David F. Friedman was born in Birmingham, Alabama. His father was a local newspaperman and his mother was a professional musician who played the piano and organ in silent-movie theaters and in churches. Friedman was exposed to the adult world at the age of four or five when his parents took him out "on the town" to restaurants, movies and stage shows. His father, already in his 50s when he was born, died when Friedman was 13. His mother re-married a few years later. After graduating from high school, Friedman was drafted into the US Army and served in Europe during World War II. After his discharge in 1945 he settled in Chicago, where he married and found work in filmmaking at Essanjay Films, where he knew co-owner 'Irwin Joseph' .
Coined the term "Mall-seleum" to refer to multiplex cinemas.
After World War II, he bought some brand-new army-surplus searchlights and advertised them for sale. His first customer was the "king of exploitation", Kroger Babb. His meeting with Babb led to an association with the showman, especially with the producers notorious roadshow attraction Mom and Dad .
Because of his film experience as a civilian, when he went into the army he was assigned to the Signal Corps, where he attended Army Film School and was trained in motion picture production, distribution and exhibition.
His first jobs in the industry included a stint as a film booker at a Paramount exchange by day and a union projectionist and stagehand by night. These jobs were interupted by a draft notice during World War II.
He was a partner in Modern Film Distributors.
Lives in retirement since the early 1990s in his home town of Birmingham, Alabama.
Owner of Entertainment Ventures Inc., a film production/distribution company.
Unlike many of his fellow "exploitation" producers, Friedman came from a wealthy and prominent family--his father was a newspaper publisher in Birmingham, Alabama, and a close friend of US Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black.
Started, with partner Dan Sonney , the Pussycat Theater chain of adult-film theaters. They sold it to Vince Miranda in 1968.
The whole idea of an exploitation film is to give people most of the,show beforehand.
I never wanted to produce or direct adult hardcore films, because my,work ethic in exploitation is: "Sell the sizzle, not the steak".
I put the film in one end of the projector and out of the other end,comes money. .
