Funeral services for Lee Shubert, president of the vast Shubert Theatrical Enterprises and owner of 18 theatres in New York, who died last week at the Mount Sinai Hospital here, will be held today in Temple Emanuel. He was 78 years old.
The son of a Jewish peddler in Syracuse, where he was born, Shubert was regarded as the empire builder of theatre chains. Together with his two brothers, Jacob and Sam, he started with a chain of theatres in Syracuse, Utica and Rochester and later “invaded” New York. By 1929, they controlled a theatrical empire worth $400,000,000. During the depression, this empire collapsed. However, Lee Shubert bought back many of his interests for $400,000 and rebuilt them on a smaller but less vulnerable scale.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.