M. Clay Adams

(Asbury Park Press)

M. CLAY ADAMS
AGE: 99 SEA GIRT DIRECTOR OF VICTORY AT SEA
M. Clay Adams, 99, of Sea Girt, director of the "Victory at Sea" documentary TV series, died Friday, Sept. 26. Mr. Adams was a graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Class of 1932. He was a resident of Sea Girt. since his retirement in 1968. He was associated with the motion picture and television industry for more than 35 years. He began working in the movie industry in Hollywood in 1935 as assistant to executive producer Sol M. Wurtzel, head of all "B picture" production at 20th Century Fox in Hollywood. He later worked for RKO, NBC Television and as director of film production for CBS Television. As a U.S. Naval Reserve officer during World War II, Mr. Adams was assigned to the training film division of the Navy, where he produced, wrote and directed a number of films for the Navy and Marine Corps. Following his honorable discharge as a lieutenant commander in 1946, Mr. Adams rejoined RKO-Pathe, where, among many other contract films, he produced, wrote and directed "Strategic Attack" for the Strategic Air Command of the U.S. Air Force, made from captured Japanese military filming of the immediate aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It is the only film Edward R. Murrow ever agreed to narrate that he did not write himself. In 1950, Mr. Adams was employed by NBC to direct the 26-episode TV documentary "Victory at Sea," the most award-winning and most frequently re-run series in the history of television. In 1953 Mr. Adams joined CBS as director of film production. He was the executive in charge of production and associate producer of several early CBS television hits, such as the Phil Silvers "Sergeant Bilko Show." In 1961, Mr. Adams formed his own company, Clayco Films Inc., the only fully equipped motion picture studio in New York City at that time, where he was in charge of production for the CBS TV shows "Brenner," "The Defenders," "The Doctors and Nurses" and a number of film specials for Alan King, Ed Sullivan and Jackie Gleason as well as a number of Bell Telephone Hour and Hallmark Theater shows. In association with Ed Sullivan, he directed the filming of "The Beatles At Shea Stadium," the first documentary ever filmed of a live rock concert, attended by some 64,000 Beatle fans. Mr. Adams was a member of St. Mark's Church in Sea Girt, the Bay Head Yacht Club, the Notre Dame Club of New Jersey and the Motion Picture Pioneers Association.
Mr. Adams was predeceased by his parents, the late Samuel Clay and Florence L. Adams of Larchmont, N.Y. He is survived by his wife, the former Mary Louise Devlin of Elizabeth, and a son, Michael C. Adams, Jr.
O'Brien Funeral Home, Wall, is in charge of arrangements.