Jimmy Shute's life was marked by a passion for the arts, which began in his early years in Glouchester, Massachusetts, where he received his education in the public school system. His interest in stage design led him to attend the Museum of Fine Arts School in Boston, where he honed his skills in the technical theater department.
Jimmy's time at the Museum of Fine Arts School was marked by a chance encounter with George Pierce Baker, who contacted the technical theater department to build sets for the production of Harvard's famous "47 Workshop." It was during this period that Jimmy met and became involved with Eugene O'Neill and Robert Edmond Jones of the Provincetown Playhouse, and he went on to become their assistant for four years.
Following his time at the Provincetown Playhouse, Jimmy worked as the assistant to Jed Harris, a renowned Broadway producer. He then turned to film and spent a year as assistant to Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht while they were filming "Crimes Without Passion" at the Old Paramount studios in Astoria, New York.
Jimmy's work in film led him to be hired by Roy Larson and Louis DeRochemont, where he worked as Chief Script Writer, Head of the Editorial Board, and Associate Producer for The March of Time series. It was during this period that he won his first Academy Award for "A Chance to Live" Best Short Documentary, which he wrote, produced, and partially directed.
Jimmy's work at The March of Time series allowed him to develop a style and philosophy regarding screen writing that won him an Academy Award in 1949 for Best Short Documentary. He also worked well with the ECA concept and was well-prepared to respond to Lothar Wolff's offer to join the Marshall Plan film unit based in Paris as head of the script department.
As head of the script department, Jimmy believed that the words should never tell what was on the screen; that they, with the picture, should communicate the message. He worked independently during his time in Paris, making documentaries and supporting and guiding local writers contracted by the ECA or writing scripts and commentary himself as needed.
Jimmy's work in Europe was honored at several film festivals, including Cannes, Edinburgh, and Venice. In 1955, he won his second Academy Award for "Helen Keller in Her Story" Best Documentary Feature, for which he wrote the script and commentary and acted throughout as editorial and production adviser to Nancy Hamilton, the film's producer.
In his later years, Jimmy worked independently on various projects, completing a series of short films publicizing the creation of the construction of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. He also completed "A Legend is Born" featuring Rise Stevens of the Metropolitan Opera, and "Design for Music" featuring Leonard Bernstein.
As an independent, Jimmy also worked in television, writing, producing, and directing documentaries and condensed operas. He eventually retired to the Whitney Center in New Haven, Connecticut, where he spent his remaining years enjoying good company and the arts he loved so much. Jimmy Shute passed away in 1981, leaving behind a legacy of innovative and award-winning work in the world of film and television.
