Vol. 4, No. 9, September 2007
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Master of Ceremonies
From boxing to Bach, Atlantic City promoter Frank Gelb is still going strong
The world’s most famous ring announcer isn’t the only celebrity linked to Ventnor promoter Frank Gelb. Championship boxers, skaters, entertainers, swimmers, rodeo riders and classic musicians also cross his path.
Four sizzling decades atop the industry give Gelb a glittering portfolio. He launched Michael Buffer’s career, played cards with Luciano Pavarotti, dined in the home of Andrea Bocelli, managed Matthew Saad Muhammad and promoted George Foreman. Network television productions, Water Follies, concerts, Boardwalk Hall rentals and the circus form a collage of memories.
It’s been some ride for an entrepreneur who pre-dated casinos, anchored their ascent and grew worldwide wings when this market matured. Gelb witnessed the Atlantic City saga from more angles than anyone—small showrooms, major venues, tents and a racetrack. He also brought more events here—nearly 250—than anyone.
Gelb is the father of Atlantic City’s first casino/sports golden age. Besides promoting, he became a placement agent for other promoters, networks, executives, athletes and performers. Gelb’s ability to find homes for events often determined whether they occurred.
“So many good things have happened for me over the years, and a lot of them happened in Atlantic City,” Gelb says. “I watched a lot of people grow in the casino industry and worked with them. I attribute so many good things to the relationships built over the years. One name always leads to another name. They are intertwined.”
The Philadelphia native, who summered here throughout his youth, paid his dues before casinos arrived. Relationships blossomed with future gaming executives as he promoted Boardwalk events and they ran hotels. They later progressed through gaming, and his influence grew.
Smooth, even-tempered and pragmatic, he applied demographics knowledge to high-quality, high-end events. Gelb hasn’t been a high-profile, in-your-face promoter. He instead unites market forces—a boxing show with a gambler, or a tenor with a tailored audience. He reached the markets through interested parties, like casino executives.
“In any business, you need to research the product you are putting on the market,” Gelb says. “When you research, you will discover where that product will sell, whether it’s an automobile, a box of Rice Krispies, a fight or entertainment. You have to know where the market is for what that you want to sell.”
Gelb endured a difficult apprenticeship. He promoted pre-casino age events with no site-fee protection. Promoters rented venues, and paid dearly if they were not filled. Casinos ultimately removed the risk, replacing rentals with a fee paid to bring events to their players.
Once Resorts opened and Hungarian record producer Tibor Rudas sought talent for the new Superstar Theater, Gelb sought to capitalize. He had procured contracts to deliver a world-title fight, televised by ABC, to a willing buyer. Resorts seemed like a slam-dunk venue.
“Even though Resorts was the only casino, it wanted to give people value for their money and gain publicity,” Gelb recalls. “Here was this huge fight and a big-name fighter, Howard Davis. I had the contract. I thought I was a hotshot, that the casino would be dying for it. I approached Tibor and he said, ‘Vut? Vhy would you bring boxing into my showroom?’ He threw me out! I was devastated. Fortunately, I was able to go to the head of the casino and bring the show in. Tibor would later become my mentor, however.”
The Breakthrough
Gaming spread, as did opportunity. New casinos proclaimed their existence with priceless infomercials, promoting nationally televised bouts. Free advertising oozed from the corner posts, banners and lettering inside the ring.
Gelb held an office in Resorts, but helped promoters book fights in several properties. Top Rank Inc. gave him rights to place its weekly ESPN series anywhere east of the Mississippi. Gelb filled Atlantic City showrooms with boxing matches.
Customers arrived, watched fights and spiked mid-week revenues. Saturday bouts enabled casinos to lure customers from Thursday through Sunday. They came. They saw. They gambled.
Gelb found every link in prosperity’s golden chain. He put high rollers into positions of managing fighters. He linked customers with properties. Gelb played every role from lead promoter to middleman. He enjoyed the business of boxing, more than the fights themselves.
It was an unprecedented ride. During the 1982 NFL strike, for example, boxing replaced football on network television. Gelb once held nationally televised bouts at the Sands and Claridge simultaneously. In 1982, Atlantic City did a whopping, still-unmatched 136 shows. That came out to nearly three per week.
For casinos, boxing still had no peer in the sports and entertainment field. It drew gamblers. It was the king of ancillary revenue.
“That time period was just phenomenal,” Gelb says. “Atlantic City had the reputation then of being a drive-in town, or a weekend town at the most. Boxing helped the casinos produce the customer who would come in and stay during the week. We ran bus trips, gave coupons and set it up so the bean counters would see this was profitable.
“The market was altogether different. Today, you have other resources and other avenues where casinos look to make revenue. In the early days, they did studies and found that people who had a propensity for gaming also had a strong interest in boxing. A couple of good players could pay for an entire show.
“We knew it was a male-oriented audience, anywhere from mid-30s to mid-60s. Now, they measure a customer’s value much more closely.”
Budding Stars
Gelb marvels at the elite management corps produced during that era. He recalls Ken Condon, Bally’s future chief executive, as being the city’s first-ever casino host. Condon serviced customers by bringing them to Gelb’s bouts. Now, he is the city’s preeminent buyer of major boxing shows and heads an entire casino. Gelb remembers Mark Juliano as a captain in the Resorts showroom. Juliano now runs all three Trump Atlantic City properties, the latest stop in a stellar executive career.
Another personality emerged from that era. Gelb discovered a young, aggressive professional seeking to become a ring announcer. On gut instinct, Gelb lent him an opportunity. So began the career of Michael Buffer.
“He was coming to the fights and asked several times to audition,” Gelb recalls. “Here was a very good-looking guy with a nice voice, so we tried him on one of the small shows. He did well, and he went from there. He was a home-grown guy who had talent and really worked hard at trying to establish an image. It certainly paid off for him.”
Buffer became the most famous ring announcer of all time, but didn’t stop there. He landed numerous movie, commercial and television spots and now transcends the sport. His “Let’s get ready to rumble” phrase prompts an electric roar from audiences. Buffer’s appearances on David Letterman and numerous commercial ventures all grew from his Atlantic City baptism.
“I still fold my handkerchief the exact way Frank taught me,” Buffer says, smiling and pointing to an item meticulously placed in his suit pocket. “Frank taught me a lot, and he reached out to help me during that time. I appreciate what he did for me. He’s been a great friend.”
Buffer, Condon, Juliano and others prospered during the Roaring Eighties. They continued advancing, but the era, like the Roaring Twenties, could not. Pay-per-view erased the lucrative closed-circuit contracts Gelb held in Atlantic City. The days of supplying one big fight and gaining separate fees from several properties vanished.
The market matured, prompting bean counters to demand that all fights turn profits. Gaming’s growth enabled other cities to try the loss-leader scenario, in which boxing was simply an extended advertisement.
Gelb became further disenchanted with the lack of young fighters hitting the Philly gyms. Slowly, he left boxing.
Another Door Opens
The end of a long run would ruin many people, but Gelb was versatile. He found another “aria” with operatic heavyweight champions Pavarotti and Bocelli.
“Tibor Rudas came up to me and asked if I could help this guy Pavarotti,” Gelb recalls, laughing. “I asked how much he weighed. I thought Pavarotti was a fighter. It turns out that Pavarotti did a lot for me. He brought a lot of performers to Atlantic City. Many had been afraid to come here because they thought the acoustics were bad. He showed people that they were not.”
“What really became nice was that I was able to establish a relationship with Pavarotti,” Gelb says. “He became a poker-playing friend. Whenever we traveled, he always had a poker game going. It does help when you can reach that kind of relationship with a performer. It’s easier than having to cut through the channels of the managers, agents, agencies and record labels, all of whom have a big say in the career of an entertainer.”
Relationships surfaced again with Bocelli. Ron Adams, who had worked with Gelb at Resorts, discovered the charismatic Italian performer. He informed Gelb, whose son, Bruce, happened to be traveling in Europe. Bruce Gelb located Bocelli’s manager, set up a meeting and six months later Gelb owned rights to the performer.
Several tours later, Bocelli remains a big draw. He sold out Boardwalk Hall last year with the speed of a rock star. Bocelli’s next tour begins in November to support a new CD. Bocelli and Sarah Brightman provided Buffer and Pleasantville boxer Virgil Hill a unique synergy several years ago.
Brightman, a friend of German boxer Henry Maske, asked Bocelli to join her in a ringside tribute. Maske had announced his retirement before fighting Hill, and liked entering or leaving the ring to memorable music. Buffer introduced them to the crowd.
“So here we are for Maske’s farewell,” Buffer says. “Into the ring step Bocelli and Brightman. The song they played? ‘Time to Say Goodbye.’” Musically, it was a huge “hello.” The number was later recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and became the best-selling German single of all time. Brightman will be part of a November 17 event with figure skaters, promoted by Gelb at Boardwalk Hall.
Somehow, the relationships always tie back.
Gelb’s personal lineup includes his wife Elaine, four children and 11 grandchildren. All of his children have worked in his business at some point. Frank and Elaine will be married 50 years next March. As a sign of the times, when Arturo Gatti waged his last Atlantic City bout July 14, Gelb baby-sat the grandkids so others could attend the bout. There was a time when that promotion was his. Now, he’s happy to savor the good life.
Maske did not heed Bocelli’s “advice.” He returned, ironically, against Hill several years later. Gelb enjoys his ride too. He remains active, committed and attuned to what sells.
Fortunately for many, it is not time for Frank Gelb to say goodbye.
