King Brothers Productions

King Brothers Productions was an American film production company, active from 1941 to the late 1960s. It was founded by the Kozinsky brothers, Frank (April 1, 1913 – February 12, 1989), Maurice (Maury; September 13, 1914 – September 2, 1977), and Herman (July 4, 1916 – July 20, 1992), who later changed their surname to "King". They had notable collaborations with such filmmakers as Philip Yordan and William Castle and are particularly remembered today for employing a number of blacklisted writers during the Red Scare of the late 1940s and 1950s. Some of their films include ''Dillinger'' (1945), '' Suspense'' (1946), ''Gun Crazy'' (1949), ''Carnival Story'' (1954), '' The Brave One'' (1956—which earned writer Dalton Trumbo a Best Screenplay Academy Award), '' Gorgo'' (1961), ''Captain Sindbad'' (1963), and ''Heaven With a Gun'' (1968).

Career

Joseph Kozinsky (died 1950) was a New York fruit merchant who fathered five children, brothers Frank, Maurice and Herman, and two sisters. The family moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s. The brothers did various odd jobs including selling newspapers and shining shoes before getting into slot machines. They borrowed $250 and built an empire up to 19,000 machines. They also branched into race horses.

In 1940, the brothers, along with their sister Nettie Segal, were charged with tax evasion.

Entering the Film Industry

The same year, Maurice Kozinsky looked at getting into slot machine movies. They formed Hollywood Quality Pictures Incorporated to develop slot machine projectors and met with Cecil B. De Mille to source films. Morris later recalled:

De Mille, he has an inferior complex. It takes two weeks to get into see him. Well, we didn't like that. We're just plain businessmen. We finally told him we had to get some pictures. He said he was going to get Sally Rand to make some. Then he said he had a deal with some trapeze artists. Well, you know yourself, you're out with a gal relaxing in a bar, you don't want to see no bubble dancer or acrobat. You want to hear some good music. You want something with class. You want to see Bing Crosby maybe. That was the trouble. De Mille might make big epics but for us he didn't have no class.

The Kozinskys decided to abandon slot machine projecting for actual film production. Morris said he told his brother Frank:

What is this racket, anyway? If De Mille can do it, why can't we? We're clever guys, we couldn't lose more than ten or twenty thousand dollars. Maybe we should make a movie. Then maybe we can forget how he made us look like mugs.

The brothers knew Hollywood personalities like Louis B. Mayer and Frank Capra from the racetrack and asked them for advice. "So we had to go ahead", said Morris. "Or else we would have looked cheap to Mayer and Capra because we'd told them about it."

They formed KB Productions and made the film '' Paper Bullets'', releasing through Producers Releasing Corporation in exchange for $19,500 and 50% of the profits. The movie was shot at Talisman Studios over six days. It was a success and the brothers were launched as film producers.

In 1942, the Kozinskys changed their surnames to "King".

They had an enormous success with ''Dillinger'' (1945). Morris told the press at the time:

Nobody discovered us – we discovered ourselves. We didn't come in to this business as paupers and we won't go out of it as paupers ... It's like this- we're honest and our door is open to everybody. We've got no overhead – our overhead begins when we start shooting and ends the day we put the film in the can. That's the way we do business and we're not going to stop until we get an Academy Award and land one of our pictures in the Radio City Music Hall.

''Dillinger'' was written by Philip Yordan, who would work for the brothers on numerous occasions. He later described them:

Frank was like a 300-pound Chinaman. Always a big cigar in his mouth and a drawer full of Hershey bars. Always wondering why he was so fat because, he says, "I don't eat." Maurice had been a prize fighter and would always have black coffee, but he was heavy too. When I first met them ... they weren't gangsters but they had nvestments inslot machines and they were probably running something llegalin town. Nobody questioned it. They had a few bucks, not rich, but they had a few bucks ... They were very honest. And they always paid me.

The Kings had a production assistant, Arthur Gardner, who later recalled "Frank was the smartest brother and the leader. Maurie watched the money and Hymie just kind of tagged along ... Frank had a good story mind and supervised everything ... I believe Frank King would have succeeded in any business. He was a sharp as a tack."

In 1945, they announced plans to make their most expensive film yet, the musical ''Golden Girl'' starring Belita. Instead they put her in a drama, ''Suspense''.

New Company

In September 1950, the King Brothers changed how they financed their films. They publicly floated their company, getting permission to use a million $1-par shares. They issued $300,000 worth of shares and used it to finance ''Drums in the Deep South''. $300,000 was later raised for ''The Syndicate''. The King Brothers paid $70,000 for 70,000 of their own shares. There were over 700 shareholders and the King Brothers took 50% of the profits.

The King Brothers later sued RKO for mismanaging the distribution and sale of three of their films, '' The Brave One'', ''Carnival Story'' and ''Drums in the Deep South'', claiming $6,030,000 in damages.

Select Filmography

*'' Paper Bullets'' (1941)
*'' I Killed That Man'' (1941)
*''Klondike Fury'' (1942)
*'' Rubber Racketeers'' (1942)
*''I Escaped from the Gestapo'' (1943)
*'' The Unknown Guest'' (1943)
*'' Johnny Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1944)
*''When Strangers Marry'' (1944)
*''Dillinger'' (1945)
*'' Suspense'' (1946)
*'' The Gangster'' (1947)
*''The Dude Goes West'' (1948)
*''Bad Men of Tombstone'' (1949)
*''Gun Crazy'' (1950)
*''Southside 1-1000'' (1950)
*''Drums in the Deep South'' (1951)
*'' Mutiny'' (1952)
*'' The Ring'' (1952)
*''Carnival Story'' (1954)
*''Circus of Love'' (1954)
*'' The Brave One'' (1956)
*''Rodan'' (1956)
*'' Gorgo'' (1961)
*''Captain Sindbad'' (1963)
*''Maya'' (1966)
*''Return of the Gunfighter'' (1967)
*''Maya'' (1967–68) – TV series
*''Heaven With a Gun'' (1968)

Unmade films

*''Wire Service'' (1942) – the life of Moe Annenberg
*''A Million Spies'' (1942)
*''Blood Money'' (1942)
*''Money Talks'' (1942)
*''Mr Celebrity'' (1942)
*''I Was a Prisoner of Japan'' (1944)
*''I Killed Hitler'' by Robert Kehoe (1944)
*''Absent Without Love'' (1945) by Niven Busch
*''Lady Member'' (1944) based on story by Damon Runyon
*''The Honest Gambler'' (1945) by Philip Yordan
*''Payment Due'' (1945) with Lawrence Tierney
*''I Wouldn't Be in Your Shoes'' by William Irish (1945)
*''Golden Girl'' (1945) by Philip Yordan – with Belita
*''The Hunted'' by Steve Fisher
*''Focus'' (1946) based on novel by Arthur Miller
*''The Dark Road'' (1946) by Doris Disney
*''Tijuana'' (1947)
*''The Syndicate'' (1951)
*''The Backlash'' (1952) – about the Angola Prison Farm
*''Memo to Mike'' (1952) – a musical with Dimitri Tiomkin

In popular culture

Frank Kozinsky was portrayed by actor John Goodman and Hymie (Herman) Kozinsky was portrayed by actor Stephen Root in the 2015 film '' Trumbo''.

References

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American film studios
Sibling filmmakers
Mass media companies established in 1941
Film production companies of the United States
American companies established in 1941