Biography

After completing his education at the University of Pennsylvania, Hugh McCollum moved to Los Angeles and worked a variety of odd jobs before being hired as an assistant to an executive at First National Pictures. He later served as a business manager for several studios, and in 1929 joined Columbia Pictures as secretary to studio chief Harry Cohn. McCollum was promoted to assistant to the studio production chief, and in 1934 became business manager of Columbia's short subjects division. In 1937 he was elevated to executive producer of the department, a position he shared with Jules White. Although McCollum's duties tended more toward the business end of the department than the production end, he did in fact personally produce several comedy shorts, and even directed a handful, including several entries in The Three Stooges series. In 1952 he left Columbia to join Gene Autry's Flying A Productions as its production manager. He kept that position until his retirement.