JayBangs: How Jay Stein, MCA, & Universal Invented the Modern Theme Park and Beat Disney at Its Own Game by Sam Gennawey

Author:Sam Gennawey [Gennawey, Sam]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: universal studio, steven spielberg, jaws, star trek, terminator
Publisher: Theme Park Press
Published: 2016-10-16T21:00:00+00:00

Home Run!

It had been more than five years since Jay had gotten the green light contingent upon finding a partner. Five long years and nothing to show for it. In September 1986, everything changed.

Sid Sheinberg and Garth Drabinsky were having lunch in the MCA commissary. Drabinsky was the head of the Canadian Cineplex Odeon movie chain. With the help of Seagrams, another Canadian company best known as the largest distiller of alcoholic beverages in the world, Drabinsky created the second biggest chain of theaters in North America and the United Kingdom with 1,818 screens. Along with Myron Gottlieb, Drabinsky’s partner, he also dabbled in movie and Broadway stage production and they became high rollers in the world of finance.

After the Cineplex Odeon complex in the Beverly Center had become the biggest grossing theater in Los Angeles, Hollywood insiders took notice. Drabinsky worked out a deal with MCA to build the world’s largest multiplex adjacent to the Studio Tour in Hollywood. After they had made the deal, Sheinberg had no doubt that Drabinsky’s ambitions were to take over his job. Drabinsky’s provocative and ruthless personality earned him the nickname “Garth Vader.” Nevertheless, Sheinberg was impressed enough that MCA took a 49.7 percent interest in Cineplex Odeon for $150 million.

Jay and others at MCA described Drabinsky as another “genius of the month.” Frequently, Sheinberg would “discover” someone outside the company and put him in charge of some area with jurisdiction over long-standing executives or place him in a high corporate position with the power to comment on what the divisions are doing. For many of these genius de mois” it would not be long before Sheinberg would realize they were not as talented as he first believed and they would be gone.

After lunch, Sheinberg and Drabinsky wandered down to the P&D office to see the projects underway for the Studio Tour in Hollywood and Universal City Florida. As the men entered the room, they saw Bob Ward working on the Earthquake attraction. Ward was an enthusiastic, loyal team player. Jay spent many hours working alone in his home with Ward because the latter was able to grasp his boss’s ideas and almost immediately sketch his thoughts on paper. Ward got it and was an indispensable player who deserves much credit for his immense creative and practical contributions to the Universal parks. Emotionally, he was the heart and soul of Planning and Development.

“We were at the drawing stage,” Ward said. “We had storyboards and were starting to build a hydro model. The concept had telephone poles moving. Power lines sparking. Transformers blowing up. A couple of houses collapsing. There was a pause so that this would be perceived as the show. Then the second whammy. The road erupted, a gas line broke. Huge flames. A crack in the dam. Vehicles overturned. Then a wave of water—100 to 150 thousand gallons—came directly at the tram, went over the top of the tram.” The plan was to duplicate the attraction for both Los Angeles and Florida.

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