The King of Content

Home > Other > The King of Content > Page 35
The King of Content Page 35

by Keach Hagey


  20. During the grand jury: “Timiltys Move to Restrict Their Books to Jury Use,” Boston Globe, February 9, 1943.

  21. During the trial, two Malden: Leslie Ainley, “Sagansky Offered Bribes for Beano, Malden Officials Say,” Boston Globe, February 9, 1943.

  22. He added that Club Mayfair: Leslie Ainley, “Sagansky and Carrigan Deny Beano Bribe Offers,” Boston Globe, February 12, 1943.

  23. Within a week: “Club Mayfair Gets Special 3-Day Permit.”

  24. After the lawyer: “Club Mayfair Keeps All of Its Licenses,” Boston Globe, March 9, 1943.

  25. Barely a week after Sagansky: “2 Men Wounded in Night Club Mystery Shooting,” Boston Globe, March 26, 1943.

  26. The police, mindful: “Timilty Recommends All Latin Quarter Licenses Be Ended,” Boston Globe, March 27, 1943.

  27. When Sumner entered Harvard: Harvard Freshman Red Book, 1940.

  28. During the summers: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 48.

  29. Sumner was one of about: George Packard, Edwin O. Reischauer and the American Discovery of Japan (New York: Columbia University Press, 2010).

  30. Sumner left Harvard: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 50.

  31. After the war ended in September: Ibid., 55.

  32. His Harvard yearbook: Harvard College Yearbook 1943–1944.

  33. Instead of stars, he offered: Joseph F. Dinneen, Inside Boston, Boston Globe, August 11, 1943.

  34. With Sagansky in prison: Joseph F. Dinneen, Spilling the Beans, Boston Globe, March 10, 1943.

  35. Timilty managed: Esposito, Fire in the Grove, 189.

  36. He became what: Ronald Kessler, The Sins of the Father: Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded (New York: Warner Books, 1996), 45.

  37. Bushnell never made it: “Robert T. Bushnell Dies Suddenly in N.Y. Hotel,” Boston Globe, October 24, 1949.

  38. He continued to have: “Legendary Boston Bookmaker Dead at 99,” Associated Press, January 31, 1997.

  39. Even after power: Tom Long, “Harry Sagansky, 99, Masterminded Bookmaking Empire in the ’30s and ’40s,” Boston Globe, January 20, 1997.

  40. On his ninetieth birthday: Richard J. Connolly, “At 90, Alleged Bookmaker Begins His Jail Term,” Boston Globe, January 8, 1988.

  41. By the end of his life: “Dr. Harry Sagansky, 99, of Brookline, Dentist,” Boston Herald, January 29, 1997.

  42. And he still had enough: Paul Sullivan, “Crafty Bookie’s Kids Come Out $9.5M Ahead,” Boston Herald, March 27, 1997.

  43. In the 1950s, as the mob: “The Dunes,” Online Nevada Encyclopedia. http://www.onlinenevada.org/articles/dunes-hotel.

  44. Despite help from friends: “Ruling Delays Foreclosure against Dunes,” Reno Gazette-Journal, July 25, 1987.

  45. Years later, as the FBI was investigating: JFK Assassination System Identification Form, FBI, Record Number 124-10342-1000.

  46. The nightclub business suffered: John Riley, “Latin Quarter Offers a New Kind of Entertainment for Night Clubs,” Boston Globe, November 16, 1949.

  47. By 1948, they had bought: “Revere Drive-In Theatre Opens, with ‘Swordsman,’” Boston Globe, August 25, 1948.

  48. The same year, they opened: “Redstone Pushes Hub Plans; Points Up Over-Expansion,” Billboard, April 15, 1950.

  49. But in the final weeks: “Councilors Blast Curley for OK on Drive-In Theatres,” Boston Globe, September 13, 1949.

  50. In any other year: McGrath, “Politicians, Planners and the Dilemmas of Urban Redevelopment.”

  51. Curley was not one: William J. Lewis, “Woman Serves Injunction in Drive-In Row,” Boston Globe, December 31, 1949.

  52. On January 1, 1950: “Mulligan to File Bills to Regulate Drive-In Theatres,” Boston Globe, January 1, 1950.

  53. But when Hynes was sworn in: “Hynes Can’t Halt Curley Drive-Ins, Baxter Decides,” Boston Globe, January 21, 1950.

  54. Still, Hynes had promised: McGrath, “Politicians, Planners and the Dilemmas of Urban Redevelopment.”

  Chapter 4: The Next Generation

  1. It should have been: “Redstone Pushes Hub Plans; Points Up Over-Expansion.”

  2. Leading up to 1950: Bettye H. Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General: A History of Growth through Diversification, 1922–1992 (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 1994), 18.

  3. The decline would continue: Alex Ben Block, George Lucas’s Blockbusting: A Decade-by-Decade Survey of Timeline Movies, Including Untold Secrets of Their Financial and Cultural Success (New York: itBooks, 2010).

  4. although as a percentage of population: Michelle Pautz, “The Decline in Average Weekly Cinema Attendance: 1930–2000,” Issues in Political Economy 11 (2002): 54–65.

  5. The cause was a perfect storm: Tino Balio, The American Film Industry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1976), 401.

  6. Television then exacerbated the trend: Ibid.

  7. Also, in May 1948: Ibid., 253.

  8. In the decade after Paramount: Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 49.

  9. Profits at the ten biggest companies dropped: Balio, The American Film Industry, 402.

  10. Many of these trends: Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 18.

  11. “Our problem”: “Redstone Pushes Hub Plans; Points Up Over-Expansion.”

  12. “Our apartment”: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 41–45.

  13. These reminiscences: US City Directories, Boston, 1932, entry for Morris Rohtstein; US City Directories, Boston, 1933, entry for Rebecca Rohtstein.

  14. given that his father: “Real Estate Transactions.”

  15. “everything from fixing septic fields”: Edward S. Redstone and Madeline Redstone v. Mark Schuster, George Duncan and Samuel Rosen, Middlesex Probate Court, Massachusetts, Deposition of Edward Redstone, November 16, 2004.

  16. The next year: “Miss Leila B. Warren of New York Engaged to Edward Redstone of Cohasset,” Boston Globe, December 2, 1951.

  17. The only child: David H. Warren obituary, New York Times, November 3, 1966.

  18. Eddie got his MBA: Variety, July 16, 1952.

  19. At Eddie and Leila’s wedding: “Miss Leila B. Warren Is Bride of Edward S. Redstone in New York,” Boston Globe, November 16, 1952.

  20. the brothers had always been close: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Edward Redstone.

  21. Though he worked: Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 3.

  22. As Doc Sagansky’s: Newman, “Fort Sumner.”

  23. In his autobiography: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 43.

  24. Eddie remembered her: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Edward Redstone.

  25. Sumner credits his mother’s: Sumner Redstone speech at Boston University, March 31, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11zypIc5QMY.

  26. Founded in 1635: Boston Latin School website, http://www.bls.org/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=206116&type=d.

  27. His first year: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 45–46.

  28. Over many decades: Robert Lenzner, “True Grit,” Boston Globe, March 17, 1981.

  29. “highest grade point average”: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 46.

  30. Debating Council: Harvard College Yearbook 1943–1944.

  31. Immediately after taking the bar: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 57.

  32. Phyllis’s parents: 1920 census document for Hilda Cherry.

  33. Eli Raphael: Eli Raphael naturalization document.

  34. Her only pet peeve: Gretchen Voss, “The $80 Billion Love Affair,” Boston magazine, January 12, 2000.

  35. Two years Sumner’s junior: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 57.

  36. she returned to Boston: Marriage Announcement 7, Boston Globe, January 26, 1947.

  37. Belle Redstone approved: Voss, “The $80 Billion Love Affair.”

  38. by January 1947: Marriage Announcement 7, Boston Globe.

  39. July 4, 1947: Harvard Class of 1944, 10th Anniversary Report and 25th Anniversary Report.

  40. $43 a week: Marla Matzer and Robert Lenzner, “Winning Is the Only Thing,”
Forbes, October 17, 1994.

  41. “I was not interested”: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 57–58.

  42. On September 7, 1948: “Atty Redstone Named to Washington Post,” Boston Globe, August 15, 1948.

  43. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision: United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., 334 U.S. 131.

  44. Though Sumner was assigned: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 60; “2 Ex-Justice Aides Put under Inquiry,” New York Times, August 7, 1952.

  45. Later in 1951: Matzer and Lenzner, “Winning Is the Only Thing.”

  46. The media industry: “2 Ex-Justice Aides Put under Inquiry”; Redstone, A Passion to Win, 62.

  47. After that merger: Ruth Marcus, “Death of a Law Firm: D.C. Partnership a Victim of Changing Times,” Washington Post, April 7, 1986.

  48. The crowning achievement: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 64–66.

  49. He went on to say: Ibid., 65–66.

  50. That’s an odd way: Matzer and Lenzner, “Winning Is the Only Thing.”

  51. One front-page profile: Jane Fitz Simon, “Sumner Redstone,” Boston Globe, October 5, 1986.

  52. In 1998, he told Forbes: Frank Rose, “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” Forbes, June 22, 1998.

  53. In his autobiography: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 69.

  54. In court testimony in 2009: Thomas N. O’Connor et al. v. Sumner M. Redstone et al., Suffolk Superior Court, Massachusetts, Testimony of Sumner Redstone, July 27, 2009.

  55. the Dedham and Revere: “Redstone’s Boston Drive-In Bows Okay,” Billboard, September 1, 1948.

  56. the Whitestone Bridge Drive-In: “Whitestone Drive-In Will Open on Friday,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle, August 10, 1949.

  57. the Neponset Drive-In: “Redstone Pushes Hub Plans; Points Up Over-Expansion.”

  58. Lee Highway Drive-In: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 68; and Cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/12250.

  59. By October 1955: “Lake Shore Drive-In Sold to Boston Man for $110,000,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), October 22, 1955.

  60. Drive-in owners: Segrave, Drive-In Theaters, 73.

  61. Sumner said his father: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 67.

  62. In 1954, the average drive-in: Segrave, Drive-In Theaters, 77.

  63. “For instance, I flew into Louisville”: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 70.

  64. The Kenwood Drive-In opened: “Wall Able to Resist 100-Mile-an-Hour Wind,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), June 12, 1949.

  65. Northeast’s successor company: Charlie White, “Theater Is for Sale but Potential Buyer Says Information Scarce,” Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), December 30, 2009.

  66. The same was true in Cincinnati: Cinema Treasures, http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/9787.

  67. For all of Sumner’s talk: Guy Livingstone, “Boston,” Variety, March 14, 1956.

  68. or his brother to answer questions: “Dates Set to Open Drive-Ins,” Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, NY), June 6, 1956.

  69. But as the broader film: Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 49.

  70. His official role: “San Francisco Drive-In Agenda TOA’s ‘Conventionette’ Expects Attendance of 250 Ozone Operators,” Variety, March 3, 1958.

  71. but when the press reported: “Frisco Forum’s Faith in Trust Fund; Rue Unwanted Results of Divorce,” Variety, April 2, 1958.

  72. He pinned the woes: “Film Industry Own Worst Enemy, Exhibitors Allege,” Los Angeles Times, March 28, 1958.

  73. By the time the Theatre: “Prime TOA’s 11th Year: Convention Set for Miami Beach,” Variety, June 25, 1958.

  74. And by July 1958: Variety, July 16, 1958.

  75. At the convention: “Dept. of Justice’s Open-Ears to Ideas but No Return to ‘Favored Theatres,’” Variety, October 29, 1958.

  76. In theory: Andy W. Smith Jr., “Greater Exhib-Demand for A’s; Drive-Ins’ Plus Values,” Variety, January 4, 1950; Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 21.

  77. That same year, drive-ins won: Segrave, Drive-In Theaters, 57.

  78. In March 1959: Gene Arneel, “‘Exploding’ an Import at the Waldorf,” Variety, March 25, 1959.

  Chapter 5: National Amusements

  1. On August 28, 1959: Estate of Edward S. Redstone, Deceased, Madeline M. Redstone, Executrix v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, U.S. Tax Court, 2015.

  2. The company used its: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 71.

  3. Meanwhile, across town: Pruitt, The Making of Harcourt General, 47.

  4. Phil Smith, three years: Ibid., 2.

  5. Like Mickey, he opened: Ibid., 9.

  6. Like Sumner, Phil’s son: Ibid., 22.

  7. Like Eddie, Richard: Ibid., 23.

  8. By the late 1950s: Ibid., 37.

  9. This let the Smiths: Ibid.

  10. But by the time: Ibid., 51.

  11. “I never felt I had to”: Ibid., 40.

  12. “While others were building”: Redstone, A Passion to Win, 71.

  13. By 2000: Joseph Pereira and Nikhil Deogun, “Parent of General Cinema Chain Files for Chapter 11; Top Executives Resign,” Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2000.

  14. They opened their first: “$250,000 Renovation for Redstone Indoor,” BoxOffice, November 5, 1962.

  15. Riseman, who had designed: “William Riseman, Architect of Numerous Movie Theaters,” New York Times, June 21, 1982.

  16. On a clear, breezy: Marjory Adams, “‘Great Race’ to Open New Cleveland Circle Cinema,” Boston Globe, November 21, 1965.

  17. In September 1960: “Theater Owners Told of Fight on Pay-T,” Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1960; convention schedule from Variety, September 12, 1960.

  18. Still, exhibitors were: “TOA’s Sumner Redstone Raps Toll as Detriment to Pix, Regular TV,” Variety, May 24, 1961.

  19. In 1964: “TOA Elects Redstone Prexy; Inches Nearer Allied Merger,” Variety, September 29, 1964.

  20. getting his picture taken: “Three Files Establish Andrews as TAO’s Darling of the Year,” Variety, October 20, 1965.

  21. Eddie was cutting ribbons: “Reopen Milford Drive-In,” Bridgeport (CT) Post, April 25, 1962.

  22. “I cannot be held responsible”: “Proposed Drive-In Upsets Township,” Variety, March 6, 1968.

  23. Eddie also took on: “Edward Redstone at Helm of N.E. Exhibs,” Variety, April 20, 1966.

  24. By the end of the decade: “The Real Estate Front,” Boston Globe, June 29, 1969.

  25. Nevertheless, Mickey maintained: Sumner Redstone v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Testimony of Sumner Redstone.

  26. He had begun: “Manchester,” Bennington (VT) Banner, September 9, 1964.

  27. He began creating a plan: Redstone v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 2015–237, United States Tax Court, 5 (2015).

  28. The grandchildren would receive: O’Connor v. Redstone, Amended Complaint.

  29. Sumner’s son, Brent: Brent D. Redstone v. National Amusements, Inc., Baltimore Circuit Court, Maryland, 2006, Complaint.

  30. Without Eddie’s knowledge: Edward S. Redstone and Madeline Redstone v. Mark Schuster, George Duncan and Samuel Rosen, Middlesex Probate Court, 2004, Deposition of Edward S. Redstone, 7.

  31. “When I was four”: Redstone v. Schuster, 24.

  Chapter 6: “From One Catastrophe to Another”

  1. Michael Redstone had not wanted to go: Interview with Eliot Finn.

  2. In fact, it had been the recommendation: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Michael Redstone, 25.

  3. Within two hours: Ibid., 29.

  4. Founded in 1817: Alex Beam, “The Mad Poets Society,” Atlantic, July/August 2001.

  5. In one poem: Robert Lowell, “Waking in the Blue,” in Selected Poems (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1976).

  6. Thorazine: Redstone v. Schuster, Deposition of Michael Redstone, 30.

  7. “I was often locked in a room”: Ibid., 58.

  8. Mickey and Belle were horrified: Estate of Edward S. Redstone v. Commissioner of I
nternal Revenue, 264.

  9. “My grandparents didn’t like my parents”: Redstone v. Schuster, Affidavit of Michael Redstone, 57–58.

 

‹ Prev