A native of Central City, Colorado, Newmeyer is best known for directing a handful of films in the Our Gang series and for directing several Harold Lloyd movies, eight of them being features. With Sam Taylor, Newmeyer co-directed Lloyd in films including Safety Last! (1923), Girl Shy (1924), and The Freshman (1925). Newmeyer also had an extensive directing and acting resume in other comedy short films. He appeared as an actor in 71 films between 1914 and 1923.
Newmeyer was the original director of the first short in the Our Gang series, also titled Our Gang; his version tested poorly, and producer Hal Roach scrapped most of the footage and remade the short with Robert McGowan as the director. Newmeyer, after directing numerous other shorts at Roach, returned to the Our Gang series in 1936 to direct The Pinch Singer, Arbor Day, Mail and Female and the feature filmGeneral Spanky.
Newmeyer and his wife, Berna, had a son, Fred W.[7] After his film career, Newmeyer worked with the athletic department of University High School in Los Angeles.[8] Newmeyer died on April 24, 1967, in Woodland Hills, California,[9] at the age of 78.
^Newmeyer's draft registration card of June 1917, which he signed, lists his name as "Fred R. Newmeyer".[1] He also is listed with a middle initial of "R" in the 1930 United States census.[2]
^"Biography: Fred C. Newmeyer". IMDb. Retrieved October 24, 2021. Fred C. Newmeyer was a professional baseball player from 1909-13 before beginning his career as an extra at Universal Pictures.
^"Bunnies Have to Pay Income Tax". Quad-City Times. Davenport, Iowa. March 9, 1914. p. 8. Retrieved October 24, 2021 – via newspapers.com. Fred Newmeyer, who pitched for Muscatine last season ... will continue in the motion picture business, which he started this winter.
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