William Forest Crouch (January 16, 1904 – March 1968) was an American motion picture producer, director, writer, and film editor of the 1940s. He is best known for his Soundies musicals filmed for coin-operated movie jukeboxes, and for a few musical features with all-African-American casts, such as Reet, Petite, and Gone (1947).
Crouch was born in Boone, Iowa, and as a young man he became interested in the motion picture industry. He was a reporter and reviewer for Motion Picture News and Motion Picture Herald in Chicago (as Bill Crouch) and continued working in the trade press until 1940, when he became the executive secretary of the United Theatre Owners of Illinois.[1]