American film editor (1923?2012)
Daniel Richard "Dann" Cahn
(April 9, 1923 ? November 21, 2012) was an American
film editor
who received the Career Achievement Award from the
American Cinema Editors
(ACE). Cahn was best known as the head editor of the TV series,
I Love Lucy
and for his work as the head of post-production of
Desilu Playhouse
. Cahn would also go on to edit several more movies and TV series such as
The Beverly Hillbillies
. Cahn worked with
Orson Welles
,
Russ Meyer
and others.
Early life
[
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]
Cahn was born and raised in Hollywood. His parents were Philip and Gertrude (Barsha) Cahn. Some members of the Cahn family were already in the film business at the time Danny Cahn was born. His family (his grandparents and his father, a baby at the time) had migrated from
Poland
and Russia to
Philadelphia
, before settling in New York on the lower east side of
Manhattan
.
[2]
The Cahn family would later move to Hollywood, where his uncle
Edward L. "Eddy" Cahn
had managed to join the film business in 1913. Eddy Cahn worked first as a prop man and then later moved up to become one of the top
film editors
at
Universal Studios
.
[2]
Dann Cahn's father, Philip Cahn, tried ranching in
North Hollywood
on a 2-acre (0.81 ha) piece of property that he bought with proceeds he had saved and money earned from his wife Gertrude's dress shop ("Gertrude's" on
Hollywood Boulevard
). The ranch property was located at the junction of Vineland and Aqua Vista in North Hollywood next to the
Los Angeles River
. His father purchased 2,500 baby chicks. But one night the electricity gave out and the incubators went cold. The baby chicks didn't make it. Soon after, Philip Cahn would also join his brother in the film business as a film editor. Dann Cahn's father Philip edited
Imitation of Life
with
Claudette Colbert
.
[2]
With an uncle and father in the film business, young Danny Cahn grew up in Hollywood and would hang around his father's sets prior to
World War II
. Dann also got the itch to work on movies. Fascinated by the
Dead End Kids
pictures that were popular at the time and having acted in a few high school plays, young Danny Cahn thought he might like to become an actor. Cahn got his
SAG
card and worked on bit parts in several B-movies before deciding that most actors were starving and that he wanted a "real paying gig".
[2]
During
World War II
, Dann Cahn was among the hundreds of actors, directors, producers, writers, editors, cameramen, makeup artists and even musicians enlisted in the armed services who found themselves stationed not in the European front or the
Pacific theater
, but at the old
Hal Roach Studios
in
Culver City
. As members of the
First Motion Picture Unit
, these soldiers contributed to the war effort by making more than 400 training films and documentaries.
[3]
Of making films for the military, Cahn said, "I was an editor in the unit and two of us were sent to the
Pentagon
for a year and we made
newsreels
. We were all in for 3½ years, and most of us got a world of experience."
[3]
Cahn is the middle part of one of the only three-generation families in ACE editing history. His father, Philip Cahn, had a long career at Universal, mainly cutting
Abbott and Costello
comedies. His son, Danny Cahn Jr., ACE, is also picture editor on features and TV series,
[4]
and was elected president of the Motion Picture Editor's Guild at the beginning of 2011.
[5]
Career highlights
[
edit
]
Dann Cahn started out working in a film library and then later moved up as an assistant editor on motion pictures. His first job in television came in 1949, the
Lucky Strike Showtime
. Most notably, Cahn worked at
Desilu
on the TV series,
I Love Lucy
. Cahn also edited
The Untouchables
, and
The Loretta Young Show
. Dann Cahn also worked at Glenn Larson Productions as head of post production.
[6]
I Love Lucy
was the first sitcom to shoot with three cameras and ship in 35 mm instead of kinescopes. Cahn was one of the first editors to master cutting on a film
Moviola
with four heads (three for picture and one for sound).
[4]
Cahn's work on
I Love Lucy
is featured in the
Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center
in
Jamestown, New York
, which has an exhibit including his "three-headed monster" editing machine.
At
Desilu Studios
, Cahn mentored several
I Love Lucy
team members, editors Gary Freund and Ted Rich both started as his apprentices. His other apprentices included
Bud Molin
and a fourth, "the one I had to nurse the longest..." Cahn said, "that was
Michael Kahn
, ACE, and he is now the number one editor in town, doing all of
Steven Spielberg
's shows."
[4]
Cahn would go on to work with several notable feature film directors, including
Orson Welles
(
Fountain of Youth
) and the notorious
Russ Meyer
(
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls
). Cahn would also direct at least one episode of the classic TV series,
Leave It to Beaver
and would also produce and/or direct several other films or television shows.
Personal life
[
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]
In 1953, Cahn married former
pro golfer
Judy Cahn (1929?2010).
[7]
They had two children. His son
Daniel T. Cahn
is also an editor.
[8]
[9]
His daughter Dana died 1973 in a car accident.
[10]
Cahn's hobby was collecting exotic birds.
Death
[
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]
Cahn died of
natural causes
at his
West Los Angeles
home on November 21, 2012, at the age of 89. His remains were interred at
Forest Lawn Memorial Park
.
[11]
[
failed verification
]
[9]
Selected filmography
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"R.I.P. Dann Cahn"
.
Deadline.com
. November 26, 2012
. Retrieved
December 6,
2021
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Interview with Dann Cahn Part 1
on
YouTube
- ^
a
b
King, Susan (September 27, 2005).
"Serving their country in wartime ? by making films"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
- ^
a
b
c
"Editors Guild Magazine"
. Archived from
the original
on June 23, 2008
. Retrieved
July 15,
2008
.
- ^
https://www.editorsguild.com/FromtheGuild.cfm?FromTheGuildid=215
. Retrieved
February 28,
2011
.
- ^
"55 years ago: "Little Ricky" was born to Lucy & Ricky Ricardo"
.
Tvinterviewsarchive.blogspot.com
. Retrieved
December 6,
2021
.
- ^
"Judy Baker Cahn | cahn, baker, lima - Obituaries - LimaOhio.com"
. July 13, 2011. Archived from
the original
on July 13, 2011
. Retrieved
December 6,
2021
.
- ^
Peter Tonguette:
Editorial Patriarch: Philip Cahn (1894?1984)
. In: cinemontage.org, May 1, 2012.
- ^
a
b
Nelson, Valerie J. (November 25, 2012). "Editor on 'I Love Lucy' and movies; OBITUARIES : DANN CAHN, 1923 ? 2012".
Los Angeles Times
. p. A-4.
- ^
Coed, 17, Killed When Car Plunges From Palisades
. In: Los Angeles Times, January 10, 1973, p. 3.
- ^
[1]
[
dead link
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External links
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