Sam Katzman

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.

Early career

Sam was born to a Jewish family; 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. He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was a Hollywood producer for more than 40 years. Katzman worked as an assistant to Norman Taurog and got married on the set of ''The Diplomats'' in 1928 at Fox.

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

Screencraft Pictures

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

His movies included '' His Private Secretary'' (Showmen's, 1933) starring a young John Wayne (made for $9,000 and earned $95,000).Scheuer, P. K. (July 31, 1963). Katzman doesn't give a hoot for art. Los Angeles Times 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. Filming started 15 May 1934 with ''A Demon for Trouble'' (1934).

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''. He ended up taking over Bryan Foy's studios at Culver City and doing the films through his own company, Victory Pictures.

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, 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. In January 1939 Victory announced they would make 20 more Westerns., 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. 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) 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. 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. 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, 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).MacGillivray, Scott and Jan, ''Gloria Jean: A Little Bit of Heaven'', Universe, 2005 These were budgeted at about $140,000 per film.

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. 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.

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.
Katzman allowed a budget of $400,000 for ''The Prince of Thieves'' (1948), a version of the Robin Hood story starring Hall. 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).

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.

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."

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.

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.) 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. In November 1952 this contract was amended so Katzman would make twenty films (seventeen features and three serials).

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." 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. 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.

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.

'' 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

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