He followed silent actress
Clara Bow out to Hollywood, where he began as a cameraman, In 1929, he was part of the transition to talking scenes in
Chinatown Nights, assisting director William Wellman. He had a "gift for on-the-fly problem solving" like in
The Royal Family of Broadway (1930) where he used a grain forklift to shoot Fredric March running up a staircase. in a 1980 DGA oral history interview, Jacobson said to assist
George Seaton in 1947 on
Miracle on 34th Street was one of the highlights of his career. He was active in the
Directors Guild of America. starting in 1937, and three decades later served on its National Board. ==Selected filmography==