Martin G. Cohn


Martin Goodman Cohn was an American film editor and film producer who worked on B-movie genre pictures in Hollywood from the 1910s through the 1940s.

Biography

Cohn was born in New York City to Goodman Cohn and Jennie Nathan. His parents were Jewish immigrants. He married Anna Messing in Brooklyn in 1916. He began working as a film editor in the early 1910s, although like most editors of that era, he was not credited onscreen for his efforts. Eventually the family moved from New York City to Los Angeles, where he continued his career.
He was a founding member of the Society of Motion Picture Film Editors in 1937; early on, he served as treasurer. In the 1930s, he began working as a producer on projects, although editing seems to have continued to be his primary focus. During this time, he was credited with pioneering the "change-over," a technique that allowed projectionists to keep a film running without stopping to change reels.
He died in 1953 in Hollywood, where he had lived for 28 years. He was survived by his wife, Anna, and his son, Quinn Martin. His brother Elias worked in Hollywood as a cameraman.

Selected filmography