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How did Frank Capra direct The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House despite having no filmmaking experience?
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Frank Capra
(From left) Unidentified, Gary Cooper, and Frank Capra on the set of Mr. Deeds Goes to Town.
Frank Capra did not have prior filmmaking experience when he directed The Ballad of Fisher’s Boarding House in 1922. He secured the opportunity by persuading a San Francisco stage actor, who wished to produce a movie based on poetry, to hire him for the project.1
Following this initial experience, Capra began learning the craft of directing from the ground up by working in various roles at a San Francisco film studio, including as a film cutter, camera assistant, property man, writer, and assistant director.1