Sy Wexler, 88; Award-Winning Producer of Educational Films

His films were not intended to generate boffo business at the box office, and they bore titles that were, admittedly, lacking in marquee value.

But countless baby boomers in the 1950s and ‘60s viewed the work of Sy Wexler, whose films such as “Teeth Are for Life,” “Human and Animal Beginnings” and “Why Physical Education” were screened in classrooms across the country.

Wexler, an award-winning Hollywood-based educational filmmaker, died March 10 in an assisted-care facility in Studio City of cancer and the neurological disease known as diffuse Lewy body syndrome, said his family. He was 88.

From the time he went into business after World War II until he retired for health reasons in 2001, Wexler turned out more than 300 educational, training and documentary films.

Partnered initially with Bob Churchill, Wexler launched his small film studio on Seward Street in Hollywood.

The modest “shop,” as Wexler called it, was staffed with a small team of animators, technicians and editors. The studio, whose daily 4 p.m. tea break became something of a legend among the other filmmakers in the neighborhood, remained Wexler’s professional home for more than half a century.

Churchill/Wexler Film Productions became a leading producer of educational documentaries that were acclaimed for their content, animation style and ability to help teachers easily communicate difficult subjects such as sex education, alcohol abuse, nutrition and science.

The 16-millimeter black-and-white films, which usually ran from 10 to 30 minutes, included titles such as “Food, Energy and You,” “Drugs: Helpful and Harmful” and “The Great Rights,” a highly regarded animated educational film about the Bill of Rights.

Wexler also made film strips, including two on human growth, development and reproduction: “Especially for Boys” and “Especially for Girls.”

That all of those films were seen by millions of young viewers “is probably not a stretch,” said Wexler’s son, David, a film preservationist who lives in Santa Barbara.

“That’s back in the era when boards of education had money for films and every school had a projector and some kid who knew how to run it,” he told The Times this week.

Launching Wexler Film Productions after Churchill left the company in the early ‘60s, Wexler focused almost exclusively on highly technical medical and scientific training films -- with such titles as “Complete Dentures” and “The Case of a Persian Student With Painless Hemoptysis.”

“One of the remarkable things about Wexler Films was he never once went looking for work -- never advertised, never solicited; it always came in through the door,” David Wexler said. “A doctor, for example, would bring a subject to him and want to present it at the next medical conference. Rather than deliver a paper, the doctor could show this film.

“That really caught on because this guy was the hit of the conference: That started a whole trend of doctors going, ‘Oh, I need a film for the next conference.’ ”

David Wexler said his father generally “would write the script, he’d film it himself, he’d edit it -- he’d do the whole thing. By the time he was done, sometimes he’d know more about the subject than the doctor.”

Wexler also made films for pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment manufacturers.

“He shot lots of surgeries, everything from hip surgery to brain surgery to separating Siamese twins, so he was comfortable in the operating room,” David Wexler said. “He also helped develop microscope-mounted cameras to be able to shoot in the operating room.”

Wexler’s films won scores of awards, including those from the Biological Photographers Assn. and the International Scientific Film Festival.

“Sy was a virtuoso filmmaker, but he also got the people part of it right,” said Rick Prelinger, a San Francisco movie image archivist and collector of educational films. “He knew how to portray people and how to give a human dimension to a film that otherwise might be just a straight educational film or a straight medical film.”

Wexler also was a cameraman on the 1960 film “The Savage Eye,” and he co-produced the 1964 Eastman Kodak World’s Fair film “The Searching Eye,” directed by Elaine and Saul Bass.

David Wexler said his father never considered moving on to feature films. He preferred making films such as “Varicose Veins,” which earned him a blue ribbon at the American Film Festival.

“He loved science and he had a propensity for understanding it, so he felt comfortable dealing with those kinds of subject matters,” he said.

Born in Manhattan in 1916, Simon Wexler studied chemistry at City College of New York. During World War II, he was an Army Signal Corps cameraman and worked with director Frank Capra on the renowned “Why We Fight” and “Know Your Enemy” documentary series.

At his request, Wexler’s body will be used for medical research and training.

In addition to David, Wexler is survived by his wife of 63 years, Helen; his son Howard, a Los Angeles filmmaker; and three grandchildren.