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Sam Katzman

February 11, 2023

Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.[1]

Sam Katzman
Born(1901-07-07)July 7, 1901
New York City
DiedAugust 4, 1973(1973-08-04) (aged 72)
Hollywood
Occupation(s)Film producer and director
Years active1933–1973

Early career

Sam was born to a Jewish family;[2] his father Abe Katzman was a violinist. He and Sam's mother Rebecca (née Sugarman) were from Kishinev, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire (now Chisinău, Moldova). Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry and moved from prop boy to assistant director at Fox Films.[3] He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was a Hollywood producer for more than 40 years.[1] Katzman worked as an assistant to Norman Taurog and got married on the set of The Diplomats in 1928 at Fox.[4]

In October 1927 he signed with comic Joe Russo to make a series of two-reel comedies.[5]

Screencraft Pictures

Katzman was a production supervisor at Showmen's Pictures in the early 1930s, and Screencraft Productions in July 1935.[6]

His movies included His Private Secretary (Showmen's, 1933) starring a young John Wayne (made for $9,000 and earned $95,000).[7] They also made Police Call (1933), Ship of Wanted Men (1933), Public Stenographer (1933), and St. Louis Woman (1934).

Supreme Pictures

He worked as a producer at A. W. Hackel's Supreme Pictures, where he mostly made Westerns starring Bob Steele.[8] Filming started 15 May 1934 with A Demon for Trouble (1934).[9]

Other films included Western Justice (1934), The Brand of Hate (1934), Smokey Smith (1935), Tombstone Terror (1935), Trail of Terror (1935), Alias John Law (1935), Big Calibre (1935), Sundown Saunders (1935), Brand of the Outlaws (1936) and The Kid Ranger (1936).

Victory Pictures and Puritan Pictures

In June 1935 Katzman announced he would make six films written by Peter Kyne for Fox, starting with Danger Ahead.[10] He ended up taking over Bryan Foy's studios at Culver City and doing the films through his own company, Victory Pictures.[11]

In 1935 Katzman founded Puritan Pictures, a film distribution group, their first film being Suicide Squad (1935).

From 1935 to 1940 Victory produced two serials and 30 features, including Western film series starring Tom Tyler and Tim McCoy,[12] and action pictures with Herman Brix and Bela Lugosi. Katzman also made crime films like Hot Off the Press (1935), Bars of Hate (1935), The Fighting Coward (1935) and Danger Ahead (1935), many of which were written by Peter B. Kyne.

Katzman entered the world of serials in 1936 (with Shadow of Chinatown (1936) starring Bela Lugosi) and would return to the genre in 1944.

In June 1937 a fire damaged the building where Victory was based.[13] In January 1939 Victory announced they would make 20 more Westerns.,[14] but within six months Katzman closed Puritan and began releasing his productions through Monogram Pictures.

Monogram Pictures

At Monogram, a "budget" studio, Katzman co-produced with Jack Dietz, under the names Banner Productions, the East Side Kids features of the 1940s, eight thrillers starring Bela Lugosi, and two musicals. In April 1941 Katzman signed Lugosi to make three films, including one in collaboration with the East Side Kids.[15] Lugosi wound up making nine films for Katzman.

In January 1943 Katzman signed a contract with stage star Frank Fay and screen comic Billy Gilbert for four films. Fay walked out on the series after the first film, Spotlight Scandals (1943), and Katzman replaced him with Gilbert's closest friend, Shemp Howard.

Serials

In September 1944 Katzman was offered a job producing serials for Columbia Pictures, starting with Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945)[16] He followed this with the serials Jungle Raiders (1945) and Who's Guilty? (1945). With typical thrift, he produced the first one on the side, using Monogram's actors and technicians. The Columbia serials proved successful, and Katzman became their permanent producer.

Final Monogram Movies

Katzman continued to produce features for Monogram through 1948. His final East Side Kids movies were Docks of New York (1945), Mr. Muggs Rides Again (1945) and Come Out Fighting (1945). The series came to an abrupt end when its star Leo Gorcey wanted double the usual salary from Katzman. Katzman reacted by pulling the plug on the series. (Gorcey stayed with Monogram, which retooled the series as The Bowery Boys.)

In November 1945 Katzman replaced the rowdy East Side Kids with The Teen Agers, a wholesome gang of high-schoolers. These were vehicles for singer Freddie Stewart.[17] It was an early example of Katzman's output aimed specifically at a teenage audience. He produced six of these musical comedies through 1948.

Columbia Pictures

Musicals

In June 1946 Katzman announced he would make his first feature for Columbia, a remake of The Last of the Mohicans starring Jon Hall.[18] However, the first movies he ended up making at the studio were musicals. In August 1946 he signed Jean Porter to star in Betty Co-Ed (1946), made by Katzman's Monogram director Arthur Dreifuss. The film received excellent reviews, prompting Columbia to ask for three more. Porter left Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which was downsizing, to sign with Katzman. The three musicals were Little Miss Broadway (1947), Sweet Genevieve (1947) and Two Blondes and a Redhead (1947).

Katzman and Dreifuss then made two films with singer Gloria Jean, who had been a star at Universal Pictures. Katzman was so pleased by I Surrender Dear (1948) that he devoted more time to it, and economized on her other picture, Manhattan Angel (1949).[19] These were budgeted at about $140,000 per film.[20]

He made some sports-themed features starring Gloria Henry, Racing Luck (1948) and Triple Threat (1948), and the musicals Mary Lou (1948) and Glamour Girl (1948). During this time Katzman continued to produce serials for Columbia such as Jack Armstrong (1947), The Vigilante (1947), The Sea Hound (1947) with Buster Crabbe, Brick Bradford (1948), Congo Bill (1948) and the outstandingly successful Superman (1948).

Focus on Action Films

The boxoffice performance of Katzman's action movies and serials, particularly Superman, was outstripping those for his musicals and comedies, leading him away from those genres. From 1949 to 1954 he would produce only action fare for Columbia. In February 1948 Katzman had signed a five-year deal with screen Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller to make "jungle movies" starting with two films a year for two years where the budgets would be at least $350,000.[21] These turned into the Jungle Jim series starting with Jungle Jim (1948)

In October 1948 Katzman signed a seven-year, $4 million contract with Columbia to make four feature films a year through his Kay Pictures corporation, four serials a year via his Esskay Productions, and a Jungle Jim film series starring Johnny Weissmuller.[22]

Katzman's stock-in-trade was now a mix of Arabian Nights fantasies (bluntly euphemized by Katzman as "tits and sand"), western, action, and prison pictures. He would average ten features a year, producing them in four to ten weeks.[23] Katzman allowed a budget of $400,000 for The Prince of Thieves (1948), a version of the Robin Hood story starring Hall.[20] Other action-orientated Katzman product around this time included The Lost Tribe (1949), a Jungle Jim movie; the serial Tex Granger (1948), Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949), Batman and Robin (1949) and Bruce Gentry – Daredevil of the Skies (1949); the action thriller The Mutineers (1949) with Hall; the swashbuckler Barbary Pirate (1949) and the crime movie Chinatown at Midnight (1949).[24]

Charles Schneer, who worked for Katzman in the 1940s and 1950s, said the producer:

Knew everything there was to know about making a movie. He was a very enterprising fellow, and was enormously intuitive. But, he was a very tough taskmaster and a real skinflint. I managed to get along well with Sam, because I knew what he was and respected what he did. Unfortunately, all his input was negative. He never contributed anything positive. I would suggest an idea, and he would knock it down. I would argue with him, but I never got very far. He wouldn't say: 'Do this instead of that.' He would only say: 'Don't do this' — and I didn't. I certainly learned the value of a dollar from Sam.[25]

His Monogram cameraman Richard Cline later recalled "we did 106 features in six years, working six days a week - an average of 20 to 22 features a year. Those were "B" pictures... There was a clever writer in the unit. Sam would pick up a newspaper and say, "Oh, here's a story." He'd give it to the writer and the writer would turn out a script. We'd go all over. We were actually a traveling unit, a very cohesive unit, and I really learned my trade from that experience."[26]

Katzman's main directors in this time were Lew Landers, William Berke, and Spencer Gordon Bennet. Berke specialized in Jungle Jim films such as Mark of the Gorilla (1950), Pygmy Island (1950), Captive Girl (1951) and Fury of the Congo (1951). Bennett did serials like Pirates of the High Seas (1950), Atom Man vs. Superman (1950), Cody of the Pony Express (1950), Mysterious Island (1951), Roar of the Iron Horse (1951) and Son of Geronimo (1952). Landers handled the other action films like State Penitentiary (1950), Revenue Agent (1950) with Lyle Talbot, Last of the Buccaneers (1950) with Paul Henreid, Chain Gang (1950), Tyrant of the Sea (1950) with Ron Randell, Hurricane Island (1951) and When the Redskins Rode (1951) with Hall, A Yank in Korea (1951) with Lon McAllister.

Richard Quine, then under contract to Columbia, made one of his first films as director for Katzman, Purple Heart Diary (1951); he later did Siren of Bagdad (1953) with Paul Henreid.

Lew Landers took over direction of Jungle Jim movies for Jungle Manhunt (1951) and Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952), and did California Conquest (1952) with Cornel Wilde. Fred F. Sears, formerly an actor in Columbia features, began directing Columbia's Charles Starrett westerns; when that series lapsed, he started work for Katzman with Last Train from Bombay (1952) starring Hall. Wallace Grissell directed A Yank in Indo-China (1952) and Sidney Salkow directed The Golden Hawk (1952) with Sterling Hayden and The Pathfinder (1952) with George Montgomery.

Columbia's president Harry Cohn sometimes used the Sam Katzman unit as a threat, to keep recalcitrant actors in line or terminate an unwanted contract. Columbia owed Lucille Ball one feature assignment and an $85,000 salary, which Cohn tried to sidestep by sending Ball a "tits and sand" script from the Katzman unit. Cohn was confident that Ball would refuse the Katzman assignment, thus breaking her contract. Ball bristled at the script but didn't want to lose the salary, so she told Cohn she loved the script and agreed to the assignment. Cohn was forced to honor the agreement, and to his credit he allowed a higher production budget for The Magic Carpet (1951), which was filmed in Super Cinecolor.[27]

Director Spencer Bennet continued to make serials like Blackhawk (1952) and King of the Congo (1952), and branched into features such as Brave Warrior (1952) with Hall and a Jungle Jim film, Voodoo Tiger (1952). (In February 1952 Katzman renewed his options to make more Weissmuller movies.[28]) Paul Henreid returned to Katzman to star in Thief of Damascus (1952), directed by Will Jason.

In July 1952 Katzman announced he would make at least 15 films a year for seven years.[29] In November 1952 this contract was amended so Katzman would make twenty films (seventeen features and three serials).[30]

William Castle joined the Katzman group as director in 1953, starting with Serpent of the Nile (1953) with Rhonda Fleming and Raymond Burr. Castle later wrote in his memoirs that Katzman "was a smallish man with a round cherubic face and twinkling eyes. Few people in the motion picture industry took him seriously as a producer of quality films, but to me, Sam was a great showman."[31] Castle went on to make a series of films for Katzman including Slaves of Babylon (1953) with Richard Conte, Conquest of Cochise (1953) with John Hodiak, and two Westerns with Montgomery, Fort Ti (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954), The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954) with Scott Brady, and The Saracen Blade (1954) with Ricardo Montalban.

Richard L. Bare directed Prisoners of the Casbah (1953) with Gloria Grahame. William Berke returned to the Jungle Jim franchise with Valley of the Head Hunters (1953). Sidney Salkow made Jack McCall, Desperado (1953) with Montgomery and Prince of Pirates (1954) with John Derek. Spencer Bennet directed the Jungle Jim films Savage Mutiny (1953) and Killer Ape (1953). Former Columbia actor Fred Sears directed Target Hong Kong (1953) with Richard Denning, Sky Commando (1953) with Dan Duryea, The 49th Man (1953) with John Ireland and Denning, and Mission Over Korea (1953) with Hodiak and Derek. Seymour Friedman made Flame of Calcutta (1953).

Katzman continued to produce serials such as The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd (1953), The Lost Planet (1953), Riding with Buffalo Bill (1954), and Gunfighters of the Northwest (1954)

Lee Sholem directed Jungle Man-Eaters (1954) which was the last official Jungle Jim movie although Weissmuller continued to make jungle action adventures for Katzman playing himself in Cannibal Attack (1954).

In July 1954 it was announced that Katzman's company, now called Clover Productions, would make 15 films for Columbia.[32][33] Castle directed Jesse James vs. the Daltons (1954) in 3-D, The Iron Glove (1954) with Robert Stack, Charge of the Lancers (1954) with Paulette Goddard, Drums of Tahiti (1954) with Dennis O'Keefe and The Battle of Rogue River (1954) with Montgomery. Fred Sears had a solid hit with The Miami Story (1954).

Transfer to Teen Movies

By the mid 1950s television was making inroads into the action market. The Weissmuller series ended after Jungle Moon Men (1955) and Devil Goddess (1955). Serials were gradually phased out. The last ones were The Adventures of Captain Africa, Perils of the Wilderness (1956) and Blazing the Overland Trail (1956). Instead, Katzman decided to focus on films that would appeal to the 15-25 age group, which meant more sci-fi, horror, and rock and roll musicals.[23]

In August 1954 Katzman said he had 14 films lined up, with four more to come, and had assigned four writers to projects: Curt Siodmak to The Creature with the Atom Brain, Berne Giler on Dressed to Kill, Ray Buffum on a juvenile delinquency story, and Robert E. Kent on a Western.[34]

Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) led to a series of science fiction films, such as It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), with effects from Ray Harryhausen. That was produced by Charles H. Schneer who had worked with Katzman for a number of years; Schneer and Harryhausen went on to make Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) for Katzman before Schneer left to form his own unit at Columbia.

Katzman still made westerns such as The Gun That Won the West (1955), Seminole Uprising (1955), Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado (1955) and Duel on the Mississippi (1955), swashbucklers like Pirates of Tripoli (1955) and crime films such as New Orleans Uncensored (1955), Chicago Syndicate (1955), The Crooked Web (1955), The Houston Story (1956), Miami Exposé (1956) and Inside Detroit (1956). He also did the occasional thriller like Uranium Boom (1956).

His work had an increasing focus on teens, however. Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955) and Rumble on the Docks (1956) were teen-oriented crime films. He also started making musicals again with rockabilly music.

In 1955, when Columbia wanted to release the first rock-and-roll musical, Katzman reworked elements from his Gloria Jean musical I Surrender Dear into one of Columbia's biggest hits, Rock Around the Clock (1956) with Bill Haley and His Comets.[35] This cost $300,000 and earned over $4 million.[23] This was followed by Cha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956), Don't Knock the Rock (1957, again with Bill Haley), Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and Juke Box Rhythm (1959, scheduled for Bill Haley but ultimately made with singer Jack Jones).

Katzman also produced horror films for the teenage audience, including The Werewolf (1956), The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957), The Giant Claw (1957), Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) and The Night the World Exploded (1957).

In May 1957 Katzman told Variety that he felt, “A picture that makes money is a good picture —- whether it is artistically good or bad. I’m in the five and dime business and not in the Tiffany business. I make pictures for the little theatres around the country.” [23] He added that his movies were normally budgeted between $250,000 and $500,000. He said at Columbia he had made 110 pictures, none of which lost money, and the average gross was $1 million. He said at least 40% of the 110 pictures made were still in release.[23]

“Every picture I make now has a selling gimmick aimed at the young audience," he said in 1957, and he made car movies, horror stories, science fiction and music. He said his pictures are the “bread and butter” pictures of the industry. “I don't get ulcers with the type of pictures I make,” he said.[23]

In 1957 Katzman made seven films for Columbia, including non-teenage fare such as Utah Blaine (1957), Escape from San Quentin (1957), The Tijuana Story (1957) and The World Was His Jury (1957). He announced in December of that year he would double this amount over the following twelve months.[36]

Katzman's later films at Columbia included such teen melodramas as Going Steady (1958) and Life Begins at 17 (1958);Crash Landing (1958), a disaster film based on Pan Am Flight 6; a pair of war films starring Van Johnson shot in Europe, The Last Blitzkrieg (1959) and The Enemy General (1960); and a drama about trapeze artists, The Flying Fontaines (1959).

Later career

20th Century Fox

Katzman signed a deal with 20th Century Fox starting with The Wizard of Baghdad (1960), an "Eastern" with Dick Shawn. He did this under a verbal agreement with Buddy Adler then in September 1960 Robert Goldstein signed him to a three-picture contract. These were to be Gentlemen Pirates written by Mel Levy, a film about Mississippi gamblers written by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Pat Silver, and Cypress Gardens by Lou Morheim.[37] He said at the time that Hollywood was making too many blockbusters and "the motion picture business must deal in a saleable product of entertainment at a price the public can afford and not price itself out. of the market.”[38]

He wound up making only one more film at Fox, Pirates of Tortuga (1961), a swashbuckler similar to many of the films he made at Columbia.

He returned to Columbia to make The Wild Westerners (1962), a Western, as well as two "twist" movies starring Chubby Checker, Twist Around the Clock (1961) and Don't Knock the Twist (1962). These were scene-for-scene remakes of Katzman's Bill Haley musicals, with almost identical scripts. Katzman said, "Twist Around the Clock only cost $250,000 to make, but in less than six months it grossed six million, so of course I'm gonna make more 'Twist' movies!"[39]

MGM

Katzman accepted an offer to move his operation to MGM in 1963. He started with a low budget musical Hootenanny Hoot (1963), which led to several more musicals: Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) and When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) (a remake of Girl Crazy). MGM also financed three of Katzman's best known movies: two films starring Elvis Presley, Kissin' Cousins (1964) and Harum Scarum (1965), as well as Your Cheatin' Heart (1964), a biopic of Hank Williams starring George Hamilton. Hamilton later wrote in his memoirs that "Jungle Sam cracked the whip, whacked the cane and the whole film was in the can right on time. But he gave me free rein creatively and our director... brought in something memorable, and even Sam knew it."[40]

In December 1964 Katzman announced he would make five films that year for MGM in his third year at the studio.[41]

Katzman made the Herman's Hermits film Hold On! (1966) and singer Roy Orbison's only film, The Fastest Guitar Alive.[42]

In 1967 he signed a new contract with MGM to make at least two films a year.[43] These were Hot Rods to Hell (1967), the last film for John Brahm, and Riot on Sunset Strip (1967). Katzman wound up selling the latter to AIP for release.[44]

His last films for MGM were A Time to Sing (1967) with Hank Williams, Jr. and The Young Runaways (1968).

Return to Columbia

In 1967 Columbia Pictures wanted two quick, topical films about love-ins and singles-only apartments. Sam Katzman got the call and recruited his 1940s cronies, Arthur Dreifuss and writer Hal Collins, to make The Love-Ins and For Singles Only (both 1967)[19]

Final Movies

Katzman's final films were produced by his son Jerry. These included Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969) for AIP, How to Succeed with Sex (1970) and The Loners (1972) for Fanfare Productions.

Personal life

He was the uncle of television producer Leonard Katzman, and, in turn, the great-great-uncle of Ethan Klein of the Israeli-American YouTube comedy channel h3h3Productions.

He was married to Hortense Katzman. They married on the set of the film The Diplomats in 1928.[45] She sued for divorce in 1955, but the two reconciled.[46]

Sam Katzman died on August 4, 1973, in Hollywood. He is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California.

Selected filmography

As producer unless otherwise mentioned.

Unmade films

Bibliography

  • Wheeler Winston Dixon. Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood. Southern Illinois University Press, 2005.

References

  1. ^ a b "Sam Katzman: He Makes The Serials". The Sunday Herald. Sydney. 20 September 1953. p. 15. Retrieved 30 March 2014 – via National Library of Australia.
  2. ^ Jewish Virtual Library: "Katzman, Sam" 2008
  3. ^ p.48 Dixon, Wheeler W Lost in the Fifties: Recovering Phantom Hollywood Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (September 1, 2005)
  4. ^ LASKY SIGNS WELL KNOWN ACTOR Los Angeles Times 30 Nov 1928: 14.
  5. ^ "Burlesque's Comic Films". Variety. 26 October 1927. p. 41.
  6. ^ "Incorporations". Variety. 4 July 1933. p. 24.
  7. ^ Scheuer, P. K. (July 31, 1963). Katzman doesn't give a hoot for art. Los Angeles Times
  8. ^ Ramon Novarro Plans to Star in Screen Version of Drama by Hungarian Playwright: PLAYER'S FUTURE MAY DEPEND ON PRODUCTION Lou Brock Decides to Remain at Radio Studio; Lee Tracy Will Play "Lemon Drop Kid" Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times 16 May 1934: 13.
  9. ^ "Another of Those Spasmodic Cowboy Revivals On". Variety. 15 May 1934. p. 29.
  10. ^ "Kaztman Doing 6 Kynes". Variety. 12 June 1935. p. 6.
  11. ^ "Republic Merge". Variety. 26 June 1935. p. 40.
  12. ^ p. 438 Pitts, Michael R. Poverty Row Studios, 1929–1940: An Illustrated History of 53 Independent Film Companies, with a Filmography for Each McFarland & Company, 1 Jan 1997
  13. ^ SCENE AS FLAMES RAGE IN MOTION-PICTURE PLANT: ACTORS FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES AS FIRE SWEEPS FILM STUDIO Los Angeles Times7 June 1937: A1.
  14. ^ "20 Victory Giddy Ups". Variety. 11 January 1939. p. 7.
  15. ^ Miriam Hopkins Likely 'Mississippi Belle' Lead: Los Angeles Times 12 Apr 1941: A9.
  16. ^ NEWS OF THE SCREEN: New York Times 9 Sep 1944: 12.
  17. ^ Detective Will Menace Belita in 'The Hunted' Schallert, Edwin. Los Angeles Times7 Nov 1945: A3.
  18. ^ 'LAST OF MOHICANS' TO BE FILMED AGAIN: Katzman, in Columbia Deal, to Star Jon Hall in Remake-- Two Premieres Here Today Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES..22 June 1946: 25.
  19. ^ a b MacGillivray, Scott and Jan, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, Universe, 2005
  20. ^ a b Thomas F Brady (11 May 1947). "Hollywood Survey: Sharp Drop in Production Noted -- Still Another Dumas Exploit -- Other Items". New York Times. p. X5.
  21. ^ SELZNICK TO MOVE OFFICES TO COAST: New York Times 16 Feb 1948: 17.
  22. ^ Schallert, Edwin (26 Oct 1948). "Italian-Made Feature Stars Patricia Medina; Prison Musical Readied". Los Angeles Times. p. A6.
  23. ^ a b c d e f "$300,000 Picture's Gross Expectancy Same as $1-Mil Film–Katzman". Variety. 1 May 1957. p. 17.
  24. ^ Brady, Thomas F. (17 April 1949). "HOLLYWOOD UPSWING: Increased Production Breaks Downward Trend in Employment -- Fox Backs Out". New York Times. p. X5.
  25. ^ Swires, Steve (January 1990). "Mentor to the Magicks Part One". Starlog. No. 150. p. 59.
  26. ^ AN AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE SEMINAR WITH RICHARD CLINE, ASC Anonymous. American Cinematographer; Hollywood Vol. 57, Iss. 8, (Aug 1976): 876-879,933-935,944.
  27. ^ Harris, Warren G. (1991). Lucy & Desi : the legendary love story of television's most famous couple. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-74709-6. OCLC 23901570.
  28. ^ "Chatter". Variety. 20 February 1952. p. 61.
  29. ^ Schallert, Edwin (11 July 1952). "Drama: Garson in 'Interrupted Melody;' Bacon-Bergman and Bjork Deals on Fire". Los Angeles Times. p. B9.
  30. ^ HOLLYWOOD DEBATE: New York Times (16 Nov 1952: X5.
  31. ^ Castle, William (1976). Step right up! : ... I'm gonna scare the pants off America. Putnam. p. 123.
  32. ^ Schallert, Edwin (28 July 1954). "'Can Can' Buy Inspires Cast Conjectures; 'Atom Brain Creature' On Way". Los Angeles Times. p. 15.
  33. ^ Thomas M Pryor Special to The New York Times.. (17 Dec 1954). "Sinatra to Star in Musical Film: He Will Appear in Lasky's Salute to Young America, 'The Big Brass Band'". New York Times. p. 36.
  34. ^ "Sam Katzman's 4 films". Variety. August 4, 1954. p. 6.
  35. ^ MacGillivray, Scott and Jan, Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven, iUniverse, 2005
  36. ^ "Katzman's Columbia 7 in '57 to be Doubled". Variety. 1 January 1958. p. 7.
  37. ^ "Sam Katzman on Exhib Vagaries". Variety. 28 September 1960. p. 3.
  38. ^ "Sam Katzman on Exhib Vagaries". Variety. 28 September 1960. p. 30.
  39. ^ Tobler, John (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). London: Reed International Books Ltd. p. 103. CN 5585.
  40. ^ George Hamilton & William Stadiem, Don't Mind If I Do, Simon & Schuster 2008 p 182
  41. ^ FILMLAND EVENTS: Sam Katzman Begins Busy Year at MGM Los Angeles Times 26 Dec 1964: 19.
  42. ^ "Filmland Events: Sam Katzman Begins Busy Year at MGM". Los Angeles Times. 26 Dec 1964. p. 19.
  43. ^ "CBS Film Unit Signs Producer". Los Angeles Times. 18 Sep 1967. p. d27.
  44. ^ Mark McGee, Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures, McFarland, 1996 p263
  45. ^ Kingsley, Grace (30 Nov 1928). "Lasky Signs Well Known Actor: Comedienne and Assistant Director Wed at Studio; Sally O'Neill Will Star in New Circus Story; Youthful Player Signs With M.-G.-M". Los Angeles Times. p. 14.
  46. ^ "Film Producer Sam Katzman Sued by Wife". Los Angeles Times. 7 Dec 1955. p. 38.
  47. ^ Thomas F Brady Special to The New York Times.. (2 May 1951). "Fox Movie Studio Suspends Grable: Actress' Refusal to Appear in 'Girl Next Door' Leads to Action--Film Starts July 1". New York Times. p. 49.
  48. ^ Billboard, Sept. 16, 1957
  49. ^ "Philip Barry Jr. Lists Film". New York Times. 7 Jan 1958. p. 30.
  50. ^ "Thalberg Award to Jack Warner: Studio President Cited for High Quality of Movies -Ladd's Co-Stars Named Special to The New York Times.". New York Times. 26 Mar 1959. p. 27.
  51. ^ Martin, Betty (15 Apr 1967). "Role for Catherine Spaak". Los Angeles Times. p. 19.

External links

February 11, 2023
katzman, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, june, 2022, learn,. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Sam Katzman news newspapers books scholar JSTOR June 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message This article may have too many section headers dividing up its content Please help improve the article by merging similar sections and removing unneeded subheaders June 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Sam Katzman July 7 1901 August 4 1973 was an American film producer and director Katzman produced low budget genre films including serials which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers 1 Sam KatzmanBorn 1901 07 07 July 7 1901New York CityDiedAugust 4 1973 1973 08 04 aged 72 HollywoodOccupation s Film producer and directorYears active1933 1973 Contents 1 Early career 1 1 Screencraft Pictures 1 2 Supreme Pictures 1 3 Victory Pictures and Puritan Pictures 2 Monogram Pictures 2 1 Serials 2 2 Final Monogram Movies 3 Columbia Pictures 3 1 Musicals 3 2 Focus on Action Films 3 3 Transfer to Teen Movies 4 Later career 4 1 20th Century Fox 4 2 MGM 4 3 Return to Columbia 4 4 Final Movies 5 Personal life 6 Selected filmography 6 1 Unmade films 7 Bibliography 8 References 9 External linksEarly career EditSam was born to a Jewish family 2 his father Abe Katzman was a violinist He and Sam s mother Rebecca nee Sugarman were from Kishinev Bessarabia Governorate Russian Empire now Chisinău Moldova Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry and moved from prop boy to assistant director at Fox Films 3 He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was a Hollywood producer for more than 40 years 1 Katzman worked as an assistant to Norman Taurog and got married on the set of The Diplomats in 1928 at Fox 4 In October 1927 he signed with comic Joe Russo to make a series of two reel comedies 5 Screencraft Pictures Edit Katzman was a production supervisor at Showmen s Pictures in the early 1930s and Screencraft Productions in July 1935 6 His movies included His Private Secretary Showmen s 1933 starring a young John Wayne made for 9 000 and earned 95 000 7 They also made Police Call 1933 Ship of Wanted Men 1933 Public Stenographer 1933 and St Louis Woman 1934 Supreme Pictures Edit He worked as a producer at A W Hackel s Supreme Pictures where he mostly made Westerns starring Bob Steele 8 Filming started 15 May 1934 with A Demon for Trouble 1934 9 Other films included Western Justice 1934 The Brand of Hate 1934 Smokey Smith 1935 Tombstone Terror 1935 Trail of Terror 1935 Alias John Law 1935 Big Calibre 1935 Sundown Saunders 1935 Brand of the Outlaws 1936 and The Kid Ranger 1936 Victory Pictures and Puritan Pictures Edit In June 1935 Katzman announced he would make six films written by Peter Kyne for Fox starting with Danger Ahead 10 He ended up taking over Bryan Foy s studios at Culver City and doing the films through his own company Victory Pictures 11 In 1935 Katzman founded Puritan Pictures a film distribution group their first film being Suicide Squad 1935 From 1935 to 1940 Victory produced two serials and 30 features including Western film series starring Tom Tyler and Tim McCoy 12 and action pictures with Herman Brix and Bela Lugosi Katzman also made crime films like Hot Off the Press 1935 Bars of Hate 1935 The Fighting Coward 1935 and Danger Ahead 1935 many of which were written by Peter B Kyne Katzman entered the world of serials in 1936 with Shadow of Chinatown 1936 starring Bela Lugosi and would return to the genre in 1944 In June 1937 a fire damaged the building where Victory was based 13 In January 1939 Victory announced they would make 20 more Westerns 14 but within six months Katzman closed Puritan and began releasing his productions through Monogram Pictures Monogram Pictures EditAt Monogram a budget studio Katzman co produced with Jack Dietz under the names Banner Productions the East Side Kids features of the 1940s eight thrillers starring Bela Lugosi and two musicals In April 1941 Katzman signed Lugosi to make three films including one in collaboration with the East Side Kids 15 Lugosi wound up making nine films for Katzman In January 1943 Katzman signed a contract with stage star Frank Fay and screen comic Billy Gilbert for four films Fay walked out on the series after the first film Spotlight Scandals 1943 and Katzman replaced him with Gilbert s closest friend Shemp Howard Serials Edit In September 1944 Katzman was offered a job producing serials for Columbia Pictures starting with Brenda Starr Reporter 1945 16 He followed this with the serials Jungle Raiders 1945 and Who s Guilty 1945 With typical thrift he produced the first one on the side using Monogram s actors and technicians The Columbia serials proved successful and Katzman became their permanent producer Final Monogram Movies Edit Katzman continued to produce features for Monogram through 1948 His final East Side Kids movies were Docks of New York 1945 Mr Muggs Rides Again 1945 and Come Out Fighting 1945 The series came to an abrupt end when its star Leo Gorcey wanted double the usual salary from Katzman Katzman reacted by pulling the plug on the series Gorcey stayed with Monogram which retooled the series as The Bowery Boys In November 1945 Katzman replaced the rowdy East Side Kids with The Teen Agers a wholesome gang of high schoolers These were vehicles for singer Freddie Stewart 17 It was an early example of Katzman s output aimed specifically at a teenage audience He produced six of these musical comedies through 1948 Columbia Pictures EditMusicals Edit In June 1946 Katzman announced he would make his first feature for Columbia a remake of The Last of the Mohicans starring Jon Hall 18 However the first movies he ended up making at the studio were musicals In August 1946 he signed Jean Porter to star in Betty Co Ed 1946 made by Katzman s Monogram director Arthur Dreifuss The film received excellent reviews prompting Columbia to ask for three more Porter left Metro Goldwyn Mayer which was downsizing to sign with Katzman The three musicals were Little Miss Broadway 1947 Sweet Genevieve 1947 and Two Blondes and a Redhead 1947 Katzman and Dreifuss then made two films with singer Gloria Jean who had been a star at Universal Pictures Katzman was so pleased by I Surrender Dear 1948 that he devoted more time to it and economized on her other picture Manhattan Angel 1949 19 These were budgeted at about 140 000 per film 20 He made some sports themed features starring Gloria Henry Racing Luck 1948 and Triple Threat 1948 and the musicals Mary Lou 1948 and Glamour Girl 1948 During this time Katzman continued to produce serials for Columbia such as Jack Armstrong 1947 The Vigilante 1947 The Sea Hound 1947 with Buster Crabbe Brick Bradford 1948 Congo Bill 1948 and the outstandingly successful Superman 1948 Focus on Action Films Edit The boxoffice performance of Katzman s action movies and serials particularly Superman was outstripping those for his musicals and comedies leading him away from those genres From 1949 to 1954 he would produce only action fare for Columbia In February 1948 Katzman had signed a five year deal with screen Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller to make jungle movies starting with two films a year for two years where the budgets would be at least 350 000 21 These turned into the Jungle Jim series starting with Jungle Jim 1948 In October 1948 Katzman signed a seven year 4 million contract with Columbia to make four feature films a year through his Kay Pictures corporation four serials a year via his Esskay Productions and a Jungle Jim film series starring Johnny Weissmuller 22 Katzman s stock in trade was now a mix of Arabian Nights fantasies bluntly euphemized by Katzman as tits and sand western action and prison pictures He would average ten features a year producing them in four to ten weeks 23 Katzman allowed a budget of 400 000 for The Prince of Thieves 1948 a version of the Robin Hood story starring Hall 20 Other action orientated Katzman product around this time included The Lost Tribe 1949 a Jungle Jim movie the serial Tex Granger 1948 Adventures of Sir Galahad 1949 Batman and Robin 1949 and Bruce Gentry Daredevil of the Skies 1949 the action thriller The Mutineers 1949 with Hall the swashbuckler Barbary Pirate 1949 and the crime movie Chinatown at Midnight 1949 24 Charles Schneer who worked for Katzman in the 1940s and 1950s said the producer Knew everything there was to know about making a movie He was a very enterprising fellow and was enormously intuitive But he was a very tough taskmaster and a real skinflint I managed to get along well with Sam because I knew what he was and respected what he did Unfortunately all his input was negative He never contributed anything positive I would suggest an idea and he would knock it down I would argue with him but I never got very far He wouldn t say Do this instead of that He would only say Don t do this and I didn t I certainly learned the value of a dollar from Sam 25 His Monogram cameraman Richard Cline later recalled we did 106 features in six years working six days a week an average of 20 to 22 features a year Those were B pictures There was a clever writer in the unit Sam would pick up a newspaper and say Oh here s a story He d give it to the writer and the writer would turn out a script We d go all over We were actually a traveling unit a very cohesive unit and I really learned my trade from that experience 26 Katzman s main directors in this time were Lew Landers William Berke and Spencer Gordon Bennet Berke specialized in Jungle Jim films such as Mark of the Gorilla 1950 Pygmy Island 1950 Captive Girl 1951 and Fury of the Congo 1951 Bennett did serials like Pirates of the High Seas 1950 Atom Man vs Superman 1950 Cody of the Pony Express 1950 Mysterious Island 1951 Roar of the Iron Horse 1951 and Son of Geronimo 1952 Landers handled the other action films like State Penitentiary 1950 Revenue Agent 1950 with Lyle Talbot Last of the Buccaneers 1950 with Paul Henreid Chain Gang 1950 Tyrant of the Sea 1950 with Ron Randell Hurricane Island 1951 and When the Redskins Rode 1951 with Hall A Yank in Korea 1951 with Lon McAllister Richard Quine then under contract to Columbia made one of his first films as director for Katzman Purple Heart Diary 1951 he later did Siren of Bagdad 1953 with Paul Henreid Lew Landers took over direction of Jungle Jim movies for Jungle Manhunt 1951 and Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land 1952 and did California Conquest 1952 with Cornel Wilde Fred F Sears formerly an actor in Columbia features began directing Columbia s Charles Starrett westerns when that series lapsed he started work for Katzman with Last Train from Bombay 1952 starring Hall Wallace Grissell directed A Yank in Indo China 1952 and Sidney Salkow directed The Golden Hawk 1952 with Sterling Hayden and The Pathfinder 1952 with George Montgomery Columbia s president Harry Cohn sometimes used the Sam Katzman unit as a threat to keep recalcitrant actors in line or terminate an unwanted contract Columbia owed Lucille Ball one feature assignment and an 85 000 salary which Cohn tried to sidestep by sending Ball a tits and sand script from the Katzman unit Cohn was confident that Ball would refuse the Katzman assignment thus breaking her contract Ball bristled at the script but didn t want to lose the salary so she told Cohn she loved the script and agreed to the assignment Cohn was forced to honor the agreement and to his credit he allowed a higher production budget for The Magic Carpet 1951 which was filmed in Super Cinecolor 27 Director Spencer Bennet continued to make serials like Blackhawk 1952 and King of the Congo 1952 and branched into features such as Brave Warrior 1952 with Hall and a Jungle Jim film Voodoo Tiger 1952 In February 1952 Katzman renewed his options to make more Weissmuller movies 28 Paul Henreid returned to Katzman to star in Thief of Damascus 1952 directed by Will Jason In July 1952 Katzman announced he would make at least 15 films a year for seven years 29 In November 1952 this contract was amended so Katzman would make twenty films seventeen features and three serials 30 William Castle joined the Katzman group as director in 1953 starting with Serpent of the Nile 1953 with Rhonda Fleming and Raymond Burr Castle later wrote in his memoirs that Katzman was a smallish man with a round cherubic face and twinkling eyes Few people in the motion picture industry took him seriously as a producer of quality films but to me Sam was a great showman 31 Castle went on to make a series of films for Katzman including Slaves of Babylon 1953 with Richard Conte Conquest of Cochise 1953 with John Hodiak and two Westerns with Montgomery Fort Ti 1953 and Masterson of Kansas 1954 The Law vs Billy the Kid 1954 with Scott Brady and The Saracen Blade 1954 with Ricardo Montalban Richard L Bare directed Prisoners of the Casbah 1953 with Gloria Grahame William Berke returned to the Jungle Jim franchise with Valley of the Head Hunters 1953 Sidney Salkow made Jack McCall Desperado 1953 with Montgomery and Prince of Pirates 1954 with John Derek Spencer Bennet directed the Jungle Jim films Savage Mutiny 1953 and Killer Ape 1953 Former Columbia actor Fred Sears directed Target Hong Kong 1953 with Richard Denning Sky Commando 1953 with Dan Duryea The 49th Man 1953 with John Ireland and Denning and Mission Over Korea 1953 with Hodiak and Derek Seymour Friedman made Flame of Calcutta 1953 Katzman continued to produce serials such as The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd 1953 The Lost Planet 1953 Riding with Buffalo Bill 1954 and Gunfighters of the Northwest 1954 Lee Sholem directed Jungle Man Eaters 1954 which was the last official Jungle Jim movie although Weissmuller continued to make jungle action adventures for Katzman playing himself in Cannibal Attack 1954 In July 1954 it was announced that Katzman s company now called Clover Productions would make 15 films for Columbia 32 33 Castle directed Jesse James vs the Daltons 1954 in 3 D The Iron Glove 1954 with Robert Stack Charge of the Lancers 1954 with Paulette Goddard Drums of Tahiti 1954 with Dennis O Keefe and The Battle of Rogue River 1954 with Montgomery Fred Sears had a solid hit with The Miami Story 1954 Transfer to Teen Movies Edit By the mid 1950s television was making inroads into the action market The Weissmuller series ended after Jungle Moon Men 1955 and Devil Goddess 1955 Serials were gradually phased out The last ones were The Adventures of Captain Africa Perils of the Wilderness 1956 and Blazing the Overland Trail 1956 Instead Katzman decided to focus on films that would appeal to the 15 25 age group which meant more sci fi horror and rock and roll musicals 23 In August 1954 Katzman said he had 14 films lined up with four more to come and had assigned four writers to projects Curt Siodmak to The Creature with the Atom Brain Berne Giler on Dressed to Kill Ray Buffum on a juvenile delinquency story and Robert E Kent on a Western 34 Creature with the Atom Brain 1955 led to a series of science fiction films such as It Came from Beneath the Sea 1955 with effects from Ray Harryhausen That was produced by Charles H Schneer who had worked with Katzman for a number of years Schneer and Harryhausen went on to make Earth vs the Flying Saucers 1956 for Katzman before Schneer left to form his own unit at Columbia Katzman still made westerns such as The Gun That Won the West 1955 Seminole Uprising 1955 Blackjack Ketchum Desperado 1955 and Duel on the Mississippi 1955 swashbucklers like Pirates of Tripoli 1955 and crime films such as New Orleans Uncensored 1955 Chicago Syndicate 1955 The Crooked Web 1955 The Houston Story 1956 Miami Expose 1956 and Inside Detroit 1956 He also did the occasional thriller like Uranium Boom 1956 His work had an increasing focus on teens however Teen Age Crime Wave 1955 and Rumble on the Docks 1956 were teen oriented crime films He also started making musicals again with rockabilly music In 1955 when Columbia wanted to release the first rock and roll musical Katzman reworked elements from his Gloria Jean musical I Surrender Dear into one of Columbia s biggest hits Rock Around the Clock 1956 with Bill Haley and His Comets 35 This cost 300 000 and earned over 4 million 23 This was followed by Cha Cha Cha Boom 1956 Don t Knock the Rock 1957 again with Bill Haley Calypso Heat Wave 1957 and Juke Box Rhythm 1959 scheduled for Bill Haley but ultimately made with singer Jack Jones Katzman also produced horror films for the teenage audience including The Werewolf 1956 The Man Who Turned to Stone 1957 The Giant Claw 1957 Zombies of Mora Tau 1957 and The Night the World Exploded 1957 In May 1957 Katzman told Variety that he felt A picture that makes money is a good picture whether it is artistically good or bad I m in the five and dime business and not in the Tiffany business I make pictures for the little theatres around the country 23 He added that his movies were normally budgeted between 250 000 and 500 000 He said at Columbia he had made 110 pictures none of which lost money and the average gross was 1 million He said at least 40 of the 110 pictures made were still in release 23 Every picture I make now has a selling gimmick aimed at the young audience he said in 1957 and he made car movies horror stories science fiction and music He said his pictures are the bread and butter pictures of the industry I don t get ulcers with the type of pictures I make he said 23 In 1957 Katzman made seven films for Columbia including non teenage fare such as Utah Blaine 1957 Escape from San Quentin 1957 The Tijuana Story 1957 and The World Was His Jury 1957 He announced in December of that year he would double this amount over the following twelve months 36 Katzman s later films at Columbia included such teen melodramas as Going Steady 1958 and Life Begins at 17 1958 Crash Landing 1958 a disaster film based on Pan Am Flight 6 a pair of war films starring Van Johnson shot in Europe The Last Blitzkrieg 1959 and The Enemy General 1960 and a drama about trapeze artists The Flying Fontaines 1959 Later career Edit20th Century Fox Edit Katzman signed a deal with 20th Century Fox starting with The Wizard of Baghdad 1960 an Eastern with Dick Shawn He did this under a verbal agreement with Buddy Adler then in September 1960 Robert Goldstein signed him to a three picture contract These were to be Gentlemen Pirates written by Mel Levy a film about Mississippi gamblers written by Jesse Lasky Jr and Pat Silver and Cypress Gardens by Lou Morheim 37 He said at the time that Hollywood was making too many blockbusters and the motion picture business must deal in a saleable product of entertainment at a price the public can afford and not price itself out of the market 38 He wound up making only one more film at Fox Pirates of Tortuga 1961 a swashbuckler similar to many of the films he made at Columbia He returned to Columbia to make The Wild Westerners 1962 a Western as well as two twist movies starring Chubby Checker Twist Around the Clock 1961 and Don t Knock the Twist 1962 These were scene for scene remakes of Katzman s Bill Haley musicals with almost identical scripts Katzman said Twist Around the Clock only cost 250 000 to make but in less than six months it grossed six million so of course I m gonna make more Twist movies 39 MGM Edit Katzman accepted an offer to move his operation to MGM in 1963 He started with a low budget musical Hootenanny Hoot 1963 which led to several more musicals Get Yourself a College Girl 1964 and When the Boys Meet the Girls 1965 a remake of Girl Crazy MGM also financed three of Katzman s best known movies two films starring Elvis Presley Kissin Cousins 1964 and Harum Scarum 1965 as well as Your Cheatin Heart 1964 a biopic of Hank Williams starring George Hamilton Hamilton later wrote in his memoirs that Jungle Sam cracked the whip whacked the cane and the whole film was in the can right on time But he gave me free rein creatively and our director brought in something memorable and even Sam knew it 40 In December 1964 Katzman announced he would make five films that year for MGM in his third year at the studio 41 Katzman made the Herman s Hermits film Hold On 1966 and singer Roy Orbison s only film The Fastest Guitar Alive 42 In 1967 he signed a new contract with MGM to make at least two films a year 43 These were Hot Rods to Hell 1967 the last film for John Brahm and Riot on Sunset Strip 1967 Katzman wound up selling the latter to AIP for release 44 His last films for MGM were A Time to Sing 1967 with Hank Williams Jr and The Young Runaways 1968 Return to Columbia Edit In 1967 Columbia Pictures wanted two quick topical films about love ins and singles only apartments Sam Katzman got the call and recruited his 1940s cronies Arthur Dreifuss and writer Hal Collins to make The Love Ins and For Singles Only both 1967 19 Final Movies Edit Katzman s final films were produced by his son Jerry These included Angel Angel Down We Go 1969 for AIP How to Succeed with Sex 1970 and The Loners 1972 for Fanfare Productions Personal life EditHe was the uncle of television producer Leonard Katzman and in turn the great great uncle of Ethan Klein of the Israeli American YouTube comedy channel h3h3Productions He was married to Hortense Katzman They married on the set of the film The Diplomats in 1928 45 She sued for divorce in 1955 but the two reconciled 46 Sam Katzman died on August 4 1973 in Hollywood He is interred in the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City California Selected filmography EditAs producer unless otherwise mentioned His Private Secretary executive producer 1934 Western Justice supervising producer 1934 A Demon for Trouble supervising producer 1934 Smokey Smith supervising producer 1935 Tombstone Terror supervising producer 1935 Hot Off the Press 1935 Bars of Hate 1935 Alias John Law 1935 The Fighting Coward 1935 Big Calibre supervising producer 1935 Danger Ahead 1935 A Face in the Fog supervising producer 1935 Sundown Saunders supervising producer 1935 Brand of the Outlaws supervising producer 1936 Rip Roarin Buckaroo supervising producer 1936 The Phantom of the Range 1936 Shadow of Chinatown 1936 also serial The Rogues Tavern 1936 Taming the Wild 1936 Rio Grande Romance 1936 Kelly of the Secret Service 1936 Put on the Spot 1936 Two Minutes to Play 1936 Silks and Saddles 1936 Amateur Crook 1937 Orphan of the Pecos 1937 Brothers of the West 1937 Cheyenne Rides Again 1937 Lost Ranch 1937 Flying Fists 1937 Blake of Scotland Yard 1937 also serial Million Dollar Racket 1937 Sky Racket 1937 Mystery Range 1937 Feud of the Trail 1937 Blake of Scotland Yard 1937 Six Gun Trail 1938 Lightning Carson Rides Again 1938 Texas Wildcats 1939 Code of the Cactus 1939 Outlaws Paradise 1939 Trigger Fingers 1939 The Fighting Renegade 1939 Straight Shooter 1939 East Side Kids 1940 Boys of the City 1940 That Gang of Mine 1940 Pride of the Bowery 1940 Flying Wild 1941 Bowery Blitzkrieg 1941 Spooks Run Wild 1941 Invisible Ghost 1941 Zis Boom Bah 1941 Mr Wise Guy 1942 Let s Get Tough 1942 Smart Alecks 1942 Neath Brooklyn Bridge 1942 Kid Dynamite 1942 Bowery at Midnight 1942 Black Dragons 1942 The Corpse Vanishes 1942 The Ape Man 1943 Clancy Street Boys 1943 Ghosts on the Loose 1943 Mr Muggs Steps Out 1943 Spotlight Scandals 1943 Million Dollar Kid 1944 Follow the Leader 1944 Block Busters 1944 Bowery Champs 1944 Crazy Knights 1944 Voodoo Man 1944 Three of a Kind 1944 Return of the Ape Man 1944 Docks of New York 1945 Mr Muggs Rides Again 1945 Come Out Fighting 1945 Who s Guilty 1945 serial Jungle Raiders 1945 serial Trouble Chasers 1945 Brenda Starr Reporter 1945 serial Junior Prom 1946 Hop Harrigan America s Ace of the Airways 1946 Freddie Steps Out 1946 Chick Carter Detective 1946 serial High School Hero 1946 Son of the Guardsman 1946 serial Betty Co Ed 1946 Vacation Days 1947 Jack Armstrong 1947 serial The Vigilante 1947 Little Miss Broadway 1947 The Sea Hound 1947 serial Last of the Redmen 1947 Sweet Genevieve 1947 Two Blondes and a Redhead 1947 Brick Bradford 1947 serial Jungle Jim 1948 Racing Luck 1948 Congo Bill 1948 I Surrender Dear 1948 Triple Threat 1948 Superman 1948 serial Tex Granger 1948 Mary Lou 1948 Glamour Girl 1948 The Prince of Thieves 1948 The Lost Tribe 1949 The Adventures of Sir Galahad 1949 serial Chinatown at Midnight 1949 Barbary Pirate 1949 Batman and Robin 1949 serial The Mutineers 1949 Manhattan Angel 1949 Bruce Gentry 1949 serial State Penitentiary 1950 Revenue Agent 1950 Pygmy Island 1950 Pirates of the High Seas 1950 serial Last of the Buccaneers 1950 Chain Gang 1950 Atom Man vs Superman 1950 serial Captive Girl 1950 Cody of the Pony Express 1950 serial Tyrant of the Sea 1950 Mark of the Gorilla 1950 Captain Video 1951 The Magic Carpet 1951 The Mysterious Island 1951 serial Hurricane Island 1951 When the Redskins Rode 1951 Roar of the Iron Horse 1951 serial Purple Heart Diary 1951 A Yank in Korea 1951 Fury of the Congo 1951 Jungle Manhunt 1951 Son of Geronimo Apache Avenger 1952 serial Last Train from Bombay 1952 Blackhawk Fearless Champion of Freedom 1952 King of Congo 1952 A Yank in Indo China 1952 Jungle Jim in the Forbidden Land 1952 The Golden Hawk 1952 Brave Warrior 1952 California Conquest 1952 Voodoo Tiger 1952 Thief of Damascus 1952 The Pathfinder 1952 Slaves of Babylon 1953 Prisoners of the Casbah 1953 Valley of Head Hunters 1953 The Great Adventures of Captain Kidd 1953 serial The Lost Planet 1953 serial Jack McCall Desperado 1953 Savage Mutiny 1953 Target Hong Kong 1953 Last of the Redskins 1953 Flame of Calcutta 1953 Serpent of the Nile 1953 Siren of Bagdad 1953 Sky Commando 1953 Killer Ape 1953 Conquest of Cochise 1953 Prince of Pirates 1953 The 49th Man 1953 Mission Over Korea 1953 Fort Ti 1953 Masterson of Kansas 1954 Riding with Buffalo Bill 1954 serial The Law vs Billy the Kid 1954 The Saracen Blade 1954 Jungle Man Eaters 1954 Gunfighters of the Northwest 1954 serial Jesse James vs the Daltons 1954 The Iron Glove 1954 Charge of the Lancers 1954 Drums of Tahiti 1954 The Miami Story 1954 The Battle of Rogue River 1954 Cannibal Attack 1954 Jungle Moon Men 1955 Devil Goddess 1955 Creature with the Atom Brain executive producer 1955 It Came from Beneath the Sea executive producer 1955 The Gun That Won the West 1955 New Orleans Uncensored 1955 Chicago Syndicate 1955 The Crooked Web 1955 Inside Detroit 1955 Teen Age Crime Wave 1955 Duel on the Mississippi 1955 The Gun That Won the West 1955 Adventures of Captain Africa Mighty Jungle Avenger 1955 Seminole Uprising 1955 Pirates of Tripoli 1955 The Houston Story 1956 Miami Expose 1956 Perils of the Wilderness 1956 serial Blackjack Ketchum Desperado 1956 Blazing the Overland Trail 1956 serial Cha Cha Cha Boom 1956 Rumble on the Docks 1956 Earth vs the Flying Saucers executive producer 1956 The Werewolf 1956 Uranium Boom 1956 Rock Around the Clock 1956 Utah Blaine 1957 The Man Who Turned to Stone 1957 Calypso Heat Wave 1957 Don t Knock the Rock 1957 The Giant Claw 1957 Zombies of Mora Tau 1957 The Night the World Exploded 1957 Escape from San Quentin 1957 The Tijuana Story 1957 The World Was His Jury 1958 Going Steady 1958 Crash Landing 1958 Life Begins at 17 1958 The Last Blitzkrieg 1959 Juke Box Rhythm 1959 The Flying Fontaines 1959 Lock Up Your Daughters 1959 The Enemy General 1960 The Wizard of Baghdad 1960 Tallahassee 7000 1961 TV series Twist Around the Clock 1961 Don t Knock the Twist 1961 Pirates of Tortuga 1961 The Wizard of Baghdad 1961 The Wild Westerners 1962 Hootenanny Hoot 1963 Get Yourself a College Girl 1964 Kissin Cousins 1964 Your Cheatin Heart 1964 Harum Scarum 1965 When the Boys Meet the Girls 1965 Hold On 1966 Hot Rods to Hell 1967 Riot on Sunset Strip 1967 The Fastest Guitar Alive 1967 The Love Ins 1967 For Singles Only 1968 A Time to Sing 1968 The Young Runaways 1968 Angel Angel Down We Go executive producer 1969 How to Succeed with Sex executive producer 1970 The Loners executive producer 1972 Unmade films Edit film version of Terry and the Pirates after buying film rights from Douglas Fairbanks Jnr 1951 47 sequel to the 1943 serial The Phantom 1955 when Katzman discovered Columbia no longer had the screen rights to the character he reshot parts of the finished film and retitled it The Adventures of Captain Africa a follow up to his earlier films starring Bill Haley and Alan Freed Rock Around the Clock and Don t Knock the Rock 1958 Originally scheduled for production in the fall of 1957 this was later pushed back to 1958 due to Katzman reportedly disliking the script Production was ultimately cancelled 48 biopic of Pretty Boy Floyd 1959 stopped by a lawsuit from Kroger Babb 49 Lucky based on story by Lillie Hayward 1959 50 Don Quixote USA starring Robert Morse 1967 51 Bibliography EditWheeler Winston Dixon Lost in the Fifties Recovering Phantom Hollywood Southern Illinois University Press 2005 References Edit a b Sam Katzman He Makes The Serials The Sunday Herald Sydney 20 September 1953 p 15 Retrieved 30 March 2014 via National Library of Australia Jewish Virtual Library Katzman Sam 2008 p 48 Dixon Wheeler W Lost in the Fifties Recovering Phantom Hollywood Southern Illinois University Press 1st edition September 1 2005 LASKY SIGNS WELL KNOWN ACTOR Los Angeles Times 30 Nov 1928 14 Burlesque s Comic Films Variety 26 October 1927 p 41 Incorporations Variety 4 July 1933 p 24 Scheuer P K July 31 1963 Katzman doesn t give a hoot for art Los Angeles Times Ramon Novarro Plans to Star in Screen Version of Drama by Hungarian Playwright PLAYER S FUTURE MAY DEPEND ON PRODUCTION Lou Brock Decides to Remain at Radio Studio Lee Tracy Will Play Lemon Drop Kid Schallert Edwin Los Angeles Times 16 May 1934 13 Another of Those Spasmodic Cowboy Revivals On Variety 15 May 1934 p 29 Kaztman Doing 6 Kynes Variety 12 June 1935 p 6 Republic Merge Variety 26 June 1935 p 40 p 438 Pitts Michael R Poverty Row Studios 1929 1940 An Illustrated History of 53 Independent Film Companies with a Filmography for Each McFarland amp Company 1 Jan 1997 SCENE AS FLAMES RAGE IN MOTION PICTURE PLANT ACTORS FLEE FOR THEIR LIVES AS FIRE SWEEPS FILM STUDIO Los Angeles Times7 June 1937 A1 20 Victory Giddy Ups Variety 11 January 1939 p 7 Miriam Hopkins Likely Mississippi Belle Lead Los Angeles Times 12 Apr 1941 A9 NEWS OF THE SCREEN New York Times 9 Sep 1944 12 Detective Will Menace Belita in The Hunted Schallert Edwin Los Angeles Times7 Nov 1945 A3 LAST OF MOHICANS TO BE FILMED AGAIN Katzman in Columbia Deal to Star Jon Hall in Remake Two Premieres Here Today Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES 22 June 1946 25 a b MacGillivray Scott and Jan Gloria Jean A Little Bit of Heaven Universe 2005 a b Thomas F Brady 11 May 1947 Hollywood Survey Sharp Drop in Production Noted Still Another Dumas Exploit Other Items New York Times p X5 SELZNICK TO MOVE OFFICES TO COAST New York Times 16 Feb 1948 17 Schallert Edwin 26 Oct 1948 Italian Made Feature Stars Patricia Medina Prison Musical Readied Los Angeles Times p A6 a b c d e f 300 000 Picture s Gross Expectancy Same as 1 Mil Film Katzman Variety 1 May 1957 p 17 Brady Thomas F 17 April 1949 HOLLYWOOD UPSWING Increased Production Breaks Downward Trend in Employment Fox Backs Out New York Times p X5 Swires Steve January 1990 Mentor to the Magicks Part One Starlog No 150 p 59 AN AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE SEMINAR WITH RICHARD CLINE ASC Anonymous American Cinematographer Hollywood Vol 57 Iss 8 Aug 1976 876 879 933 935 944 Harris Warren G 1991 Lucy amp Desi the legendary love story of television s most famous couple New York Simon amp Schuster ISBN 0 671 74709 6 OCLC 23901570 Chatter Variety 20 February 1952 p 61 Schallert Edwin 11 July 1952 Drama Garson in Interrupted Melody Bacon Bergman and Bjork Deals on Fire Los Angeles Times p B9 HOLLYWOOD DEBATE New York Times 16 Nov 1952 X5 Castle William 1976 Step right up I m gonna scare the pants off America Putnam p 123 Schallert Edwin 28 July 1954 Can Can Buy Inspires Cast Conjectures Atom Brain Creature On Way Los Angeles Times p 15 Thomas M Pryor Special to The New York Times 17 Dec 1954 Sinatra to Star in Musical Film He Will Appear in Lasky s Salute to Young America The Big Brass Band New York Times p 36 Sam Katzman s 4 films Variety August 4 1954 p 6 MacGillivray Scott and Jan Gloria Jean A Little Bit of Heaven iUniverse 2005 Katzman s Columbia 7 in 57 to be Doubled Variety 1 January 1958 p 7 Sam Katzman on Exhib Vagaries Variety 28 September 1960 p 3 Sam Katzman on Exhib Vagaries Variety 28 September 1960 p 30 Tobler John 1992 NME Rock N Roll Years 1st ed London Reed International Books Ltd p 103 CN 5585 George Hamilton amp William Stadiem Don t Mind If I Do Simon amp Schuster 2008 p 182 FILMLAND EVENTS Sam Katzman Begins Busy Year at MGM Los Angeles Times 26 Dec 1964 19 Filmland Events Sam Katzman Begins Busy Year at MGM Los Angeles Times 26 Dec 1964 p 19 CBS Film Unit Signs Producer Los Angeles Times 18 Sep 1967 p d27 Mark McGee Faster and Furiouser The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures McFarland 1996 p263 Kingsley Grace 30 Nov 1928 Lasky Signs Well Known Actor Comedienne and Assistant Director Wed at Studio Sally O Neill Will Star in New Circus Story Youthful Player Signs With M G M Los Angeles Times p 14 Film Producer Sam Katzman Sued by Wife Los Angeles Times 7 Dec 1955 p 38 Thomas F Brady Special to The New York Times 2 May 1951 Fox Movie Studio Suspends Grable Actress Refusal to Appear in Girl Next Door Leads to Action Film Starts July 1 New York Times p 49 Billboard Sept 16 1957 Philip Barry Jr Lists Film New York Times 7 Jan 1958 p 30 Thalberg Award to Jack Warner Studio President Cited for High Quality of Movies Ladd s Co Stars Named Special to The New York Times New York Times 26 Mar 1959 p 27 Martin Betty 15 Apr 1967 Role for Catherine Spaak Los Angeles Times p 19 External links EditSam Katzman at IMDb Sam Katzman at Find a Grave Meet Jungle Sam Life magazine https books google com books id IUIEAAAAMBAJ amp pg PA79 amp dq sam katzman 2B 3 d v onepage amp q sam 20katzman 20 2B 203 d amp f false Jungle Sam in Time 1 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Sam Katzman amp oldid 1095167210, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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