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Author
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Topic: The Passing of Jack Loeks
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Bob Brown
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 146
From: Grand Rapids, MI
Registered: Apr 2002
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posted 02-23-2004 04:18 PM
Contact: Ron VanTimmeren February 23, 2004
Vice President – Marketing & Advertising
616-447-4226
JACK LOEKS – A LIFETIME OF SHOW BUSINESS
The “Roaring Twenties” is perhaps the most appropriate decade to associate with the childhood of Jack Loeks, as his life clearly defied the modest beginnings from which he rose.
It was on January 26, 1919, that Jack was born to a salesman and a missionary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Coming of age during the Great Depression, Jack became a door-to-door salesman to help his family make ends meet. He went to school there, graduating from East Grand Rapids High School and Grand Rapids Community College.
In 1935, at the age of 16, Jack’s life took a turn to adventure as he joined the Merchant Marines on a quest that took him twice around the world. After his tour of duty, Jack married his sweetheart Ruth Schuitema and briefly returned to sales, selling life insurance for Mutual of New York. But World War II soon had him back on call as he became a flight inspector for the Ford Willow Run Plant in Detroit. This led to a new business venture in which Jack established a B-24 Bomber subassembly plant in Grand Rapids.
In the mid 1940s, Jack Loeks began to look for a new endeavor. In 1944, he saw a theatre on Broadway that played newsreels, sportsreels and “magazine” stories. After some research, he came home to Grand Rapids and leased the downtown Powers Theatre. Eight hundred dollars of repairs later, in those
days quite a bit of money, the newly named Foto Newsreel Theatre opened, bringing film news from the war front to an area that had never seen anything quite like this.
And so began a new era. After the war, the demand for newsreels began to wane. Sensing that it was time to adapt, Jack made several moves. He began a sport and boat show that continues to this day under the management of his son, John. He became a promoter of live acts, bringing nationally-known celebrities such as Bob Hope and Red Skelton to the area. But most importantly, Jack attempted to break into the film studio monopoly that prevented independent theatres from showing Hollywood movies. Unsuccessful at first, it took litigation to open the market, and by the end of 1948 Jack Loeks was competing with major circuits on a level playing ground in the newly renamed Midtown Theatre.
It was with this victory in hand that Jack found an undeveloped hill in the countryside southwest of Grand Rapids. Here he would build the area’s first drive-in theatre. Eleven years later the city of Wyoming was established in an area that included the Beltline Drive-In, as well as a driving range and a playground for kids. In 1963, he replaced bother the driving range and the playground with “Big Tee Miniature Golf and Bounceland,” which would become near legendary institutions of their own by the time they were closed to make room for future expansion.
On Christmas Day, 1965, Jack Loeks made his boldest move yet by opening a single screen, 1000 seat movie house, adjacent to the Beltline Drive-In, named Studio 28. Conventional wisdom at the time said that indoor theatres didn’t work, and most area indoor theatres were closing or doing very poorly. In fact, Studio 28 was the first indoor movie theatre to be built in the area since the early 1930s. But it worked! Patrons flocked to see movies in this modern and exciting theatre. Around this time, Jack also began acquiring drive-ins in the Muskegon, Michigan, area. The success of Studio 28 kept Jack focused on Wyoming as he added a second screen in 1967.
Based in part on experiences learned while adding Theatre #2 to Studio 28, Jack Loeks formed a company in 1968 to develop a new kind of theatre that was revolutionizing the industry in different parts of the country. Auto-Cine, as it was named, drastically reduced the operating expenses of a theatre by utilizing new technologies to automate the projection booth, allowing a two-screen theatre to be run by one man acting as both manager and projectionist. After building several successful twin theatres throughout western and central Michigan over the next decade, the Auto-Cine project was merged into Jack Loeks Theatres.
In 1970 the Beltline drive-in expanded to three screens while Studio 28 became the region’s first six-screen theatre. In 1984, the Beltline Drive-In lost one screen to accommodate Studio 28’s six-screen expansion making it the largest theatre in the country at 12 screens. In 1988, while some other circuits were beginning to catch up, Jack Loeks closed the Beltline Drive-In for Studio 28’s thrust into the future as the first megaplex 20-screen theatre, beginning a trend that would re-ignite the entire industry just a few short years later.
In addition to running a successful business, Jack Loeks defined himself over the years as a community activist. In 1946, he was instrumental in bringing a chapter of the Variety Club international children’s charity to the area, serving a s a charter member and chief barker over the years. The Isaac Walton League and Kent County Conservation League were beneficiaries of his sport and boat shows. Jack own a motel and saw a need for a motel association, so he helped to create one and served as the first chairman of the Greater Grand Rapids Motel Owners association. Jack, an avid pilot, saw the need for a larger airport and as co-chairman of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce aeronautics Committee he helped clear the way for what was to become the Kent County International Airport. He was also involved in the development of the Grand Center.
Jack and his wife Ruth supported a number of causes over the years, including Mary Free Bed Children’s Hospital, Camp Blodgett, the memorial garden at Christ Reformed Presbyterian Church and Pathfinder for troubled teens. They funded the creating of Great Turtle Park on Mackinac Island, giving resident children their first public playground.
1998, Studio 28 won the Better Business Bureau of Western Michigan’s awards for “Best in Community Service” and “Best in Customer Service” – a recognition that propelled Jack Loeks Theatres into the 21st century on the right foot.
Jack Loeks retired from active involvement in the theatre business in 1995. Jack Loeks’ son John has been president of Jack Loeks Theatres since 1990, though Jack maintained an active interest in the company until this past December, when John and his sister Meria and Lannette bought their father’s ownership interest in the company. From the formidable company Jack constructed, John has been able to build on the tradition by developing the Celebration! Cinema megaplexes in Benton Township, Lansing, Mt. Pleasant and Grand Rapids.
A salesman, a merchant marine, a promoter, and entrepreneur, a visionary. It would be nearly impossible to live in Western Michigan without benefiting from at least one of the many accomplishments of Jack Loeks.
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