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Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director best known for his films of the 1930s, including My Man Godfrey and Stage Door. He was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students' League. Around 1913, he started doing odd jobs at the studio of Raoul Barré. By 1915, he was an animator on the Animated Grouch Chasers series. Towards the end of 1915, William Randolph Hearst decided to create an animation studio to promote the comic strips printed in his newspapers. He called the new company International Film... MORE

Gregory La Cava (March 10, 1892 – March 1, 1952) was an American film director best known for his films of the 1930s, including My Man Godfrey and Stage Door. He was born in Towanda, Pennsylvania and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students' League. Around 1913, he started doing odd jobs at the studio of Raoul Barré. By 1915, he was an animator on the Animated Grouch Chasers series. Towards the end of 1915, William Randolph Hearst decided to create an animation studio to promote the comic strips printed in his newspapers. He called the new company International Film Service, and he hired La Cava to run it (for double what he was making with Barré). La Cava's first employee was his co-worker at the Barré Studio, Frank Moser. Another was his fellow student in Chicago, Grim Natwick (later to achieve fame at Disney). As he developed more and more of Hearst's comics into cartoon series, he came to put semi-independent units in charge of each, leading to the growth of individual styles. La Cava also had the significant advantage over other studios of an unlimited budget: Hearst's business sense completely broke down when it came to his Hearst-Vitagraph News Pictorial LESS