Harry Burns (filmmaker)

[3] He was then employed at the Pacific Athletic Club as press agent and secretary to Thomas J. McCarey of the Vernon Arena but when 20-round boxing matches were banned in California, he went into the film industry.

There's Uncle Tom McCarey's Vernon boxing arena,[4] the 50-round fights that Burns refereed, the funny Jack-in-the-Beanstalk pictures he directed during the war, the rise of Carl Laemmle, the first Hollywood animal pictures..."[2] Burns worked as a prop master for Charlie Chase, and as a director for William Fox, Chet Franklin, and Hal Roach.

Burns frequently editorialized in his trade-paper columns against perceived exploitation of extras and bit players by the Central Casting Bureau.

[11] Described as the "kindest soul" (albeit with a "deceptively ferocious exterior"),[12] at the time of his death Harry Burns was credited with having the "biggest heart west of Vine Street.

He loved to recall the good old days, for then he had been the world's champion bag-puncher, refereed some of Hollywood's biggest fights, and directed Joe Martin, the chimpanzee, in comedies.