As a Broadway musical comedy star, Edward "Eddie" Buzzell was seen in such 1920s productions as The Desert Song. In 1930, Buzzell played the lead in Warner Bros.' filmization of George M. Cohan's Little Johnny Jones. He directed and starred in several one-reelers for Columbia, at the behest of studio chief Harry Cohn who evidently was one of Buzzell's biggest fans. Buzzell moved into feature-film directing with 1932's The Big Timer. Together with director Sam Wood, Buzzell shares the distinction of surviving two films with the Marx Bros. (whom he whimsically labelled "The O-Boys"): At the Circus (1939) and Go West (1940). He went on to helm several of MGM's big-budget musicals of the 1940s. After several years in retirement, Eddie Buzzell resurfaced for one last, film comedy, the British Mary Had a Little... (1961).
by Hal Erickson
biography
