Word: sackings
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...began with leaving a gold pencil at a gin game," Ben Sack tells it. Sack is a heavy-set, determined man. A light grey business suit complements his wavy, greying hair. Black cameo cufflinks are the only pieces of ostentation he allows himself. His no-nonsense manner at first appears belligerent. The intimacy of his conversation, however, soon betrays his grim seriousness. "When I went back next day to get the pencil," he continues, "a young boy whose father owned a movie chain asked me if I would like to make an investment in a theatre he was building." Sack...
...time, Ben Sack was primarily involved with a copper and smelting plant. In 1949, he was again offered the chance to invest in a movie house. Again he accepted. This time it looked even rougher. The theatre, which had to be refurbished and reopened, was located in Fitchburg, a factory town of 43,000. It had only one competitor, an already successful operation right next door. Within a year and three months, Sack's group bought out the neighboring opposition. It had been owned by Joseph P. Kennedy...
...Sack, movie houses became more addictive than Frito's. In 1952, Sack found himself again in another project. This time he was to re-open the defunct Beacon Hill. Days before his first Boston opening, the other investors pulled out. Sack hung on and ended up in the black. The pattern became a familiar one. Choose an unsuccessful or closed theatre, buy it, refurbish it, re-open it. With standardized procedures and good publicity, Ben Sack began to make good...
...increase slowly after the turn of the decade. In 1956, the Saxon, formerly a legitimate stage theatre known as the Majestic, opened with a 70 mm. Todd-AO production of Oklahoma! A year later, the Gary introduced itself with Gigi. Road shows of that magnitude became the foundation of Sack's enterprises. Last year, nine road shows accounted for 43 per cent of gross admissions. Movies may not have become better, but they had become profitable...
...executive offices of the Sack Theatres are the final proof of Sack's accession. They are located in the Sack Savoy. To reach them you must take a small, antiquated elevator, with a hand-operated grate and an erratic control button. It climbs slowly, cautiously--rather like the temperamental lift that displayed more personality than Julie Andrews in Thoroughly Modern Millie. The elevator opens--hopefully--onto a nondescript corridor. You pass a press room, then a secretary's office. The inner sanctum is a large room that, despite its heavy furniture, appears empty. There is an imposing mahogany desk...