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Over sixty years ago, during the heyday of Hollywood, a
young Hollywood movie Producer/Director named Stanley Kramer
felt stifled by studio bosses. He wanted to make his "own"
movies. He needed sound stages - and a financial backer.
A young Hollywood Art Director/Set Designer offered a possible
partial solution. Bruce Ariss did not know much about money.
Indeed, in much later years on the Monterey Peninsula, he sometimes
referred to himself as "a local treasure with no treasure."
However, he did know about Monterey. He knew that the local economy
was beginning to collapse. And, he knew why! He also told
Stanley Kramer what was happening.
The sardines had vanished from the Sardine Capitol of the
World. Huge, once bustling, cannery buildings were becoming
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Stanley Kramer |
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Kramer decided to pay a visit to this Ocean View Avenue
area of Monterey's coastline that John Steinbeck had dubbed Cannery
Row. At the urging of Ariss, he came to look at buildings
on "The Row" as potential sound stages. Several local
people heard about this "Out of Town Jasper" and decided
to keep him out of town. They got together and start buying
those buildings for themselves.
The modern day Cannery Row Tourist Industry began as the
answer to the ensuing dilemma: "...what do we do with these
old Cannery buildings now that we own them?" Someone with
some genuine fishing "artifacts" suggested a shop.
Others had other stuff - and started other shops. A wife had
some recipes for delicious dishes. A little restaurant sounded
nice. Other wives and families thought so too. Soon, a new economic
base was begun: tourism - which would soon dwarf the
sardine industry which it replaced.
Ironically, the "locals" who bought the Cannery
Row buildings, to keep Kramer out, were unaware that the young
movie maker had already decided NOT to buy them. He would need
to see daily results of filming. The Hollywood film labs were
far away; and air transportation from Monterey was unreliable.
Cannery Row would not work!
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Stanley Kramer was, however, far from finished with his fishing
around the Monterey Bay. He had not found the sound stages he
wanted; but, he did find the thing he needed even more - The
Money! Yes, it was here that the man who was to make some
of the greatest movies of all time, found his first financial
backer.
A few miles inland - Bruce Church had a serious problem. He needed
to lose a lot of money! Taxes!! You may have heard of
the Bruce Church Company. It was a giant agricultural conglomerate
based in Salinas. Church pioneered the modern lettuce industry
in 1926. And, at this time it seems his primary problem was -
too much money! The Movie Maker showed up with a solution
to Churches "problems."
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Bruce Church |
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Now, everyone agreed that motion pictures were a lousy
investment. So, when this young director came calling - Church
thought it sounded like a terrific idea. Here was a sure fire
way to lose a lot of money real fast. Besides, his accountant
had already told him of additional tax breaks for losing the
money in things like movies.
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And so, with visions of majestic money losses in mind, Church
and Kramer found a young actor named Kirk Douglas and they made
a movie. It was called "The Champion." However, it
failed to perform according to the game plan. Instead of losing,
it made a whole Lot of Money!
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Undaunted, they made another movie - to lose money, of course!
It featured this new fellow named "Brando" in his first
starring role. It was called "The Men." It, unfortunately,
made a bunch of Money too! Oh well!
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Then, they made "Cyrano de Bergerac" starring Jose
Ferrer - which won a ton of awards. And, of course - it made
A Lot of Money!!
It was at about this time that Bruce Church went to Stanley Kramer
and said - "This just isn't working out!" Church told
Kramer, "I'm going to have to get out of the movie business!"
But he relented & decided to give it one more try.
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This movie, it was agreed, just was a simple story, down
and dirty, black and white "B" Grade Western "quickie."
It was called "High Noon." (You know, the one that
got Gary Cooper the Academy Award, won Best Picture, Best Director....)
That was also the last movie backed by Bruce Church.
But that's not all! The "reluctant success" then ventured
into the young TV industry of the 1950's - to lose money, of
course. One thing led to another. A popular Hollywood couple
also got involved. You may have heard of them: Lucille Ball &
Desi Arnaz. That Bruce Church venture became known as
"Desilu." Guess you could say - he couldn't lose for
winning!
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As for the Main business of Agriculture - Bruce Church
Company heirs continue to influence the world and are a major
factor in the local economy of John Steinbeck's Valley of
the World.
Just as Bruce Church was a pioneer in creating the modern lettuce
business, his children and grand children were pioneers in the
pre-packaged salad industry, creating a company called Fresh
Express which led the way fow what is now a staple item in
the stores. It's former CEO (Bruce Church's grandson, Steve Taylor)
graced the August 2000 cover of Fortune Magazine.
In recent years, Fresh Express was sold - for hundreds
of millions of dollars. But the extended family remains very
much involved as leaders in the $3 + Billion Salinas Valley agriculture
industry. The family also donates countless leadership hours
and millions of dollars to community causes and activities. And,
regarding involvement with motion pictures: They find that seeing
just movies in the theater works out fine.
© Copyright 1997 Roger Powers. All Rights
Reserved.
Post Script: This story was told to me, in parts, by two fine
men who are no longer with us. Andy Church who was raised by
his uncle Bruce; and my friend Bruce Ariss who was a member of
the now famous "Lab Group" with Steinbeck and Ricketts
on Cannery Row. Both Andy and Bruce are missed in their communities
- and by me!
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