Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
SPECIAL REPORT: Showeast Awardees<br />
•<br />
SHOWTOPPERS<br />
Industry Veterans to Receive Awards,<br />
Hall of Fame Nods at Showeast 2001<br />
by Kim Williamson<br />
Editor's Note: We asked a number of the awardees, as leaders in exhibition, to send us a "Personal Statement"<br />
about themselves or about a topie of interest to them or the industry. Those "P.S." comments are included below.<br />
BARRIE LAWSON LOEKS<br />
Salah \ I. Hassanein<br />
Humanitarian Award<br />
Having begun in the exhibition business<br />
by taking a second mortgage on their<br />
home to help finance the conversion of a<br />
Rochester Hills, Mich, twin into an eightplex,<br />
Barrie Loeks and her husband and<br />
partner Jim Loeks are co-owners and<br />
operators of the Grand Rapids, Mich.-<br />
based Star Theatres chain. The Loeks in<br />
1987 entered into a partnership with<br />
Columbia Pictures that led to the building<br />
of six theatres (82 screens); after Sony's<br />
acquisition of Columbia, Ms. Loeks and<br />
her husband became co-chairmen and co-<br />
CEOs of the then 900-screen Sony/Loews<br />
circuit, serving in that role (along with<br />
retaining their Star duties) through the<br />
1998 Loews merger with Cineplex Odeon.<br />
Loeks-Star Theatres now operates 156<br />
screens in Michigan. Ms. Loeks served for<br />
two years as chairman of NATO and was<br />
named ShoWester of the Year in 1997.<br />
Personal Statement: "Since September<br />
1 1, we have all had to deal with unprecedented<br />
levels of stress, grief, fear and<br />
uncertainty about our futures. However,<br />
we have also experienced the indomitable<br />
spirit, solidarity and innate kindness of the<br />
American people. 1 know that in New<br />
York, and throughout the country, people<br />
are reaching out to help others in unprecedented<br />
ways. The decency and humanity of<br />
Americans as a society have never been<br />
more evident in my lifetime.<br />
"Many people are concerned that their<br />
work and daily routines are 'frivolous' or<br />
unimportant in light of the life and death<br />
issues of our day. However, those of us in<br />
the entertainment business have a real and<br />
very important role to play. As a society,<br />
we all share the need to come together and<br />
to laugh, cry, and be taken away from our<br />
daily lives, at least for a short while. From<br />
the days of the tribal campfires, communal<br />
storytelling has been a way of joining<br />
together and coping with life's stresses. In<br />
America, the movie theatre is the quintessential<br />
entertainment escape—accessible<br />
to all, it is the tribal campfire of our era.<br />
The respite that we receive from a trip to<br />
the movies is more needed today than ever<br />
before. Our theatres need to remain community<br />
centers where our patrons can be<br />
with others and can escape their daily<br />
troubles in order to emerge refreshed and<br />
ready to face whatever life brings. Today,<br />
our theatres can serve a more important<br />
role in society than ever before. We all need<br />
to hug our families, hug our friends, and<br />
make sure the show goes on for all of our<br />
friends and neighbors who rely on us to<br />
provide a few hours of fun."<br />
BERNARD GOLDBERG<br />
Founders Award<br />
As CEO of B.G. Enterprises, a small<br />
independent circuit headquarted in New<br />
York City, Bernard Goldberg has headed<br />
his company since its founding in 1991.<br />
Goldberg's honor, the Founders Award, is<br />
given annually to an individual who has<br />
been a key contributor to the birth and<br />
growth of the Showeast convention.<br />
RICHARD FAY<br />
Al Shapiro Distinguished Service Award<br />
Now president of AMC Film Marketing<br />
and leader of AMC's film buying team<br />
based in Woodland Hills, Calif, Richie<br />
Fay began his entertainment career in 1971<br />
and in the three decades since has held film<br />
and distribution positions with such companies<br />
as Loews Theatres. UA Theatres,<br />
MGM/United Artists and Warner Bros. In<br />
1994, he joined Sony Pictures Releasing ;<br />
senior vice president and assistant general<br />
sales manager; he moved over to AMC<br />
Entertainment in 1995.<br />
P.S.: "Thirty years or 1.560 Mondays.,<br />
but who's counting. This is a great, great<br />
industry. It rewards and is rewarding.<br />
Movies help to bring us all together; to ease<br />
our pain; and to encourage us to go forward.<br />
I am proud to be a part of that process."<br />
VICTOR CARRADY<br />
Media Salles International<br />
Achievement Award in Exhibition<br />
Victor Carrady is president and CEO of<br />
Caribbean Cinemas/Regency Caribbean<br />
Enterprises, based in Santurce. Puerto<br />
Rico. Founded in 1968. the circuit had<br />
grown to a total of 255 screens at 35 sites<br />
as of year-end 2000. He was our Close<br />
Focus profilee in our February 2001 issue<br />
P.S.: "I was not always in the exhibitioi<br />
business. In fact. I was born in a family<br />
that was engaged in foreign trade, foreign<br />
exchange and foreign financing. My Dad<br />
"My entering the exhibition business<br />
was an accident, in thai at some point I<br />
yvas asked to finance an individual who<br />
8(1 BOXOI1KI
Change language