I know exactly the spot you mean and that edit has always bothered me. It could have been so easily remedied by separating the two shots with an inserted cutaway to something else. The editing is quite sloppy throughout. I'm glad the editing Oscar went to MARY POPPINS.
And while I'm not sure about this particular case, these billings of "And So-and-So as Blah-blah-blah" are often the sort of star billing perks that agents like to insist upon for their well-known clients who are taking a non-starring part. Bikel was not a movie star, but he was a well-known...