Editing Columbia Pictures (section)

===1960s: After Harry Cohn's death===
[[File:Columbia Pictures Aktie.jpg|thumb|[[Stock certificate]] in 1965]]
Shortly after closing their short subjects department, Columbia president [[Harry Cohn]] died of a heart attack in February 1958. His nephew Ralph Cohn died in 1959, ending almost four decades of family management.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1959/08/02/archives/ralph-m-cohn-45-ty-official-diesi-screen-gems-president-a.html|title=RALPH M. COHN, 45, TY OFFICIAL, DIESI; President of Screen Gems a Columbia Pictures Aide, Had Been Film Producer|work=The New York Times|date=August 2, 1959|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

The new management was headed by Abe Schneider, who had joined the company as an office boy out of high school and become a director in 1929, rising through the financial side of the business.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://variety.com/1993/film/news/ex-col-titan-schneider-dies-106225/|author=Suzan Ayscough|work=Variety|title=Ex-Col titan Schneider dies|date=April 23, 1993}}</ref> In 1963, Columbia acquired music publisher [[Aldon Music]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1964/09/14/archives/bellhop-turned-millionaire-30-heads-a-columbia-film-division-don.html | title=Bellhop Turned Millionaire, 30, Heads a Columbia Film Division; Don Kirshner, President of Mask Unit, Made Fortane by Publishing Hit Tunes | work=The New York Times | date=September 14, 1964 }}</ref>

By the late 1960s, Columbia had an ambiguous identity, offering old-fashioned fare such as ''[[A Man for All Seasons (1966 film)|A Man for All Seasons]]'' and ''[[Oliver! (film)|Oliver!]]'' along with the more contemporary ''[[Easy Rider]]'' and ''[[The Monkees (TV series)|The Monkees]]''. After turning down releasing [[Albert R. Broccoli]]'s [[Eon Productions]] ''[[James Bond]]'' films, Columbia hired Broccoli's former partner [[Irving Allen]] to produce the [[Matt Helm]] series with [[Dean Martin]]. Columbia also produced a ''James Bond'' spoof, ''[[Casino Royale (1967 film)|Casino Royale]]'' (1967), in conjunction with [[Charles K. Feldman]], which held the adaptation rights for [[Casino Royale (novel)|that novel]].

By 1966, the studio was suffering from box-office failures, and takeover rumors began surfacing. Columbia was surviving solely on the profits made from Screen Gems, whose holdings also included radio and television stations.<ref>Dick, pp. 18–20</ref> On December 23, 1968, Screen Gems merged with Columbia Pictures Corporation and became part of the newly formed Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. for $24.5&nbsp;million.<ref name="broadcasting19681223">{{cite magazine|date=December 23, 1968|title=Columbia, SG complete $24.5 million merger|magazine=Broadcasting|page=53}}</ref> Schneider was chairman of the holding company and [[Leo Jaffe]] president.
Following the merger, in March 1969, CPI purchased [[Bell Records]] for $3.5&nbsp;million (mainly in CPI stock), retaining [[Larry Uttal]] as label president.