Wald, Malvin

Malvin Daniel Wald (1917-2008) was born to Rudy and Bella Danglo Wald in Brooklyn, New York, and attended local schools. He arrived at Brooklyn College as a fifteen year old frshman. He described the college, located in downtown Brooklyn, as one with "no ivy-covered walls ... an assortment of rented lofts in ... scattered buildings in the bustling downtown Borough Hall section of Brooklyn. It was the Depression ... competition was fierce, standards high. As a graduate student, Wald attended New York University and Columbia University; he took courses in screenwriting and playwriting. During World War II, Wald became part of the Psychological Research Unit of the Army Air Force at Santa Ana, California, and wrote documentary/training films, some quite technical and scientific in nature. but, Wald also continued to write movie scripts, on a play co-written with another sergeant titled Father Was President, a comedy about Theodore Roosevelt. Upon his return, Wald contacted Mark Hellinger to discuss using documentary techniques in a feature-length motion picture (which he learned in the Air Force). This became Hellinger's most successful feature film: The Naked City, an early film noir classic. In 1948, Wald received an academy award nomnation for writing it. In time, there would be a television several series based on this movie and other writers were inspired by this genre, such as television series like Dragnet, Hill Street Blues, and CIS. By the early 1960's Wald had written two hundred dramatic and documentry feature movies and/or television scripts. Twenty features were submitted to the Monte Carlo Television Festival in 1962; five written by Wald. Wald went to Washington to work on a film with Drew Pearson, the Washington newspaper columnist. He attended White House press conferences, Pentagon briefings, and interviewed Washington personalities. As Wald's interest matured on political and social issues, he and Ida Lupino (the actress and director) wrote and produced several movies on political issues. In addition to Wald's writing, he taught and lectured students. As a member of the Cinema Department faculty at the University of Southern California, he was guest lecturer for Gilbert Selds at the University of Pennsylvania; at the University of California, at the Idyllwild Arts Foundation, UCLA; at New York University; and at his alma mater, Brooklyn College. Wald wrote religious documentaries for the National Council of Churches, served as television adviser to the Methodist Church, was an expert in foreign literature as well as a member of the Foreign Films Committee of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

From the description of The Papers of Malvin Wald, 1936-1970. (Brooklyn College). WorldCat record id: 502999351

Wald is a writer and producer for motion pictures and television. He wrote for the television program "Daktari" from 1966-1968 and the motion pictures "Al Capone" (1959), "The Boy Who Owned an Elephant" (1959), and "The Dark Past" (1948) among many others. Wald also wrote the play "Father Was President."

From the description of Papers, 1940-1967. (University of Wyoming, American Heritage Center). WorldCat record id: 31213485

Writer, producer.

Wald wrote and produced for television, film, theater, also made documentary films. He was a graduate of Brooklyn College.

From the description of Papers, 1941-1967. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 155456550