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Bryan Foy began his showbiz career as a vaudevillian, touring the country for ten years as the eldest member of the 'Seven Little Foys.' He left the group in 1918 to pursue a solo career in Hollywood, initially creating gags for Buster Keaton before directing two-reelers at Fox. In 1927, he started his long tenure with Warner Brothers, where he famously produced the first all-talking feature, Lights of New York (1928), on a modest budget of $18,000. Filmed in just eight days, the movie earned over a million dollars for Warner Brothers, leading to Foy's promotion as head of the B-unit.
Known as the 'Keeper of the B's,' Foy produced up to 26 films annually over the next twenty years. His work included prison dramas like Crime School (1938) starring Humphrey Bogart and the Dead End Kids, which cost $210,000 and grossed a million, including reissues. Much of his output comprised thrillers such as the 'Torchy Blane' series and its juvenile counterpart, 'Nancy Drew.' By the mid-1930s, Warner Brothers also competed with RKO and Columbia in producing B-westerns, creating a series of films starring Dick Foran.
After a stint at 20th Century Fox starting in 1942, which included some of Laurel & Hardy's final films, Foy returned to Warner Brothers to produce his most famous movie, the inventive and entertaining House of Wax (1953), filmed in 3-D with 'WarnerPhonic' sound. Interestingly, director André De Toth was blind in one eye and could not fully experience the film's 3-D effects. In 1954, Foy produced another low-budget 3-D film featuring the same team: Vincent Price as star, Bert Glennon as cinematographer, and Crane Wilbur as writer. The Mad Magician (1954) did not quite match House of Wax but still offered enjoyable entertainment for genre fans. Foy's final production was the much-criticized JFK biopic PT 109 (1963), after which he retired. Although critics rarely lauded his work—something that caused him some bitterness—he remained proud of his modest films and their consistent box office success.
