Frederick William Sittenham (March 29, 1893 – May 4, 1967), professionally known as Fred Sittenham, was an American film director, writer and actor active during the silent era. After beginning his film career as an actor and assistant director, he served as a naval aviator during World War I. He later directed for Metro Pictures, including Clothes (1920) and Fine Feathers (1921), and co-directed the serial The Mystery Mind (1920). In 1922 he formed his own production company, and the following year received an original-story credit for The Scarlet Lily. He later left the film industry and worked in New York real estate.

Early life and career Sittenham was born Frederick William Sittenham in New York City on March 29, 1893. His father, William Sittenham, was born in Germany and later worked in New York real estate; his mother, Dora Nicks, was born in New York. In 1910, Frederick was living with his parents and siblings Florence, Dorothy and Margaret.

Before entering motion pictures, Sittenham attended Princeton University, where he gained a reputation in athletics. A 1920 profile in Moving Picture World stated that he began in the film industry as an assistant director and had worked as a director for Metro Pictures before entering military service. He also worked as an actor. In 1916 he appeared in the Metro-distributed films The Red Mouse, Man and His Soul and The Upstart.

In August 1916, the Chicago Examiner described Sittenham as an "automobilist and film actor" while reporting an altercation during the production of Romeo and Juliet. According to the newspaper, Sittenham intervened after actor Francis X. Bushman struck assistant director Leon De Cordova during an argument. By September, Sittenham was working as an assistant director to John W. Noble on The Brand of Cowardice. He subsequently assisted Noble on The Awakening of Helena Richie.

Later that year, Sittenham served as Noble's assistant director on another Metro production, an adaptation of Ella Wheeler Wilcox's poem A Reverie in a Station House, starring Frances Nelson. During location filming in a crowded New York neighborhood, Sittenham directed the supernumeraries in a street scene that a police officer initially mistook for an actual disturbance. The production was subsequently released as The Beautiful Lie.

World War I Sittenham entered the United States Naval Reserve Force in 1917 and trained as a naval aviator. According to Moving Picture World, he trained at Bay Shore, New York, and at the naval flying station at Pensacola, Florida, before being sent to England, where he was attached to a bombing squadron operating from Killingholme. He spent eleven months with the unit and remained overseas until after the Armistice.

The 1919 Flying Officers of the U.S.N. lists "F. W. Sittenham" as a lieutenant, junior grade, among United States naval aviation officers. A contemporary film-industry account likewise identified "Frederick Sittenham, assistant director" as an aviator in the Navy.

Return to filmmaking

After returning from military service, Sittenham resumed his film career. In December 1919, Moving Picture World reported that he had joined director William S. Davis on a new serial written by Arthur B. Reeve and John W. Grey, then titled The Master Mind. The publication described Sittenham as experienced in feature production and noted that Grey considered him particularly suited to serial direction.

The production was subsequently released as The Mystery Mind, a fifteen-episode serial produced by Supreme Pictures and starring hypnotist J. Robert Pauline and Violet MacMillan. Contemporary publicity identified Sittenham as its director, while copyright registrations credit Sittenham and Davis jointly. Sittenham also performed some of the serial's stunt work himself. For one scene, after a hired stuntman refused to climb from a window, drop onto a roof and then jump to the street, Sittenham performed the stunt in his place.

In March 1920, Sittenham accompanied the company to Jacksonville, Florida, where exterior scenes were filmed for approximately two weeks. After completing the location work, the company returned to New York to finish the serial. Sittenham described The Mystery Mind as his first experience directing a "psychic story". In discussing his direction of Pauline, he said that he used suggestion to heighten the dramatic effect of scenes involving hypnotism and psychic phenomena.

By July 1920, Sittenham was directing at Metro's New York studio under director-general Maxwell Karger. His first documented Metro feature after the war was Clothes, adapted by Arthur J. Zellner from the play by Avery Hopwood and Channing Pollock and starring Olive Tell and Crauford Kent. The five-reel film was copyrighted by Metro on September 17, 1920.

While completing Clothes, Sittenham was selected to direct Metro's adaptation of Eugene Walter's play Fine Feathers. Produced under Karger's supervision, the six-reel film starred Eugene Pallette, Claire Whitney, Thomas W. Ross, Warburton Gamble and June Elvidge, and was released in 1921.

In 1922, after leaving Metro, Sittenham formed his own production company. Camera! reported in May that the company was preparing to begin production on an original story titled Not for Fools. The trade paper described Sittenham as "formerly with Metro" and listed The Misleading Lady, Clothes and Fine Feathers among his previous productions. It is unclear whether Not for Fools was completed.

Sittenham later wrote the original story for The Scarlet Lily, a six-reel drama directed by Victor Schertzinger and starring Katherine MacDonald. The film's copyright registration credits Sittenham with the story, while contemporary advertising described the film as being "from the original story by Fred Sittenham".

Personal life Sittenham married Katherine L. Bassinger on November 30, 1926, in Los Angeles. At the time of the marriage, Sittenham was living in Hollywood, while Bassinger was a resident of New York City. He subsequently left the motion-picture industry and entered the real-estate business. By 1930 he was living in Queens with his wife, Katherine, and their daughter, Helene. The family was living at 28-43 215th Place by 1935 and remained there when the 1940 census was taken.

By the 1940s Sittenham was active in New York real estate. In February 1946, The New York Times reported that he acted for the sellers in the sale of a five-story apartment building at the southwest corner of Madison Avenue and East 66th Street in Manhattan.

Sittenham died on May 4, 1967, at the age of 74.

Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1916 The Red Mouse Actor 1916 Man and His Soul Actor 1916 The Upstart Actor Larry Price 1916 The Brand of Cowardice Assistant director Directed by John W. Noble 1916 The Awakening of Helena Richie Assistant director Directed by John W. Noble 1917 The Beautiful Lie Assistant director Directed by John W. Noble; produced in 1916 as an adaptation of A Reverie in a Station House 1920 The Mystery Mind Director Fifteen-episode serial; with William S. Davis 1920 Clothes Director Five reels; Metro Pictures 1921 Fine Feathers Director Six reels; Metro Pictures 1923 The Scarlet Lily Story Original story

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