John Jacob Sher (16 March 1913 – 23 August 1988) was an American newspaper columnist, songwriter,[1][2] film director,[3] film writer, and producer.[4]
Born in Minneapolis, Sher wrote for several magazines, including the Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Redbook, Radio Mirror, Reader's Digest, and Collier's. He also had been a columnist for the New York Reporter, and from 1937 to 1940 Screen & Radio Weekly, a nationally syndicated Sunday supplement published by the Detroit Free Press.[5]
Sher wrote a number of films for Audie Murphy, including in 1959, The Wild and the Innocent, which he also directed. In the 1979 remake for TV, The Kid from Left Field, Gary Coleman (1968–2010), who starred in the series, accepted the NAACP Image Award for Best Children's Special of Episode in a Series.[6] Sher's 1971–1972 television play, Goodbye, Raggedy Ann was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Drama – Original Teleplay.[7][8][9][10]
Broadway
- The Perfect Set-Up? – playwright
- Songs:
- "Make This a Slow Goodbye," Jack Sher (words), Farlan Myers (music)
Television
- "It Takes One to Know One (26 November 1964; season 1, episode 11) – writer
- "No More Mr. Nice Guy" (23 March 1967; season 3, episode 28) – writer
- "Art for Sam's Sake" (23 February 1967; season 3, episode 24) – writer
- "The Stowaway" (31 October 1965; season 1, episode 7) – writer
Books
- Sher contributed 8 essays
- Twelve More Sport Immortals, Ernest Victor Heyn (1904–1995) (ed.), Bartholomew House (1951); OCLC 1515524
- Sher contributed 6 or more essays
"Jack Sher: Ex-Columnist, Screenwriter" (obituary), Los Angeles Times, August 25, 1988, Part 1, p. 26 (accessible via Newspapers.com; subscription required) Contemporary Authors – A bio-bibliographical guide to current writers in fiction, general nonfiction, poetry, journalism, drama, motion pictures, television, and other fields, Vol. 126, Gale Research (1989); ISSN 0275-7176; OCLC 527378544, 1028569556 International Motion Picture Almanac, Richard Gertner (ed.); William Pay & Dale Monroe (assoc. eds.); Quigley Publishing Co.; ISSN 1044-1697
(1977 ed.) (1977)
(1980 ed.) (1980)
Michael Singer's Film Directors – A Complete Guide (9th international ed.), Michael Singer (ed.), Los Angeles: Lone Eagle Publishing Co. (1992); OCLC 476495741