes, starring Ralph Byrd as the character created by Chester Gould (Byrd died of a heart attack in 1952, at age 43). Goldstone directed and produced numerous TV shows, including The Liberace Show (1952), Frankie Laine Time (1955), The Swift Show Wagon with Horace Heidt and the American Way (1955), The Ina Ray Hutton Show (1956), "Florian Zabach", "The Connie Haines Show" and Betty White's first situation comedy, Life with Elizabeth (1952). Duke also directed the pilot for The Lawrence Welk Show (1951) and a season of half-hour episodes for a TV show in England that starred orchestra conductor Mantovani. Goldstone later worked for Roland Reed Productions, where he produced and directed corporate and military projects. Roland Reed III was the producer responsible for such early TV-series classics as My Little Margie (1952), Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1954) and Waterfront (1954). In 1965 Reed, Dian Fauntelle (Reed's longtime companion) and Goldstone formed RFG Associates, Inc. to produce military, corporate and educational films for such clients as the Department of Defense, Westinghouse Electric, National Electrical Contractors and the American Gas Assn. When Reed died on 15 July 1972, Fauntelle and Goldstone continued the business with Goldstone as president and Dian as secretary-treasurer. The company was active until 1996. In the 1970s RFG Associates, Inc. partnered on several projects with Cinema Arts Productions, Inc., whose president was writer / producer / director Dennis F. Stevens. Two such projects were the highly successful features The Harrad Experiment (1973) and its sequel, Harrad Summer (1974). In 1978 Goldstone and RFG successfully teamed with Stevens and famed wine writer / critic Robert L. Balzer to produce a number of wine programs and commercials featuring the leading wineries of France and California. RFG and Cinema Arts again teamed in 1981 to produce a jazz TV series entitled Ad Lib (1981), later distributed to the Black Entertainment Network. "Ad Lib" featured such notable jazz artists as Willie Bobo, Conte Candoli and Pete Candoli, Papa John Creach, Scatman Crothers, Jon Hendricks, Linda Hopkins, Freddie Hubbard, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr., Freda Payne, Kenny Rankin and Jimmy Witherspoon. Acting as host for the TV-series was composer Phil Moore. RFG also partnered with Cinema Arts in the production and distribution of a rock-and-roll TV show similar to "Ad Lib." This was "The Rocky Road Show" (1981), which featured such artists as Missing Persons, Romeo Void, The Bus Boys and Tower of Power. "Rocky Road" was distributed worldwide by the Armed Forces Radio & Television Service (AFRTS). In 1983 Goldstone hired Dennis Stevens to direct a documentary for New York-based Film Counselors, Inc., entitled Plastics: The World of Imagination (1983). The documentary, co-produced by Goldstone, won the Cine Award for that year and was subsequently aired by the Discovery Channel in 1985, 1986 and 1988. In the 1990s it was also aired on the Learning Channel. In 1985-'86 Goldstone and RFG once again partnered with Dennis F. Stevens and actor 'Gunnar Hellstrom' to film three low-budget documentaries, shot in Zimbabwe (for the South African Broadcasting System), which were aired in 1987 and 1988 on SABC, and in 1993 on M-Net.