Albert Zugsmith was born on April 24, 1910 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Touch of Evil (1958), Sex Kittens Go to College (1960) and College Confidential (1960). He died on October 26, 1993 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Al had a daughter, Patty Zugsmith, who was born around 1942 and went to Van Nuys High School in the San Fernando Valley,(Los Angeles) during the late 1950s.
2
A genial, multi-faceted entrepreneur already in his teens. Founded the Atlantic City (NJ) newspaper "Daily World" in 1935, also acting as its publisher and editor. Subsequently active as consultant to newspapers, radio and television stations. As an attorney, represented Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster in their 1948 lawsuit against DC Comics. First in Hollywood as a band publicist, later returned as producer of prestige films directed by Orson Welles and Douglas Sirk at Universal. Subsequently headed his own independent production company, turning out cheaply made exploitation films. Best of these, and accorded cult status, is Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962), starring Vincent Price.
3
Served as the first lawyer for "Superman" creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Schuster. They sough greater creative and financial control from National (DC) Comics in regards to licensing, general comic book profits and creative credit. Zugsmith's career then turned to film production. As it turned out, he wasn't able to get Siegel and Schuster what they wanted.
4
Outfoxed "Beat" authors Jack Kerouac ("On the Road") and John Clellon Holmes ("Go") to lay claim to the term "The Beat Generation". In the early 1950s Kerouac was disturbed that his friend Holmes managed to get his "Beat Generation" novel "Go" into print before his own was published ("Go", in which Kerouac is a main character, was published in 1952, while "On the Road" was not published until 1957). Kerouac was worried that Holmes was plagiarizing him, although Holmes was careful to credit Kerouac with creating the term "Beat" for their generation, and much of the material was common amongst them and other writers of their circle, such as Allen Ginsberg. Ironically, Zugsmith outfoxed Kerouac by copyrighting the term "The Beat Generation", which he used as the title of his egregious eponymous exploitation film (The Beat Generation (1959)), which was released by MGM in 1959. A year later the studio released a film of Kerouac's novel "The Subterraneans" (The Subterraneans (1960)), made by with top talent. It proved to be a major disappointment, as it grossly misrepresented the scene (as well as Kerouac's novel). Ironically, "The Subterraneans" probably is the premier contemporary movie about the Beats, as so few "Beat" movies were made ("On the Road" has never been filmed), the phenomenon occurring during a time of strict screen censorship in the US. By the time censorship was lifted in 1967, the Beats had been supplanted by the Hippies.
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Sappho Darling
1968
executive producer - uncredited
The Incredible Sex Revolution
1965
producer - uncredited
Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill
1964
producer
The Great Space Adventure
1963
producer
Zigzag
1963
producer
Confessions of an Opium Eater
1962
producer
Dondi
1961
producer
Sex Kittens Go to College
1960
producer
College Confidential
1960
producer
Platinum High School
1960
executive producer
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
1960
producer - uncredited
Girls Town
1959
producer
The Big Operator
1959
producer
The Beat Generation
1959
producer
Night of the Quarter Moon
1959
producer
High School Confidential!
1958
producer
Touch of Evil
1958
producer
The Female Animal
1958
producer
The Tarnished Angels
1957
producer
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue
1957
producer
Man in the Shadow
1957/I
producer
The Girl in the Kremlin
1957
producer
The Tattered Dress
1957
producer
The Incredible Shrinking Man
1957
producer
Written on the Wind
1956
producer
Star in the Dust
1956
producer
Raw Edge
1956
producer
Red Sundown
1956
producer
The Square Jungle
1955
producer
Female on the Beach
1955
producer
Top Banana
1954
producer
Paris Model
1953
producer
Port Sinister
1953
associate producer
Sword of Venus
1953
associate producer
Invasion, U.S.A.
1952
producer
Captive Women
1952
associate producer
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
Violated!
1975
The Phantom Gunslinger
1970
The Very Friendly Neighbors
1969
Two Roses and a Golden Rod
1969
The Chinese Room
1968
Movie Star, American Style or; LSD, I Hate You
1966
Psychedelic Sexualis
1966
uncredited
The Incredible Sex Revolution
1965
Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill
1964
uncredited
Einer Frisst den anderen
1964
some scenes
The Great Space Adventure
1963
Confessions of an Opium Eater
1962
Dondi
1961
Sex Kittens Go to College
1960
College Confidential
1960
The Private Lives of Adam and Eve
1960
Top Banana
1954
uncredited
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Violated!
1975
The Phantom Gunslinger
1970
Two Roses and a Golden Rod
1969
writer
Sappho Darling
1968
written by
The Chinese Room
1968
screenplay
Movie Star, American Style or; LSD, I Hate You
1966
Psychedelic Sexualis
1966
uncredited
The Incredible Sex Revolution
1965
written by
Sex Kittens Go to College
1960
story
College Confidential
1960
story
The Female Animal
1958
story
Female on the Beach
1955
unconfirmed - unconfirmed, uncredited
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Thing with Two Heads
1972
Cameo Appearance
Movie Star, American Style or; LSD, I Hate You
1966
Director
Russ Meyer's Fanny Hill
1964
Grand Duke
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Douglas Sirk: Über Stars
1980
TV Movie documentary
Himself
The Billy Daniels Show
1959
TV Series
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Acting for Douglas Sirk: 'Written on the Wind' and 'The Tarnished Angels' Remembered
$3 Million
