Word: punchboards
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With a circulation of about 1,000, the Tribune was a sleepy small-town weekly -- until its boy editor stumbled on punchboard gambling in Madison County. With the impetuousness of youth, Simon unearthed a daisy chain of gambling and prostitution operating under the protection of local officials. A typical issue of the Tribune would combine an angry front-page editorial decrying gambling with an earnest column by the editor ("Trojan Thoughts") singing the praises of church camps...
When it comes to picking up-and dropping-a fast buck, few can match Chicago's Ralph E. Stolkin, 36. By using the mails and punchboards to peddle such merchandise as ballpoint pens, coonskin caps and cheap radios, Stolkin ran a $15,000 loan into a $3,400,000 fortune. After the Federal Trade Commission cracked down on him for "deceptive sales practices" and U.S. postal authorities warned him against conducting a lottery by mail, Punchboard King Stolkin headed for Hollywood. He took charge of a five-man syndicate that bought RKO from Howard Hughes and named himself president...
Like an old flame who would not be jilted, RKO Pictures Corp. was back in Howard Hughes's lap last week. For the five-man syndicate, headed by Chicago Punchboard Promoter Ralph Stolkin, which had bought Hughes's controlling interest in RKO for $7,093,940, it was the end of a short flirtation with moviemaking. Unable to control the company because of bad publicity about their past activities (TIME, Oct. 27), the syndicate had tried to sell the stock, but found no takers at anything like the $7 a share it had paid for it. Though...
...revolving door, RKO last week lost its two remaining top officers and was left with a board of directors of only two members. Just three weeks ago, Chairman Arnold Grant forced the resignations of President Ralph Stolkin and one director who had been in & out of trouble for their punchboard and other activities (TIME, Oct. 27) before they bought control of RKO from Howard Hughes. Last week Chairman Grant, who had been hired at $2,000 a week by the new owners to run the company, turned in his resignation. Out with him went his cousin, Executive Vice President Arnold...
...President & Director Ralph Stolkin and Director Abraham Koolish, his father-in-law, who have frequently tangled with the Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau because of their punchboard promotions, mail-order life insurance and other past activities (TIME, Oct. 27). ¶Director William Gorman, the board representative of Oilman Ray Ryan, another member of the Stolkin-Koolish syndicate which bought control of RKO a month ago. Ryan's name had cropped up in the Kefauver hearings when it developed that he and Racketeer Frank Costello had an interest in the same oil lease. ¶Sidney Korshak, a Chicago...