Sam Katzman | |
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| Born | (1901-07-07)July 7, 1901 New York City |
| Died | August 4, 1973(1973-08-04) (aged 72) |
| Occupation(s) | Film producer and director |
| Years active | 1933–1973 |
Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an Americanfilm producer anddirector. Katzman's specialty was producing low-budget genre films, includingserials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers.[1]
Sam was born to aJewish family;[2] his fatherAbe Katzman was a violinist. He and Sam's mother Rebecca (née Sugarman) were fromKishinev,Bessarabia Governorate,Russian Empire (now Chisinău,Moldova). Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledglingEast Coast film industry and moved from prop boy toassistant director atFox Films.[3] He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was aHollywood producer for more than 40 years.[1] Katzman worked as an assistant toNorman Taurog and got married on the set ofThe Diplomats in 1928 at Fox.[4]
In October 1927 he signed with comic Joe Russo to make a series of two-reel comedies.[5]
Katzman was a production supervisor atShowmen's Pictures in the early 1930s, andScreencraft Productions in July 1935.[6]
His movies includedHis Private Secretary (Showmen's, 1933) starring a youngJohn Wayne (made for $9,000 and earned $95,000).[7] They also madePolice Call (1933),Ship of Wanted Men (1933),Public Stenographer (1933), andSt. Louis Woman (1934).
He worked as a producer atA. W. Hackel'sSupreme Pictures, where he mostly made Westerns starringBob Steele.[8] Filming started 15 May 1934 withA Demon for Trouble (1934).[9]
Other films includedWestern 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) andThe Kid Ranger (1936).
In June 1935 Katzman announced he would make six films written by Peter Kyne for Fox, starting withDanger Ahead.[10] He ended up taking overBryan 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 beingSuicide Squad (1935).
From 1935 to 1940 Victory produced two serials and 30 features, includingWesternfilm series starringTom Tyler andTim McCoy,[12] and action pictures withHerman Brix andBela Lugosi. Katzman also made crime films likeHot Off the Press (1935),Bars of Hate (1935),The Fighting Coward (1935) andDanger Ahead (1935), many of which were written byPeter B. Kyne.
Katzman entered the world of serials in 1936 (withShadow of Chinatown (1936) starringBela 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 throughMonogram Pictures.
At Monogram, a "budget" studio, Katzman partnered withJack Dietz, under the name Banner Productions, to produce 22East Side Kids features, two musicals, and a series of thrillers withBela Lugosi. In April 1941 Katzman signed Lugosi to make three films,[15] which were well received. Lugosi ultimately made nine films for Katzman.
In January 1943 Katzman signed a contract with stage starFrank Fay and screen comicBilly 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.
Katzman continued to produce features for Monogram through 1948. His final East Side Kids movies wereDocks of New York (1945),Mr. Muggs Rides Again (1945) andCome Out Fighting (1945). The series came to an abrupt end when its starLeo 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 asThe Bowery Boys.)
In November 1945 Katzman replaced the rowdy East Side Kids withThe Teen Agers, a wholesome gang of high-schoolers. These were vehicles for singerFreddie Stewart.[16] It was an early example of Katzman's output aimed specifically at a teenage audience. He produced six of these musical comedies through 1948.
In September 1944 Katzman was offered a job producing serials forColumbia Pictures, starting withBrenda Starr, Reporter (1945) andWho's Guilty? (1945).[17] With typical thrift, he produced these on the side, using Monogram's actors and technicians. The Columbia serials proved successful, and Katzman became their permanent producer, using Columbia's own technicians and facilities.
In June 1946 Katzman announced he would make his first feature for Columbia, a remake ofThe 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 signedJean Porter to star inBetty Co-Ed (1946), made by Katzman's Monogram directorArthur Dreifuss. The film received excellent reviews, prompting Columbia to ask for three more. Porter leftMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which was downsizing, to sign with Katzman. The three musicals wereLittle Miss Broadway (1947),Sweet Genevieve (1947) andTwo Blondes and a Redhead (1947).
Katzman and Dreifuss then made two films with singerGloria Jean, who had been a star atUniversal Pictures. Katzman was so pleased byI 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]
Katzman's other Columbia musicals wereMary Lou (1948) andGlamour Girl (1948). He made two sports-themed features starringGloria Henry:Racing Luck (1948) andTriple Threat (1948). During this time Katzman continued to produce serials:Jack Armstrong (1947),The Vigilante (1947),The Sea Hound (1947) withBuster Crabbe,Brick Bradford (1948),Congo Bill (1948) and the outstandingly successfulSuperman (1948).
The boxoffice performance of Katzman's action movies and serials, particularlySuperman, 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 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 aJungle Jim series starringJohnny Weissmuller.[21] The budgets for the Weissmuller films were announced at $350,000 per film.[22]
Katzman's stock-in-trade was now a mix of Arabian Nights fantasies (which he called "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 forThe Prince of Thieves (1948), a version of the Robin Hood story starring Hall.[20] Other action-oriented Katzman product around this time included the Jungle Jim adventures; the serialsTex Granger (1948),Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949),Batman and Robin (1949), andBruce Gentry – Daredevil of the Skies (1949); the action thrillerThe Mutineers (1949) with Hall; the swashbucklerBarbary Pirate (1949); and the crime movieChinatown 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]
Katzman's 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 shrewdly planned each production with both eyes on the budget, so that he would be spending less and less money as filming progressed. He would film crowd scenes first, then dismiss many of the actors. The remaining featured players would perform their scenes, and then leave. Finally, only the two or three leading actors were still on the payroll, working with a few recognizable, economical bit players.
Katzman's main directors during his early years at Columbia were Arthur Dreifuss,Lew Landers,William Berke, andSpencer Gordon Bennet. Berke specialized in the Jungle Jim films:Mark of the Gorilla (1950),Pygmy Island (1950),Captive Girl (1951) andFury of the Congo (1951). Bennet made the serials: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) andSon of Geronimo (1952). Landers handled the other action features likeState Penitentiary (1950),Revenue Agent (1950) withLyle Talbot,Last of the Buccaneers (1950) withPaul Henreid,Chain Gang (1950),Tyrant of the Sea (1950) withRon Randell,Hurricane Island (1951) andWhen the Redskins Rode (1951) with Hall,A Yank in Korea (1951) withLon McAllister.Richard Quine, then under contract to Columbia, made one of his first films as director for Katzman,Purple Heart Diary (1951); he later didSiren of Bagdad (1953) with Paul Henreid.
Lew Landers took over direction of Jungle Jim movies forJungle Manhunt (1951) andJungle Jim in the Forbidden Land (1952), and didCalifornia Conquest (1952) withCornel Wilde.Fred F. Sears, formerly an actor in Columbia features, began directing Columbia'sCharles Starrett westerns; when that series lapsed, he started work for Katzman withLast Train from Bombay (1952) starring Hall.Wallace Grissell directedA Yank in Indo-China (1952) andSidney Salkow directedThe Golden Hawk (1952) withSterling Hayden andThe Pathfinder (1952) with George Montgomery.
Columbia's presidentHarry Cohn sometimes used the Sam Katzman unit as a threat, to keep recalcitrant actors in line or terminate an unwanted contract. Columbia owedLucille 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 forThe Magic Carpet (1951), which was filmed inSuper Cinecolor.[27]
Director Spencer Bennet continued to make serials likeBlackhawk (1952) andKing of the Congo (1952), and branched into features such asBrave 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 inThief of Damascus (1952), directed byWill 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 withSerpent of the Nile (1953) withRhonda Fleming andRaymond 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 includingSlaves of Babylon (1953) withRichard Conte,Conquest of Cochise (1953) withJohn Hodiak, and two Westerns with Montgomery,Fort Ti (1953) andMasterson of Kansas (1954),The Law vs. Billy the Kid (1954) with Scott Brady, andThe Saracen Blade (1954) withRicardo Montalbán.
Richard L. Bare directedPrisoners of the Casbah (1953) withGloria Grahame.William Berke returned to the Jungle Jim franchise withValley of the Head Hunters (1953). Sidney Salkow madeJack McCall, Desperado (1953) with Montgomery andPrince of Pirates (1954) withJohn Derek. Spencer Bennet directed the Jungle Jim filmsSavage Mutiny (1953) andKiller Ape (1953). Fred Sears directedTarget Hong Kong (1953) with Richard Denning,Sky Commando (1953) withDan Duryea,The 49th Man (1953) with John Ireland and Denning, andMission Over Korea (1953) with Hodiak and Derek. Former assistant directorSeymour Friedman madeFlame of Calcutta (1953).
Katzman continued to produce serials such asThe Great Adventures of Captain Kidd (1953),The Lost Planet (1953),Riding with Buffalo Bill (1954), andGunfighters of the Northwest (1954)
Lee Sholem directedJungle Man-Eaters (1954) which was the last official Jungle Jim movie. Weissmuller made three more, playing himself.
In July 1954 it was announced that Katzman's company, now called Clover Productions, would make 15 films for Columbia.[32][33] Castle directedJesse 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 andThe Battle of Rogue River (1954) with Montgomery. Fred Sears had a solid hit withThe Miami Story (1954).
By the mid-1950s television was making inroads into the action market. The Weissmuller series ended in 1955. Serials were gradually phased out, now with all-time-low budgets and consisting largely of action scenes from older serials. The last ones wereThe Adventures of Captain Africa (an aborted sequel toThe Phantom, 1955),Perils of the Wilderness (1956), andBlazing 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-'n'-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 toThe Creature with the Atom Brain, Berne Giler onDressed 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 asIt Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), with effects fromRay Harryhausen. That was produced byCharles H. Schneer who had worked with Katzman for a number of years; Schneer and Harryhausen went on to makeEarth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) for Katzman before Schneer left to form his own unit at Columbia.
Katzman still made westerns such asThe Gun That Won the West (1955),Seminole Uprising (1955),Blackjack Ketchum, Desperado (1955) andDuel on the Mississippi (1955), swashbucklers likePirates of Tripoli (1955) and crime films such asNew Orleans Uncensored (1955),Chicago Syndicate (1955),The Crooked Web (1955),The Houston Story (1956),Miami Exposé (1956) andInside Detroit (1956). He also did the occasional thriller likeUranium Boom (1956).
His work had an increasing focus on teens, however.Teen-Age Crime Wave (1955) andRumble 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-'n'-roll musical, Katzman reworked elements from his Gloria Jean musicalI Surrender Dear into one of Columbia's biggest hits,Rock Around the Clock (1956) withBill Haley and His Comets.[35] This cost $300,000 and earned over $4 million.[23] This was followed byCha-Cha-Cha Boom! (1956),Don't Knock the Rock (1957, again with Bill Haley),Calypso Heat Wave (1957) andJuke Box Rhythm (1959, scheduled for Bill Haley but ultimately made with singerJack Jones).
Katzman also produced horror films for the teenage audience, includingThe Werewolf (1956),The Man Who Turned to Stone (1957),The Giant Claw (1957),Zombies of Mora Tau (1957) andThe Night the World Exploded (1957).
In May 1957 Katzman toldVariety: "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 asUtah Blaine (1957),Escape from San Quentin (1957),The Tijuana Story (1957) andThe 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 asGoing Steady (1958) andLife Begins at 17 (1958);Crash Landing (1958), a disaster film based onPan Am Flight 6; a pair of war films starringVan Johnson shot in Europe,The Last Blitzkrieg (1959) andThe Enemy General (1960); and a drama about trapeze artists,The Flying Fontaines (1959).
Katzman signed a deal with20th Century-Fox starting withThe Wizard of Baghdad (1960), an "Eastern" withDick Shawn. He did this under a verbal agreement withBuddy Adler. In September 1960,Robert Goldstein signed him to a three-picture contract with Fox. These were to beGentlemen Pirates written by Mel Levy, a film about Mississippi gamblers written by Jesse Lasky Jr. and Pat Silver, andCypress 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]
Katzman 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 makeThe Wild Westerners (1962), a Western, as well as two "twist" movies starringChubby Checker,Twist Around the Clock (1961) andDon'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]
Katzman accepted an offer to move his operation toMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1963. He started with a low budget musicalHootenanny Hoot (1963), which led to several more musicals:Get Yourself a College Girl (1964) andWhen the Boys Meet the Girls (1965) (a remake ofGirl Crazy).[40] MGM also financed three of Katzman's best known movies: two films starringElvis Presley,Kissin' Cousins (1964) andHarum Scarum (1965), as well asYour Cheatin' Heart (1964), a biopic ofHank 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."[41]
In December 1964 Katzman announced he would make five films that year for MGM in his third year at the studio.[42]
Katzman made theHerman's Hermits filmHold On! (1966) and singerRoy Orbison's only film,The Fastest Guitar Alive.[43]
In 1967 he signed a new contract with MGM to make at least two films a year.[44] These wereHot Rods to Hell (1967), the last film forJohn Brahm, andRiot on Sunset Strip (1967). Katzman wound up selling the latter to AIP for release.[45]
His last films for MGM wereA Time to Sing (1967) withHank Williams Jr. andThe Young Runaways (1968).
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 makeThe Love-Ins andFor Singles Only (both 1967)[19]
Katzman's final films were produced by his son Jerry. These includedAngel, Angel, Down We Go (1969) for AIP,How to Succeed with Sex (1970) andThe Loners (1972) for Fanfare Productions.
He was the uncle of television producerLeonard Katzman, and, in turn, the great-great-uncle ofEthan Klein of the Israeli-AmericanYouTube comedy channelh3h3Productions.
He was married to Hortense Katzman. They married on the set of the filmThe Diplomats in 1928.[46] She sued for divorce in 1955, but the two reconciled.[47]
Sam Katzman died on August 4, 1973, in Hollywood. He is interred in theHillside Memorial Park Cemetery inCulver City, California.
As producer unless otherwise mentioned.
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