He had just returned from a whirlwind tour of Europe. Six cities in 14 days. As a young American in his twenties, he didn’t appreciate how old everything seemed. Rome (before), Paris (Eiffel Tower, so what?), Berlin (somber), London (too correct), Amsterdam (where does all the water go?), Copenhagen (beautiful blonde girls with blue/green eyes, can’t remember nothing else 🙂 Why didn’t I stay?
I got on the bus in New Jersey on my way to what I hoped would be a very exciting job: a salesman for a TV show distribution company on Park Avenue, New York. Once in the city, I continued on two more buses until I reached Park Avenue and 59th Street. Standing on the corner facing south, I had to inhale as my chest gasped. Park Avenue was divided down the middle by a series of grass islands between each numbered street, until it reached 43rd Street, where the view was blocked by the old Pan Am building that stretched across the avenue. Both sides of the islands had channels laid with black asphalt, one to the south and the other to the north. As my eyes turned south, they turned away from the street to reveal each side of the avenue’s glass skyscrapers standing proudly, gleaming in the sun.
“My God, this is America!” I told myself. At one point I realized what a great country I lived in. I wanted to run to my new job which was in a 38-story skyscraper on the left, or east side, of this great thoroughfare, on 53rd Street. It was one of the big new buildings: the Seagrams building.
I took my time walking down the avenue and looking up at all the skyscrapers. I couldn’t believe how many sales opportunities were waiting for me. I imagined spending a month just making calls on a single street.
As I approached my new place of work, I marveled at the steps leading down to a plaza with two water fountains welcoming me to revolving doors and marble floors in a spacious foyer. A sign marked the entrance to one of the city’s Power restaurants: “The Four Seasons.” Later I would be lightly scolded for entertaining potential clients at my “Power Luncheons”. On any given day, you were having lunch with the city’s powerful people, celebrities and sports stars. I decided pretty quickly that I liked this life.
Much copied but not equaled, the Seagram Building is generally recognized as the finest example of an International Style skyscraper.
The elevator whisked me up to the 36th floor and my new office. I loved. He looked out across the city. The man who owned Sterling Communications, Inc. also owned Sterling Movies. He was known to all as “Chuck” or Charles Dolan. Before I was hired, I had to pass a screening test by a sales psychologist, something unheard of at this point. Two weeks later I got a call that it had happened to me, and I could report to work the following Monday.
Sterling Communications also owned Manhattan Cable (now Warner Cable) and Chuck was in the process of laying millions of feet of cable under the sidewalks and streets of Manhattan. It was a huge undertaking, rife with political backlash, not to mention billions of dollars in funding. In these early days, I could feel that it was a touch and go company. I can still vividly remember my first comments: “What’s crazy about this guy?”
Cable from Manhattan reached hotel rooms in those early days, and the company had a hard time getting anyone in a hotel room to watch what was essentially a news ticker. And then Michael J. McCurdy came along with an idea that would transform the world of cable. I am sure that with this idea alone, Chuck Dolan would make me Vice President. After spending several days flirting with his secretary, I gave him a note for Mr. Dolan… could you pass it to him please? She smiled and said yes!
Weeks passed before I had the courage to ask him if he had seen it. Yes, she had it.
That was it, nothing more. How could he not see the benefit of having “Live Burlesque” on his channel in hotel rooms! Surely every man visiting New York couldn’t wait to check into his hotel. The press would have a field day. I comforted myself by rationalizing that he was too busy to come back to me. 🙂
Here is an excerpt from Wikipedia: In 1972, Mr. Dolan founded Home Box Office Inc (HBO), the first premium programming service in the cable television industry. After selling Home Box Office to Time-Life, Inc. (now Time Warner), he organized Cablevision Systems Corporation on Long Island and has spearheaded many of the company’s developments. In 1986 he took the company public and since 1992 the shares have risen 400%. The estimated value is 2.3 billion dollars.
Oh yeah, he also owns Madison Square Garden, the NY Knicks, the NY Rangers, and Radio City Music Hall. Me? I was courted a year later to a television production company as a producer. I loved every minute of a long race.
Mike McCurdy, Founder/Publisher HealthNewsDigest.com.