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Inventory of the Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers
080
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Title: Samuel Z. Arkoff papers
Dates: 1921-2008
Bulk Dates: 1965-1999
Collection number: 080
Creator:
Arkoff, Samuel Z.
Collection Size:
96 archival document boxes, 16 oversize archival boxes, 2 map case drawers
Repository:
Loyola Marymount University. Library. Department of Archives and Special Collections.
Los Angeles, California 90045-2659
Abstract: The Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers consist of pressbooks, posters, lobby cards, film stills, combined continuities, publicity files
and organizational files chronicling Samuel Z. Arkoff's career as a motion picture producer and executive.
Physical location: Department of Archives and Special Collections. William H. Hannon Library. Loyola Marymount University.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
Collection is open to research under the terms of use of the Department of Archives and Special Collections, Loyola Marymount
University.
Materials in the Department of Archives and Special Collections may be subject to copyright. Unless explicitly stated otherwise,
Loyola Marymount University does not claim ownership of the copyright of any materials in its collections. The user or publisher
must secure permission to publish from the copyright owner. Loyola Marymount University does not assume any responsibility
for infringement of copyright or of publication rights held by the original author or artists or his/her heirs, assigns, or
executors.
[Identification of item], Series number, Box and Folder number, Samuel Z. Arkoff papers, 080, Department of Archives and Special
Collections, William H. Hannon Library, Loyola Marymount University.
Gift of Donna Roth and Louis Arkoff. Accession number: 2008.50
Originally in possession of the School of Film and Television, Loyola Marymount University.
Samuel Zachary Arkoff holds an important place in the history of cinema as a leading creator and originator of exploitation,
low-budget films. The son of a Russian-Jewish immigrant, Samuel Z. Arkoff was born on June 18, 1918, in Fort Dodge, Iowa,
where he spent his youth. Arkoff's father, after deserting the czar's
army, had moved to Iowa in 1905, and opened a clothing store in Fort Dodge.
Arkoff graduated from Fort Dodge High School in 1935 and was a year short of graduating from the University of Iowa when
World War II began. During World War II he served in the United States Army Air Force
as a cryptographer. In 1945, while still serving in the US armed forces, he married Hilda Rusoff in Winnipeg, Canada.
Their two children, Louis and Donna, would later work in the motion picture industry themselves.
After the war Arkoff moved to Los Angeles and attended
Loyola Law School, from which he graduated in 1948.
Arkoff started his career in the entertainment industry as a legal expert in producer-distributor-exhibitor cases. Arkoff's
interest in motion pictures had begun as a youth, after reading a copy of
Variety magazine and its depiction of movies, at the 1933 Chicago World's
Fair. By 1950, he had
become vice-president of Video Associates, for which he produced the Hank McCune Show, one of television's first series.
Arkoff co-founded American Releasing Corporation in 1954 with his partner, a film exhibitor named James H. Nicholson, and
a
$3,000 loan from Joseph Moritz, Nicholson's former employer. The company started with the intention of distributing films
only, but Arkoff and Nicholson found that, because of the film recession of the 1950s, there was little product to distribute.
Thus, they decided to produce their own films as well. They changed American Releasing Corp.'s name to American
International Pictures (AIP) in 1955 and started to produce B-movies. Nicholson was president of the organization, Arkoff
its chairman of the board.
In order to make AIP successful, Arkoff and Nicholson astutely discerned that a youth market existed for action and sensationalistic
pictures. The pair consequently directed and marketed their product to teenagers, a successful marketing strategy that
earned them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The
company's first release,
The Fast and the Furious, was produced by Roger Corman for $66,000 and made a profit of $150,000, drawing audiences with its themes of fast cars
and women, and fugitives on the run. The success of AIP was also tied to
double bills at the drive-in, with such packages as
The Day the World Ended and
The Phantom from
10,000 Leagues
. This then was the formula for the success of AIP: double-feature films produced on a low budget and built on lurid themes,
skillfully illustrated by their titles and craftily marketed. As Arkoff once quipped, "In the morning Jim (Nicholson) would
come in and say, What do you think of this title....
The Beast With a Million Eyes? Ahhh, I could hear the money rolling in." He also noted that "exhibitors would come up to me and say 'Sam, if we could
just punch sprocket holes in the campaign and throw the film away'." Between 1954 and 1960, the company did not make one
film that lost money, and the trend continued. Regardless of the type of movie, whether horror, biker, beach, or science fiction,
AIP never had a year in the red in the decades of the 1950s and the 1960s.
Arkoff helped launch the careers of a number of well known actors and movie makers, such as Roger Corman, the director of
his first movie.
Others included: Jack Nicholson, Peter Fonda, Woody Allen, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello (in the
beach blanket films),
Francis Ford Coppola, Robert DeNiro, Nick Nolte, and Martin Scorsese. Iconic of this trait of AIP and its market was
I Was a Teenage Werewolf, released in 1957. Youthful Michael Landon was the teenage werewolf, and the sub-text of teenage alienation, coupled with
the movie's horror theme, made the film a hit with teenagers, who flocked to see it. (The film grossed $2000000.)
Besides launching new faces, Arkoff also helped the careers of aging stars such as Vincent Price, who starred in AIP's Edgar
Allen Poe
film series, in the 1960s.
James H. Nicholson left AIP in 1971, and Arkoff took over as the president of the company. By this time, AIP had
become an established production company. Arkoff received a number of honors, including recognition as Producer of the Year
in 1963 by the Allied States Association of Motion Picture
Theater Owners, and the Master Showman of the Decade award from the Theater Owners of America in 1964. In 1970, he was named
Commendatore of
the Order of Merit by the president of the Republic of Italy in 1970. In 1973 Arkoff was appointed international ambassador
of
Variety Clubs, the showmen's organization devoted to helping needy children.
In 1973 Samuel's son, Louis S. Arkoff, joined AIP as a legal administrator. He would go on to be appointed to the
company's executive staff and, in 1976, became vice-president of American International Pictures.
1978 saw AIP's first financial loss, which forced the company to merge with Filmways, Inc. in 1979 as a subsidiary. The same
year as the merger, AIP made and
distributed
The Amityville Horror, which was the largest grossing independent film of its time.
Love at First Bite and
Dressed to Kill were also made during this time.
1979 also saw AIP's 25th anniversary. Arkoff was invited to take part in a number of celebrations, the most notable being
at New York's Museum of Modern Art, where an American International Pictures retrospective screened over 30 of AIP's most
popular films. Arkoff received this honor with the comment that "time can dignify anything."
Arkoff left American International Pictures in 1980, citing an inability to work within the confines of a corporate
structure. By that time, he had produced and/or distributed more than 500 films. Upon his departure, Arkoff formed the Samuel
Z. Arkoff
Company in 1980, and, in 1981, his own independent production company, Arkoff International Pictures (also abbreviated AIP),
where he worked
as a film producer and executive. The company never matched the overall success of his early career.
In 1992, Arkoff published his memoirs,
Flying through Hollywood by the Seat of My Pants, an account of his career as an independent film producer and distributor.
Samuel Z. Arkoff died in 2001, only months after the death of his wife Hilda.
| 1918 | Samuel Zachary Arkoff is born on June 18 in Fort Dodge, Iowa. |
| 1933 | Realizes his love for movies after reading a copy of Variety Magazine at the Chicago World's Fair. |
| 1935 | Graduates from Fort Dodge High School. |
| 1945 | Marries Hilda Rusoff while serving as a cryptographer in the US Air Force during World War II. |
| 1948 | Graduates from Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, California. |
| 1950 | Becomes vice president of Video Associates, where he produces the Hank McCune Show, one of television's first series programs. |
| 1954 | Founds American Releasing Corporation with James H. Nicholson. |
| 1955 | American Releasing Corp. becomes American International Pictures (AIP), a company dedicated to the distribution and production of low budget films. |
| AIP produces its first release, Roger Corman's Fast and Furious, budgeted at $66,000.00. | |
| 1957 | AIP releases I was a Teenage Werewolf, which launches Michael Landon's career. |
| 1960 | AIP starts its Edgar Allen Poe series with House of Usher starring Vincent Price. |
| 1962 | AIP starts producing high budget films. |
| 1963 | Is named Producer of the Year by Allied States Association of Motion Picture Theater Owners. |
| 1964 | Receives the Master Showman of the Decade award from the Theater Owners of America. |
| 1966 | AIP releases Woody Allen's What's Up, Tiger Lily? |
| 1970 | Is named Commendatore of the Order of Merit by the president of the Republic of Italy. |
| 1971 | James H. Nicholson resigns from AIP; Arkoff takes over as the company's president. |
| 1972 | James H. Nicholson dies from a brain tumor. |
| 1979 | Is honored at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City for AIP's 25th anniversary. |
| AIP becomes a subsidiary of Filmways, Inc. and loses its independence. | |
| 1980 | Quits AIP and starts the Samuel Z. Arkoff Company. |
| 1981 | Founds Arkoff International Pictures. |
| 1992 | Releases his memoirs, Flying through Hollywood by the Seat of My Pants. |
| 2001 | Dies of natural causes. |
The Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers consist of pressbooks, posters, lobby cards, stills, combined continuities, publicity files and
organizational files chronicling the career of Samuel Z. Arkoff career as a motion picture producer and executive. Notable
topics covered in this collection include information about the companies Arkoff started and worked for, American International
Picture's 1979 merger with Filmways, Inc., contracts and agreements with actors, directors, writers and other AIP employees,
publicity and advertising materials concerning films produced and distributed by Arkoff's companies, and Louis Arkoff's (Samuel
Arkoff's son) career as a film producer. Key items within the collection include posters, lobby cards and pressbooks for seminal
American International Pictures films such as "Machine Gun Kelly", "Cool and Crazy", and "The Day the World Ended". Also included
are publications and advertising materials for the twenty-fifth anniversary of AIP, including information about a retrospective
for the company held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
The Samuel Z. Arkoff Papers are arranged into ten series, some with subseries.
Series 1: Press Books
Series 2. Publicity Files. Subseries A: 1950s, Subseries B: 1960s, Subseries C: 1970s,Subseries D: 1980s, Subseries E: 1990s
Series 3. Organizational Files. Subseries A: American International Pictures,
Subseries B: Arkoff international Pictures, Subseries C: American International Television
Series 4: Combined Continuities
Series 5: Motion Picture Posters
Series 6: Lobby Cards
Series 7: Film Stills
Series 8: Charities
Series 9: Nightcrawler
Series 10: Personal Files
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
Arkoff, Samuel Z., -- 1918-2001.
Nicholson, James H., -- 1916-1972.
American International Pictures.
American International Pictures (Firm).
American International Pictures (Firm) -- History.
B films -- United States -- History and criticism.
Exploitation films -- United States.
Film.
Motion picture industry -- United States.
Motion picture producers and directors -- United States.
Sensationalism in motion pictures.
Teen films.