Owen Crump

Short Biography

Owen Crump (1904-1998) got his start as a radio announcer at KWKH in Shreveport, Louisiana. He came to Hollywood to write and direct at KFWB, the Warner Bros. radio station, and that led to a writing contract with the studio in 1938. He later joined Warner Bros.’ short subjects department, where he supervised the production of government-sponsored shorts at the request of studio head Jack Warner. One of these films, "Winning Your Wings, " featuring James Stewart, was credited with greatly increasing Air Force enlistments. Around this time, General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold asked Warner to set up an Air Force filmmaking unit, and Warner called on Crump to help him make it a reality.As an officer in the Army Air Force, Crump was instrumental in setting up the First Motion Picture Unit, and throughout the war supervised its film production activities. Housed for most of the war at the Hal Roach studios in Culver City, the FMPU (sometimes called "Fort Roach") was the Air Force’s primary training and intelligence film production unit, and was unique in that it was staffed to a great degree with personnel from the motion picture industry, including actors, producers, writers, directors, cameramen and technicians. The hundreds of training and morale films produced by the unit were known for transmitting vital information while still being visually engaging and entertaining. Owen Crump’s oral history, conducted by the Academy in 1991–92, is invaluable for shedding light on the outstanding work done by the filmmakers of "Fort Roach."Owen Crump was nominated for an Academy Award in 1951 for his work on the short subject documentary "One Who Came Back.