After completing his education at the University of Pennsylvania, Hugh
McCollum moved to Los Angeles and worked a variety of odd jobs before
being hired as an assistant to an executive at First National Pictures.
He later served as a business manager for several studios, and in 1929
joined Columbia Pictures as secretary to studio chief
Harry Cohn. McCollum
was promoted to assistant to the studio production chief, and in 1934
became business manager of Columbia's short subjects division. In 1937
he was elevated to executive producer of the department, a position he
shared with
Jules White. Although McCollum's duties tended more toward the
business end of the department than the production end, he did in fact
personally produce several comedy shorts, and even directed a handful,
including several entries in
The Three Stooges series. In 1952 he left Columbia
to join
Gene Autry's Flying A Productions as its production manager. He
kept that position until his retirement.