Henry Lynn - Career

Career

From 1932 to 1939, Lynn was writer and/or producer/director of at least 10 Yiddish films, emphasizing family life and the challenges to traditional values. He directed 9 Yiddish films. The first two: The Intolerance of 1933 (1933), and The Youth of Russia (1934), are documentaries and contain rare footage of historical events, e.g., labor union marches in New York City in the early 1930s.

Lynn was an innovator, implementing Joseph Seiden's new sound technology in The Unfortunate Bride, his 1932 remake of silent film, Broken Hearts (1926). Lynn included Hebrew dubbing in Shir Hashirim by Tel Aviv exhibitor Ya'acov Davidon and produced some short films for theatrical shows. One example is, Papirossen by radio star Herman Yablokoff. This theatrical play was based on a current hit song, Papirosn. Lynn's short 15-minute film featured Sidney Lumet, as an 11-year old cigarette vendor. The play and short film were booked into the Bronx McKinley Square Theatre in 1935. This was one of Henry Lynn's most unusual productions.

Henry Lynn and Joseph Green, a contemporary Yiddish actor and film producer/director, collaborated and distributed Bar Mitzvah (1935) in Europe, notably Poland, where it was playing in 1937 in Warsaw with another film, Green Light with Errol Flynn. Boris Thomashefsky, a popular opera singer and actor at the time, was a co-producer and starred in the film. He sang in Lynn's film, as he had in the earlier 1924 play, Bar Mitzvah, a hit song, Erlekh Zayn (Be Virtuous).

During World War II Henry Lynn and Joseph Seiden suspended their film careers and became defense contractors to assist the war effort. Lynn founded a small plastic products manufacturing company to produce equipment for the Allies war efforts.