During its one-year span, from 1962 to 1963, Curtis Enterprises developed more than half a dozen properties but only completed a single film: 40 Pounds of Trouble.
In January 1961, Curtleigh Productions announced that Stanley Margulies had been appointed Vice-President of the company; a month later, headquarters were set up in a modest office space on Revue Studios' lot in Universal City, California.
[8] The couple held a press announcement on March 17, 1962 admitting that they had been having difficulty for several years and that shortly after returning from Argentina, Curtis had moved out from their Beverly Hills, California home.
[11][12][13] On June 15, 1962 Leigh filed for divorce in the Santa Monica Superior Court, thereby ending any possibility for reconciliation and the resumption of Curtleigh Productions.
[17][18] Bernard Wolfe was writing the screenplay and Gower Champion had been signed to direct, with Curtis, Jack Lemmon and Larry Storch confirmed to star.
[19][20][21] 40 Pounds of Trouble, a $2,000,000 comedy film adapted by Marion Hargrove from Damon Runyon's novelette Little Miss Marker about a gambler who dies and leaves his daughter in the hands of the casino's manager, had been in development since mid-August 1961.
[34][35] Curtis felt that too many actors interfered in areas of filmmaking in which they were not qualified and explained that the purpose of forming his independent film production unit was solely for the freedom of choosing his own starring properties, after years of being imposed roles by Universal-International Pictures.
[38][39] The revamping of Playboy pushed its production back to late 1962, allowing Monsieur Cognac be made during the summer of 1962, once Curtis wrapped up 40 Pounds of Trouble.
[45] Curtis spent three months of the summer and fall of 1962 in Europe, traveling to Germany, France, Switzerland, England, Spain and Italy,[46] all the while contemplating the shooting of Monsieur Cognac on location in Paris.
Curtis and Margulies slowly began shifting the workload to the new corporation, but waited until 40 Pounds of Trouble was released to use the new company name publicly.
Upon returning to America in September 1962, Curtis, Margulies and Hecht decided that Monsieur Cognac would be made in Hollywood and set January 1963 as a tentative filming date.
[59] In September 1962, Curtis Enterprises acquired the filming rights to Samuel Grifton's novel A Most Contagious Game, a suspense-crime-thriller about a magazine reporter who goes undercover as a gangster to research the underworld but ends up becoming a mob leader himself.
[63] In January 1959, Bryna Productions' three-year option on A Most Contagious Game expired and the filming rights were scooped up by Dick Clark.
[70] Another project which Curtis Enterprises was developing during this time was an adaptation of Allen Boretz and John Murray's play Room Service.
[11] The play had already been filmed twice, once with the Marx Brothers and Lucille Ball, then again under the title Step Lively with Frank Sinatra, Gloria DeHaven and Adolphe Menjou.
[72] Curtis insisted that the picture be shot entirely in Hollywood and the production team began looking for someone to rewrite the script and secure a new director.
[75][76] 40 Pounds of Trouble had a limited one-day-only New Years Eve screening at select theaters across the United States, on the night of December 31, 1962.
[79] The film had its official world premiere on January 18, 1963 at the Carib-Miami-Miracle Theaters in Miami, Florida,[80] and the next day at Harrah's Club's South Shore Room in Lake Tahoe, Nevada which Curtis and Kaufmann attended.
[86] Curtis and Margulies continued working on Playboy, How Now, Bow Wow, A Most Contagious Game and Room Service through Reynard Productions, in addition to securing several more properties over the next five years.
[86] In 1963, Curtis Enterprises financed and executive produced the recording of an album by David Allyn titled This Is My Lucky Day.
[86] Curtis later played flute with Dave Mason and Stephen Stills but the sessions, although recorded by Wally Heider Studios, were never released.