Henry G. Plitt was an American businessman and war hero who founded Plitt Theatres.
Biography
Plitt was born to a Jewish family in New York City. He graduated with a B.A. from Syracuse University and a J.D. from Saint Lawrence University School of Law. He was a member of the New York State Bar. After school, he served with the 101st Airborne Division during World War II where he parachuted into France during D-Day; and was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, four Purple Hearts, the Croix de Guerre and Order Dutch Lanyard. In 1944, he returned to the U.S. as a war hero and went on the circuit soliciting the sale of war bonds. He later returned to Europe as a brigadier general where he oversaw the liberation of Dachau and the capture of Nazi war criminals including Julius Streicher in Waldring, Germany on May 24, 1945. After the war in 1949, he served as a district manager in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky an executive at Paramount Theatres under Leonard Goldenson as president. Paramount Theatres was the theater division of Paramount Pictures, which was in turn an agglomeration of theaters previously acquired by Paramount, notably Balaban and Katz and Famous Players-Lasky. Paramount was required to divest the theater chain, renamed United Paramount Theatres, as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the case United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc.. In 1949, he was promoted to division manager. In 1953, UPT merged with the American Broadcasting Company, providing ABC's television network a stable source of cash flow which enabled it to survive and eventually become competitive. In 1955, Plitt was appointed president of the Paramount-Richards circuit and in 1959, as president of ABC Films Syndication where he served until 1965. In 1974, Plitt purchased a 61% interest in ABC Theatres northern group of movie theaters for $65 million and in 1978, he purchased ABCs`s southern circuit for $49 million; thus ending ABC's involvement in the theater industry. His minority partners were Thomas J. Klutznick ; and Roy H. Aaron. He renamed the chain Plitt Theatres and grew the chain to 600 screens which was at the time the largest independently owned theater chain in the United States. In 1985, he sold the chain to Cineplex Odeon for $130 million. In May 1985, Plitt invested in Showscan Film Corp., which purchased the Showscan motion-picture process and patents rights from Brock Hotel Corp. and filmmaker Douglas Trumbull for an equity stake and cash; he planned to build a 30 theater chain worldwide that would uses the Showscan film and projectors. He then founded a new theatre company, the Plitt Amusement Co., which consisted of nine theaters in Washington state.
