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In Remembrance: Irvin Yeaworth, Jr. Irvin Shortess "Shorty" Yeaworth, Jr., director of the cult classic science-fiction horror film The Blob, has passed away on July 19, 2004 in a car crash in Jordan. He was 78. Born the son of a Presbyterian minister in Berlin Germany in 1926, Yeaworth's first foray into entertainment was singing on radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh, PA at the age of 10. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College in 1947 and also studied and the University of Pennsylvania, Wheaton College and the Temple University School of Theology. Yeaworth worked as a radio and television producer, starting with the series Song Time for ABC-TV in 1949. He would win an Emmy Award for producing and directing Classical Caravan, documenting an American orchestra's concert tour of the Middle East, for PBS. Yeaworth was a self-taught filmmaker. His first feature, Twice Convicted, was shot in the early 1950s in Chester Springs, PA, outside of Philadelphia. Very little is known about this production. Yeaworth founded Good News Productions, later Valley Forge Films, with a mission to make religious and educational films for missionaries. In order to make some quick capital, he decided to make a commercial feature. The result was The Flaming Teenager (1956), a typical entry in the current teenage delinquency cycle of films in which a young man learns first hand the dangers of liquor and narcotics. In 1958 he teamed with producer Jack H. Harris for the first of three science-fiction films, The Blob. Originally titled The Molten Meteor and filmed on a miniscule budget in the Philadelphia suburbs of Phoenixville and Downingtown, The Blob was a surprise success. The film was picked up by Paramount for the bottom half of a double bill with I Married A Monster From Outer Space (1958), but when early bookings showed that more movie goers where coming for The Blob, the films' placement on the bill was switched. In addition to its cult classic status, The Blob is best known for launching the career of actor Steve McQueen, who appeared as the film's teen hero, it self an interesting twist on the standard juvenile delinquent cycle. After seeing a rough cut of the film, producer/actor Dick Powell cast McQueen in the television series Wanted Dead Or Alive, which he was producing. Two other future stars, composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David, wrote the film's catchy and kitschy theme song "Beware the Blob!" The Blob is still shown annually at the Colonial Theatre, the Phoenixville movie house that was used as a location in the film. Using the advance money they received from Paramount for The Blob, Yeaworth and producer Harris launched into production of The 4-D Man, a science-fiction thriller about a man who could pass through solid objects. The two also partnered for the 1960 film Dinsouarus!. Yeaworth would also producer or direct several other motivational and education films for Good News Productions. Yeaworth would direct two other feature films, Way Out and The Gospel Blimp (both 1967), which dealt more closely with the religious themes he was interested in.
In later
years, Yeaworth moved away from film production. Following a trip to Israel
in the mid-1970s, he began organizing tours of Israel and Jordan. He also
worked on the Reverend Billy Graham crusade television broadcasts and in
developing gospel-centric exhibitions at He was also an elder in the Presbyterian Church and served as music director for two churches between 1954 and 1988. He also produced outdoor concerts in the Philadelphia suburbs. |