Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation

Encyclopedia : J : JU : JUJ : Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation

The Al Hirchfeld Theatre, 2006.

Jujamcyn Amusement Corporation was a group of five theatres owned James H. Binger, former Chairman of Honeywell and his wife Virginia McKnight Binger.

The third-largest company on Broadway, behind the Shubert Organization and the Nederlander Organization, Jujamcyn only owned five of the 40 Broadway district playhouses, but created a much-envied business model that accounted for as much as one-third of the gross revenues.

History

The St. James Theatre, 2006.

Virginia McKnight Binger, daughter of former 3M chairman William L. McKnight and wife of James H. Binger the former chairman of Honeywell, had a love of theatre.

When in 1970 McKnight wanted to sell his two theatres, Binger stepped in to assist. He found the business fascinating, and after paying the gift tax and selling the Colonial Theatre in Boston, he and Virginia agreed to expand the operation.

Jujamcyn derives its name from the names of the Bingers' children: Ju[dith], Jam[es], and Cyn[thia]. Jujamcyn expanded to five theatres to create the third-largest company on Broadway, behind the Shubert Organization and the Nederlander Organization - the St. James, Al Hirschfeld, Eugene O'Neill, the Walter Kerr and the Virginia:

• Virginia Theatre - this 1,275 seat theatre was designed by Crane, Franzheim & Bettis as the home of the Theatre Guild in 1925. President Calvin Coolidge officially inaugurated the theatre by flipping a switch for electricity in Washington, D.C. The theatre was leased in 1943 as a radio station. The American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA) purchased the theatre in 1950 and renamed it the ANTA Theatre. Previously called the ANTA Theatre, in 1981 the theatre was renamed the Virginia in honour of Virginia Binger. It was renamed by new owner Rocco Landesman in October 2005, in honour of playwright August Wilson http://www.nyc.gov/html/film/html/theatre/theatres_seating.shtml

After Binger's death

Producer and President of Jujamcyn, Rocco Landesman announced that he planed to buy Jujamcyn Theatres, telling the New York Times that he had a long-standing understanding with Binger that he would buy Jujamcyn's five playhouses. The theatres had an estimated net asset value of about $30 million.

Landesman closed the deal in February 2005 for $30M, but then tried to sell a 50% stake in the group for $50M to enable an investment in the Cincinnati Reds baseball team - his group lost out to Robert Castellini http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050822/SPT05/508220351

Quotations

• My initial purpose really was to take a headache off his shoulders, and see if I could get the theatres to a point where they could be sold for a reasonable sum. But in the meantime I found it was a fascinating business and money could be made at it. One of the big differences between running Honeywell and Jujamcyn was that theatrical decisions, such as closing a play, could be made much more quickly than major corporate moves - Binger in a 1987 interview with The Associated Press
• Binger created the market for Broadway here in Minneapolis. These theatres and this theater district would not be around but for Jim Binger - Fred Krohn, who presented Binger-backed productions in Minneapolis
• Jim was a risk-taker. There’s nothing more risky than owning racehorses and owning Broadway theatres, so he was always challenged. …He took both victory and defeat with grace - friend, thoroughbred owner, co-investor in the Vikings and fellow Minnesotan Wheelock Whitney to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune about Binger on the announcement of his death http://www.racingmuseum.org/news/nrm-news-view-story-detail.asp?varID=47

List of theaters

• If no show is currently running, the play listed is the next show planned (marked with a *).
• If the next show planned is not announced, the play listed is the last one that closed (marked with a #).

See also

• Broadway theatre
• William L. McKnight
• James H. Binger

References