Hello all, first, I just want to start out with, History is not my thing so this whole project I am working on is very hard for me. A little about me, I am a TV director in LA and I always thought I was the only Hollywood person in our family. That is until I found out about my Great-Great uncle (my Grandpa’s Uncle) was a man by the name of Bob Meltzer. My aunt started looking at everything she could find about this long lost relative and found out he has an award given away every year from the WGA in hollywood. Now I get intrigued.
This is what I know so far, but just found his daughter and am chatting tomorrow, will update.
He was born in 1914 in Oakland as 1 of 6. He then went to Berkeley college where he was the editor for the California Pelican, where he met Ted Key (creator of Peabody) and met his girl friend, Dorothy Commingore (Rosebud in Citizen Cane). After he graduated he went to Monterey/Carmel with Dorothy where at Ed Rickets Lab he met John Steinbeck. Him and Dorothy then were found by Charlie Chaplin and where convinced to move to LA where he became an assistant director for Charlie Chaplin on “the Great Dictator”. He actually was fired from the set when he said Charlie should not have done the final speech at the end of the movie.
While he was still dating Dorothy he was able to meet Orson Wells on the set of Citizen Cane and they became great friends. Bob went to Brazil to create an Orson Wells Documentary “It’s All True”. He then enlisted in the war as a 2nd Battalion Ranger and 26 days after D-day he is sent on a mission by Reeves Cullers and is gunned down by a machine gun. He was 30 years old. 6 years after this he was Blacklisted by Hollywood for being a communist.
Trying to find more information about him. Thanks.
Fascinating story. I assume you have seen this extended treatment and of course he has an IMDb page. It looks like he may have graduated from Piedmont High School. The City of Piedmont has been working on developing its history. I haven't been in contact with them for several years, but I know they are interested in gathering material and they may have some material on Meltzer.
It looks like you have a lot of information, and that the blog to which I refer has even more. I suppose I'm not sure, specifically, what you're after. You have more than most people have about a great uncle! Specific questions may be helpful.
I know some dates right now already:
1914 - Born in Oakland, CA
1932 - Enrolled as Freshman in US Berkeley, Met Dorothy Commingore
1936 - Graduated Berkeley
1936 - 1938 Went to Toastier, NM to be a writer, then Yuba City, then finally...
1938 - Moved to Carmel with Dorothy and became friends with Steinbeck and all the people at Ed Ricketts Lab. Charlie Chaplin invites them to LA.
1939 - Moves to Hollywood and is on The Great Dictator as an assistant Director.
1941/1942 - was in Rio De Janero with Orson wells filming "It's all True"
1942 - Enlisted
1943 - was in camp with General Patton
August 21st, 1944 Died at the battle for Brest.
Your great uncle sounds utterly fascinating! If you are unable to get the depth of information you're looking for through channels such as this, consider hiring a professional genealogist. They not only have access to databases and sources typically unavailable to/hard to access for the public, but they can work with you to create a research plan that you follow (if you want to the do the work yourself) and ensure that the information you find isn't bogus. Best of luck!