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From Drive-ins to the King of All Media Column for September 1, 2005

In the mid-1930s, a first generation Jewish Bostonian named Max Rothstein built the Sunrise Drive-In Theatre in Valley Stream, Long Island, New York. That was back in the days before in-car speakers were invented so that drive in received several citations for noise pollution before it got fitted with in-car speakers. In 1940, he declared to his family that he changed the family name from Rothstein to Redstone. The original family name when his parents immigrated to America was Rothstein. So Redstone is a literal English translation. This was during World War II and Max wanted a much easier, more American-sounding name for his children. Max Rothstein changed his own name to Michael Redstone. This surprised his son Sumner who was about to enter college. So he became Sumner Redstone. The Sunrise Drive-in was the start of Michael Redstone’s company, Northeast Theater Corporation. That company would later be called National Amusements, Inc. Sumner began working for his father’s company at the Sunrise Drive-in while school was out. You can see a list of National Amusements drive-ins at http://www.michigandriveins.com/national.asp <%FloatImg "images/flinn/twin1.jpg", "Miracle Twin Burton", "left", "location.asp?ID=232&type=1"%> Sumner Redstone’s college education was interrupted when he joined the Army where he worked breaking Japanese code. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1947 among the top students in his class. He was successful in his law practice, employed at a law firm, making about $100,000 in 1954 dollars, but his heart wasn't in it. Realizing that practicing law was going to be more of a business than a personal crusade, he decided he’d rather go into business for himself. So he joined his father’s theater chain which surprised his father who wan’t much of a risk-taker. Sumner was a big risk-taker and was eager to build up the company. His law degree was certainly a big help to the company as some areas resisted the development of drive-ins the company wanted to build and a 1958 lawsuit was filed against the film studios which Redstone won which gave the Redstone drive-in theaters access to first run movies. Sumner was put in charge of expansion and scouted sites to build drive-ins on. About 40 to 50 drive-ins were built. The company owned the land the drive-ins were built on which would prove a big advantage as times changed. <%FloatImg "images/flinn/cascade1.jpg", "Cascade Drive-In", "right", "location.asp?id=41&type=1"%> It was now the 1960s and the suburbs were growing. In 1962, Sumner had lunch in Worcester, Massachusetts with the owner of a run-down local movie theater. Redstone bought the theater for next to nothing, renovated it into a twin theater, then opened Cinema 1 and 2 with "Lawrence of Arabia." That movie was a big hit in Redstone’s first hardtop. Sumner saw dollar signs with the drive-in sites in growing areas. He saw it as a way to build additional hardtops on drive-in sites. While Redstone is not credited with creating the multiplex, he was able to trademark it. So wherever you see a "Multiplex Cinemas" in the USA, it is always a National Amusements cinema. Sumner Redstone was creating a powerhouse. One competitor stated, "Our circuit builds destroyers, but National builds battleships!" National Amusements expanded inland entering Michigan. Three significant drive-ins were built as they had more than one screen. In 1969, the Cascade Twin (later Triple) Drive-In opened in Cascade outside Grand Rapids and the M-78 Twin (later Triple) Drive-In opened in Lansing. In 1973, they were joined by the Miracle Twin Drive-In Theatre in Burton outside Flint. He would also build hardtop Showcase Cinemas in Michigan, some of which opened on former drive in sites including the Cascade Twin. The Showcase Cinema in Burton was originally planned to be built with five screens on the Miracle Twin DI’s huge front yard (still vacant), but was instead built on the other side of the I-69 Belsay Road exit where there was already commercial development. During construction, a sixth screen was added. <%FloatImg "images/flinn/burton1.jpg", "Showcase Burton", "left", "location.asp?ID=416&type=5"%> Sumner Redstone had a life changing experience in 1979 when Boston’s Copley Plaza Hotel caught fire and Redstone wound up hanging outside a window with severe burns and was rescued by a ladder truck. He survived but required several surgeries and months of rehabilitation. That brush with death only reinforced his passion to win. The will to win is also the will to survive. Sumner Redstone’s passion to win was proven locally in the Flint market. After the first Showcase Cinemas in the Flint area opened in 1980, Pitt Theaters closed the Northwest Theatre and sold the Eastland Mall (later Courtland Center) Theatre to National Amusements in 1982. General Cinemas’ Dort Mall Cinema closed in 1983. GKC Theatres closed the Flint Cinema in 1986, the Bella Vista Twin Cinemas in Grand Blanc shortly afterwards and sold the entire Flint area operations to National Amusements in 1992. A planned United Artists multiplex was abandoned and taken over by National Amusements which became the Cinema 10. But this was only the beginning for the ambitious Sumner Redstone. In 1987, he had his eye on a little known company called Viacom which began as a CBS spinoff company which syndicated TV shows. They had branched out into cable TV <%FloatImg "images/flinn/cinema10.jpg", "Cinema 10", "right", "location.asp?ID=842&type=5"%> channels such as MTV and Showtime. He saw BIG potential with MTV. So he bought Viacom for $3.4 billion and everyone thought he was nuts. Sumner had the last laugh, of course. But it a bittersweet victory for Sumner as both his father and mother died in Florida while Sumner was trying to buy Viacom and would not live to see their son’s success. Viacom would later buy Paramount Pictures, then swallow up the company it was spun off from, CBS. While Sumner was busy running Viacom, his daughter Shari Redstone was put in charge of running National Amusements. <%FloatImg "images/flinn/sterling1.jpg", "Showcase Sterling Concession", "left", "location.asp?ID=1188&type=5"%> I remember when construction began on the Showcase Cinemas West in Flint, Shari came to town to choose the style of bricks to use on the walls. I prefer going to the Showcase West which is a palace compared to Burton’s Showcase East which is basically 14 shoe boxes (grown from six) with green rocking chair seats similar to the Pontiac, Sterling Heights and Grand Rapids locations which closed. The Cinema 10 and the Courtland Cinemas are two other local National Amusements theaters which have modern amenities although the Cinema 10 does not have stadium seating yet. Of all the drive-ins National Amusements built, the Miracle Twin DI in Burton is one of only three National Amusements drive-ins which are still in operation. In the age of the megaplex, some National Amusement theaters in the state fell victim as they couldn’t compete with the bigger megaplexes and pulled completely out of the Pontiac, Sterling Heights, Lansing and Grand Rapids areas. The National Amusements web site at http://www.nationalamusements.com lists all their hardtops, but not their drive-ins. So I’ll mention their open ones here: The Miracle Twin DI in Burton MI, the Oakley DI in Cincinnati, OH and the Kenwood DI in Louisville KY. Because National Amusements does not maintain a web site for the Miracle Twin DI, I’m maintaining one at http://mywebpages.comcast.net/steelbeard1/miracle.htm Why is 82 year old Sumner Redstone still running Viacom? He says why in four words: "you retire, you die." His autobiography titled "A Passion to Win" is recommended reading. Amazon lists it here. One last thing. Whatever became of the Sunrise Drive-In in Valley Stream, Long Island? It’s now the site of the Sunrise Multiplex Cinemas.

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