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Volume 51, Number 14
February 3, 1954
CROWDS FLOCK TO THE NORWALK, NORWALK, CONN., FOR THE GALA REOPENING OF THE COMPLETELY MODERNIZED HOUSE, CLOSED FOR THREE YEARS.
The Norwalk (Conn.) Story Can Be Repeated Elsewhere
Courage Of Three Men, Plus The Backing Of A City Of 50,000, Caused The Reopening Of A House
THESE days, when too much industry news centers around theatre closings and other exhibition difficulties, it is refreshing to hear a story which com¬ pletely reverses the trend.
Such a tale unfolded recently in Nor¬ walk, Conn., a city of 50,000, as the Nor¬ walk, dark for the past three years, re¬ opened as one of Connecticut’s most beau¬ tiful first-run showplaces.
This newest success story in New Eng¬ land exhibition stars a trio known as “The Boys.”
Alphabetically, they are Norman Bialek, Leonard E. Sampson, and Robert C. Spodick.
The fast-moving men now operate six southern Connecticut theatres and have also been active in exhibition in Hartford, Conn. Each is a former New York City theatre aide who rose up the industry ladder via the managerial route. Each is 35 years old, and Sampson and Spodick
are cousins. Their friendship goes all the way back to their New York theatre days.
Bialek, a graduate of City College of New York, ushered at the Greenwich and Strand while an undergraduate. During the war, he served in the navy, stationed in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Sampson also was stationed during his army career.
After the war, Bialek, determined to make show business his future, entered theatre operation in North Bergen and Montclair, both in New Jersey.
Then, a little more than a year ago, Spodick and Sampson told him about the opportunity to take over the Fine Arts, Westport, Conn. Bialek came in as man¬ ager, and “The Boys” were on their way.
Now the Fine Arts is one of the state’s most successful houses of its kind.
Spodick has a two-fold reason to look back happily on his days at Loew’s Sheri¬ dan, New York. There he met his wife, Tui, also an aide. They now have two
children. He also served as manager, Little Carnegie, New York, and then tried the advertising business, but soon re¬ turned to exhibition with Sampson, as¬ sisted by his uncle, Richard Cohen, a former New Haven film executive who now manages the Art Cinema, Black Rock, Conn., and the pair set up at the Lincoln and Crown, New Haven.
Sampson’s humble beginning in the in¬ dustry led to the assistant managership of the Gramercy, the managership of the Fifth Avenue Playhouse, and the man¬ agership of the Ascot. He is married and the father of two children.
In addition to the Crown, Lincoln, Art Cinema, Fine Arts, and Norwalk, the men operate the Empress, South Norwalk.
But the story that captured the imagi¬ nation of the industry was that of the Norwalk’s rejuvenation, and it deserves special attention.
It was opened in 1915 at a cost of
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