Obituary from our Esteemed Board Member 

Lawrence S. Dolin led the Front Row and Playhouse Square

Published: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 2:52 PM     Updated: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 2:57 PM

By Grant Segall

 Shaker Heights — Some of the notables Larry Dolin booked for The Front Row and Playhouse Square were picky. The limo had to be white and the M&M’s red.

Dolin humored some of them. But he refused the superstar who wanted to take over the Dolins’ home, sight unseen, during his gig.

Dolin, 67, died Monday at the Cleveland Clinic from complications of cancer.

“Although he was constantly meeting stars, presidents and heroes,” said Jeannie Emser, Playhouse Square marketing and publicity manager, who spent years at Dolin’s theaters, “he was never star-struck.”

Richard Rosenberg, a leading agent, said “Larry was a man of dignity and class in a business full of huge egos. His word as good as gold… He was calm during battles over sometimes outrageous demands.”

Rosenberg said clients such as Johnny Mathis, Henry Mancini and Glen Campbell loved to work on The Front Row’s rotating stage because of the atmosphere in the wings.

People often confused Dolin with Larry Dolan, the Indians’ owner. To complicate things, Dolin’s father, Nate, who died last year at 95, was the Indians’ vice president for 14 years of a varied career in music, development and more. Larry learned young to pitch from Herb Score and to get along with celebrities.

Dolin preferred classical music to the middle-of-the-road pop and standards he booked during 20 years of running the Front Row and five running Playhouse Square.

“You have to be a crowd-pleaser,” he often said. He pleased not by guesswork but by early use of audience surveys. He was also early in computerizing his box offices.

The eclectic Dolin left show business in 1998 and started Noteworthy Medical Systems. He also served on many corporate and civic boards, including a stormy stint on the Cuyahoga County hospital system’s.

Because his parents traveled often, the lifelong resident of Shaker Heights boarded at Culver Military Academy. He attended Reed College and earned bachelor’s, master’s and law degrees at Western Reserve University. He practiced at Thompson Hine.

In 1974, Dolin partnered with his parents, Len Luxenberg and developer Dominic Visconsi to open the $3.6 million The Front Row on Wilson Mills Rd. in Highland Heights, close to Interstates 271 and 90. He was the theater’s only president in its 20 years.

Said Rosenberg, “It became the most successful theater in the round in the country.” It featured low prices (from $5.75 to $9.75 in 1977, for instance), a celebrity Dialogues series, occasional plays and musicals, children’s programs and more. It hosted many graduations and benefits, the latter often for free.

For two years, Dolin leased Cincinnati’s Palace Theater with the Belkin family and booked some of the same acts in opposite corners of Ohio.

According to family, some celebrities were prima donnas. One threw pizza on a dressing room wall. But many stars were kind. Bob Newhart loaned the Dolins his decorator. Johnny Mathis sent baskets of British specialties such as mincemeat, which proved hard to give away.

Emser said Dolin was kind in turn with employees and stars. He booked Jay Leno to close the Front Row in 1993 but waived the contract a few days ahead so Leno could be with his dying mother. She died the day that replacement Luther Vandross closed the theater.

Dolin’s wife, the former Deedra Wittenberg, said the theater steadily made money, but the business grew harder. Stars’ fees soared. The staff struggled with four unions and with municipal officials. A sewer backup wrecked the carpets.

Dolin finally merged his business with Playhouse Square, brought key staff members downtown and ran the Square for five years. From 2000 to 2009, he led Noteworthy in Mayfield Heights, computerizing records for health care clients around the country. He recruited board members such as Dr. Floyd Loop, former head of the Cleveland Clinic.

Said Loop, “He was a very astute businessman. He was knowledgeable, diligent and a real listener.”

In 1980, Dolin was one of several dissident trustees who tried to revamp the Cuyahoga County hospital system, now MetroHealth System. County commissioners eventually replaced the whole board.

Dolin also chaired the national Helian Health Group and served on the boards of Morgan’s Foods and 3D Real Estate Partners. He taught business at Case Western Reserve and consulted with its medical school. He belonged to the Union Club, Mayfield Sand Ridge Club and Beechmont Country Club. He liked golf, concerts, plays, trips and gadgets. He wore traditional suits and owned several hundred neckties. He had a winter home in Palm Springs.

Of his three children, one is home with her children, but the other two have followed him into show business as partners in the Sonesta Entertainment management company in Santa Monica.

Lawrence Steven Dolin

1943-2010

Survivors:wife, the former Deedra Wittenberg; children, Jamie of Santa Monica, Calif., Jonathan of Los Angeles and Jennifer Dolin-Olsen of Orange; three grandchildren and a sister.