Melville “Buddy” Shyer, pioneering filmmaker and founding father of the Directors Guild of America, will be posthumously honored with the 441st star on the City’s world-famous Walk of the Stars Palm Springs on Friday, March 6th, 2020.
The Star Dedication, organized by the Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce, is FREE and open to the public and will take place from 11am-12pm in downtown Palm Springs in front of Galleria Palm Springs located at 457 North Palm Canyon Drive. The event will be emceed by Palm Springs Mayor Geoff Kors and Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce CEO Nona Watson. Star dedication speakers include Oscar nominee, WGA Screen Award winner, Melville’s son, Charles Shyer; actress, screenwriter, director, Melville’s granddaughter, Hallie Meyers-Shyer; and Melville’s grandchildren, Jacob and Sophia Shyer.
“My father receiving a star on Walk of the Stars Palm Springs means everything to me and my family,” said Charles Shyer, “Not only because he so richly deserves this honor but also because it would mean the world to my Dad.”
Born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1895, Shyer relocated to New York City in the mid-1920s where he worked for Universal Pictures as a producer, director, writer, and actor with fellow Tennessean, Lem F. Kennedy. Not long after, Shyer left Universal to work with the founder of full-length feature filmmaking, D.W. Griffith, who is widely considered the most important filmmaker of his generation. In 1929, Shyer moved to Hollywood, California where he became Head of Production for Chesterfield Pictures. With Chesterfield, Shyer produced 37 of its productions.
Shyer went on to help form one of Hollywood’s first independent film studios, Progressive Pictures where he produced several of their films. In 1933, Shyer joined Dorothy Davenport (wife of famous film actor, Wallace Reid) as co-director on a series of popular, groundbreaking films, including, Sucker Money and The Road to Ruin. Shyer went on to direct on his own the films, The Murder in the Museum, Mad Youth, and Confessions of a Vice Baron. Under the name “John Shyer”, he directed the films Smashing the Vice Trust and Souls in Pawn.
As a screenwriter, Shyer wrote the films The Man from Hell, Green Eyes, and Dead Man’s Trail. Altogether, Shyer wrote, directed, produced, and/or acted in a staggering 187 films over a period that spans half a century. Shyer retired to Palm Springs in the 1960s with his family.
“The Palm Springs Chamber of Commerce looks forward to joining the City of Palm Springs as we honor the former Palm Springs resident and a pioneer in filmmaking, Melville Shyer, with the 441st star,” said Palm Springs Chamber CEO, Nona Watson.
For more information regarding Walk of the Stars Palm Springs, contact Jeff Denean Jones at jjones@pschamber.org.