In addition to the millions of people that Shari Redstone and her National Amusements team have helped over the family circuit’s 71 years of operations, during this ShowEast she will now feel the goodwill and appreciation of her peers.
“She sets a shining example for us all,” ShowEast co-managing director Mitch Neuhauser attests. “It is absolutely amazing to think that, in addition to running one of the nation’s leading theatre circuits, Ms. Redstone has the time to champion so many charitable and philanthropic causes within the industry and throughout the community at large. Her dedication, care and concern in wanting to help those less fortunate is unparalleled.”
Board and convention organizers, who in the past have singled out the likes of John Lundin, Jeff Goldstein, Erik Lomis, Peter Brown, Travis Reid, Barrie Loeks, Tom Sherak, Daniel Crown, Allen Karp, Stanley Durwood, Carl Patrick, Lee Roy and Tandy Mitchell and, of course, Salah M. Hassanein, cite her involvement “in a variety of charitable, civic and educational organizations” in particular. She is a member of the board of directors at Combined Jewish Philanthropies and the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation as well as a trustee at Dana Farber Cancer Institute.
Redstone’s work as a board member of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University has provided “one of the most powerful moments ever in terms of what we have done for charity at National.” More than a decade of CASA research, she explains, has consistently found that the more often kids eat dinner with their families, the less likely they are to smoke, drink or use drugs. Teens who eat dinner with their families are more likely to do well in school, be emotionally content, have positive peer relationships, and are at a lower risk for thoughts of suicide. When CASA Family Day—“A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children” was created, Redstone asked herself, “What’s better than having dinner with your family? The answer is, of course, dinner and a movie. So I said to [CASA chairman and president and former U.S. Secretary of Health] Joseph Califano, let’s try out a program at our theatre in White Plains.” With its Chatter’s restaurant and wide selection of snack options, the City Center Cinema de Lux and IMAX indeed proved to be the perfect place, and the event has since expanded from New York to Massachusetts (Showcase Cinemas Randolph) and Virginia (Fairfax Corner 14).
For the inaugural get-together in 2004, “Joe came, as did SpongeBob and Judge Judy,” Redstone says, fondly recalling serving big spaghetti dinners. “We invited firefighters with their families, policemen and their families, kids who were in trouble or in need… It was all so incredible.” After walking into the auditorium, she told the guests, “I don’t need to give this speech because there is nothing else I could say that your children will not say to you. Looking around our movie theatre and seeing all the joy in the kids’ faces and smiles of their parents, I just knew these children would be the first to say, ‘Let’s have dinner together, let’s spend more time together.’
Redstone recalls, “There were tears in my eyes, because you could feel you were reaching all these people and their kids. If you reach out to children and make a difference in their lives, they really can change the world. I don’t want to be too melodramatic, but I really believe in it.”
As our sidebar shows, Redstone equally believes in supporting the communities in which National Amusements’ theatres operate. “Everybody is passionate about something,” she feels, and her passion is all about children and family. “While we are diverse in our charitable giving, many of our programs have a very strong focus in that area. Whether they are literacy programs, drug awareness programs, medical support, helping the local fire department…when you are talking about children and about family, communities become a part of that outreach. When we are able to touch the life of an individual within the community, the lives of real people as opposed to giving to an anonymous organization, you really feel you are making a difference.”
Joining hands with the USO of Metropolitan New York to support America’s military families—with several weeks of free summer movies, popcorn and soda before instituting an ongoing military discount—also holds special meaning to her. “They presented me with an American flag, which has hung over the World Trade Center. When I watched them pass that flag through a whole line of military personnel and present it to me, you can only imagine how wonderful that was.” Redstone was certainly humbled by receiving the Woman of the Year Award from the USO. One can tell how much being able to do something matters to her when she mentions “a wonderful letter written by a child whose father had been shot several times: how we were able to be there for her…and how we were able to help her father get well again. Regardless of your politics, people are giving their lives for all of us. They and their families are making such sacrifices.”
At the same time, “although we don’t always realize it,” Redstone admits, “to be able to give to people really adds so much to your own life. I remember as a child volunteering in a children’s hospital and saying, ‘But I am really doing this for me. I love doing this.’ Not that it is selfish, but there are two sides to it…as this work adds to who we are when we follow through with it.” It’s all part of a company tradition, she says. “The people here at National, long before I got here, already believed in giving back and brought into my vision so many of the programs that they have come up with. I am really proud to work with the people that I work with, who are so very committed.”
The same applies to the man after whom this special award was named. “What is wonderful about Salah,” she feels, “is that he really represented the industry with such a passion, both in terms of the core business and, continuing today, making a difference in its charitable contributions. He is larger than life and to be part of anything that is connected to his name is truly an honor. He is one of the founders of this business…and started everything that this industry stands for. The partnership that existed between all those original guys really set the tone of what this industry was going to be, not only in terms of the business and our relationships, but also in terms of this industry standing so much for making a difference in the world.”
Everybody in theatrical exhibition, Redstone continues, “has brought his or her own passion for different causes into this industry. And the industry as a whole has always come together to support the different causes that individuals have. Tom Sherak’s work for multiple sclerosis, our own with the Jimmy Fund, Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers—these are all ideas that came from individuals that the entire industry supported. That has been a wonderful lesson for me about what it means to be part of corporate America. All of us think about being part of corporate America and being true to what really matters. Being in the exhibition industry gives us the chance to do justice to both. And that’s a wonderful thing.”
National Initiatives
Bookworm Wednesdays
In this program launched in the summer of 1999, more then 569,000 children have handed in book reports and were treated to a free movie at multiple Showcase/Multiplex Cinemas or Cinema de Lux locations. Each week three winners receive a prize pack of books, DVDs and/or movie items. At the end of the summer holidays, one grand-prize winner can treat his or her entire class and teacher to a special screening.
CASA Family Day
Over the past three years, 3,500 attended dinner and a movie at three Cinema de Lux theatres in support of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
Flick or Treat
Each year since 2001, about 5,000 children and family members have enjoyed “a fun and safe environment to dress up in their Halloween costumes, enjoy a free family movie, and win some Halloween prizes and treats.” Eighteen National Amusements locations participate.
Holiday Classics
Since 2000, some 39,000 people donated more than 90,000 pounds of food to local food pantries in return for a free movie.
Silver Screen Classics
For one dollar, including popcorn and soda, since 1989, participating theatres have offered patrons the opportunity to revisit films from the 1930s through the ’80s on the big screen. Over the last ten years, 746,000 attended.
SPF: Sun Protection Flicks
During this past summer, National Amusements in partnership with Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and his wife Shonda, founder of the SHADE Foundation of America, welcomed over 15,000 moviegoers of all ages for some “Out of the Sun Fun” to raise awareness of the importance of sun protection.
Theatre Collections
National Amusements has been conducting theatre collections for almost 60 years, beginning with its drive-ins and, since the 1963 opening of Webster Square Theater (Worcester, Mass.), at indoor locations as well: The Jimmy Fund and Will Rogers Motion Picture Pioneers (since 1950), Wishing Well (1980), Variety Gold Hearts (1989) and Joslin Diabetes (2000).
USO Military Program
For two weeks in April, some 28,000 active military and their families enjoyed free admissions, soda and popcorn, followed by an ongoing special military pricing program.
Variety-The Children’s Charity
Michael Redstone, founder of Redstone Management (now National Amusements), was also one of the fathers of Variety Club of New England (Tent 23) in 1948. National Amusements has contributed to The Jimmy Fund since 1950. For the past ten years, Showcase Cinemas Revere has hosted Variety’s Annual Christmas Party along with a month of special activities and medical care for victims of Chernobyl.
Worcester Fire Department Holiday Party
In 1999, a tragic fire in Worcester killed several firefighters. Since then, National Amusements has hosted a free screening each year for local firefighters and their families.
