The End of an Era

That's a good question. It is a darn good question. Fortunately, I didn't choose a career as a brain surgeon or a firefighter. I couldn't hack those type of terrible responsibilities. But, you know, over the years, I've had an opportunity to think about our business, and while we don't save lives, we do have a place in our society when people want to escape, whether it's a momentary trouble they're having, whether it's a financial or psychological problem, or whether it's something much deeper. I often quote the slogan, "There's no business like showbusiness." And the song may have another meaning, but I say, "What other business changes its product every Friday?" There's no other business that has a new product every week. There is none. And that's kind of the exciting thing about our business, the great anticipation, getting up on a Saturday morning and saying, "What did they like last night? What didn't they like?" Over the years, you just never know. ... So I'm going to miss the anticipation and the excitement of new openings. I was doing advertising and marketing for our restaurants and hotels and theaters about 35-38 years ago, and [Ben Marcus] said, "Id like you to take over the theaters." And I said, "Nope! I don't want to do it! I'm happy doing advertising." "Why?" I kept saying no to him for a month or two, and I said, "Well, because I have no control. I have no control over the quality of our product." My kids always said I'm a control freak, and they're right.