Biography

Sam Katzman

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New York-born Sam Katzman entered the film industry as a prop boy at age 13, and worked his way up the ladder, learning virtually every facet of film production before becoming a producer himself. Starting out producing action/adventure serials (where he got the nickname "Jungle Sam"), Katzman's output encompassed virtually every genre imaginable. In the 1930s he turned out Tim McCoy westerns for Puritan and Victory, the next decade he was grinding out the East Side Kids series at Monogram, the 1950s saw him making sci-fi opuses and teenage musicals for Columbia and in the 1960s he was cranking out hippie/biker films for AIP and Elvis Presley musicals for MGM. Due to a combination of astute marketing and the fact that he ground out films so quickly and cheaply that he could cash in on a fad before it faded away, Katzman's movies seldom if ever lost money.
- IMDb mini biography by: frankfob2@yahoo.com

Katzman is credited with coming up with the word "beatnik." Supposedly, he was at a recording studio as the score for one of his teen musicals was being put together. He heard two musicians talking, and one of them asked why a third musician they both knew didn't show up for the session. The other musician said, "That cat was just beat, Nick." Katzman misunderstood "beat, Nick" for "beatnik" (as in Sputnik), liked the sound of it, and started using it in his movies and in his everyday life to describe the younger generation he worked with. It caught on and made its way into the language.
Formed Puritan Pictures Corp., a low-budget production company. It was dissolved in 1938.
In an interview, Huntz Hall once described what it was like working for Katzman. He told how Katzman visited the set of one of the East Side Kids films they were shooting because the production was behind schedule. Katzman went to the director and said, "How many pages have you shot today?" The director said, "Five." Katzman asked, "How many are you supposed to shoot?" The director replied, "Ten." Katzman grabbed the script, tore out five pages of it and said, "You're done for the day".
Formed Victory Pictures Corp., a low-budget production company. It was dissolved in 1939.
Was a regular poker buddy of veteran character actor James Flavin, with whom he maintained a close friendship for nearly 50 years.

If you were to X-ray every Oscar, you'd find every one of them has an ulcer inside.
[asked if he was going to make any; more "twist' movies] [Twist Around the Clock (1961)] 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!
Lord knows I'll never make an Academy Award movie, but then I am just so happy to get my achievement plaques from the bank every year.
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 theaters around the country."

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