Lee Gordon (born March 8, 1923 – November 7, 1963) was an American entrepreneur and rock and roll promoter who worked extensively in Australia in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Gordon's jazz and rock 'n' roll tours had a major impact on the Australian music scene and he also played a significant role in the early career of pioneering Australian rock'n'roll singer Johnny O'Keefe, serving as his manager.
Early life and career
Many parts of Gordon's life story remain sketchy or obscure, and there is much contradictory information about him. The passing of time makes it increasingly difficult to verify or refute the various versions of his life and career, since many of his former close associates like his Australian colleagues Max Moore and Alan Heffernan are now deceased. Although both men wrote memoirs of their collaboration with Gordon, their accounts suggest that Gordon himself was the likely source of many of these contradictory tales, and that he may well have concocted these stories to cover his real activities. There are also notable periods for which there is little or no information about his whereabouts and activities, such as his mysterious trip to America in 1957–58, including his alleged "nervous breakdown" and extended hospitalization in Hawaii, his movements and activities after final departure from Australia in 1962, and his death in London in 1963.
According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Gordon was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1923, and educated at Highland Park High School, Highland Park, Michigan and at the University of Miami, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1944. His U.S. World War II Draft Card (Order #12575) gives the name "Lee X Gordon" with March 8, 1923 as the date of birth, with the place of birth as Detroit and his residence in "H.P" [Highland Park], Wayne [County], Michigan. Census and other records indicate his parents were Louis and Jennie (Lopate) Gordon, who married in 1914, and that he had a younger sister, Paula.
His "Alien Certificate" (see image below), issued to him by the Australian Department of Immigration shortly after his arrival there in 1953, records his birth as 8 March 1923 in Michigan, although other sources claim that Gordon was born in 1917 in Coral Gables, Florida. His Certificate also, notably, has no entry in the line for "Previous name (if any)", which is at odds with the generally accepted account that he had changed his name from "Gevorshner" to "Gordon" some time before his arrival in Australia. It also indicates that he travelled from the U.S. by ship (vessel registration N1025V), disembarking in Sydney, and the attached identifying photograph provides a rare image of Gordon before he underwent plastic surgery to change the shape of his nose.
By the time Gordon graduated from college, he had already begun his involvement in show business, presenting a jazz concert in an ice rink in Muskegon, Michigan. With noted publicist Benn F. Reyes (who was to play a major role in the Big Show tours) Gordon promoted a 'Shakespeare in the Round' project, and then worked for a time with Royal American Shows, a large Tampa-based travelling carnival. For unknown reasons, Gordon left America sometime in the mid-1940s and reportedly worked in several 'colourful' overseas business enterprises. In Lima, Peru, he was involved in a direct mail business, and later he moved to Havana, Cuba, where he exported cigars and roses to the United States and booked American acts into the famous Tropicana Club, Havana's famous open-air nightclub. The dating of his involvement with the Tropicana is uncertain, although it is possible that he was working there during the period that the Miami Mafia took control of the club in 1946.
On the official website of Gordon’s 1959 film, Rock’n’Roll, Gordon's activities and whereabouts in the years prior to his stay in Cuba in the late 1940s and his move to Australia in 1953 were made significantly clearer, through its discovery in August 2024 of Gordon’s inclusion in Miami University’s IBIS yearbook publications from the period 1941 to 1945, where he completed a degree in business administration with an honours year in law.
The mystery that surrounds his activities in Cuba, up until his arrival in Australia, vividly illustrate the contradictory, probably exaggerated and possibly even fictitious stories that Gordon told about his life. In this case, although there are several key elements in common, there are at least three extant versions of his life during this time, each of which differ notably in the details of events and locations. According to one version, he opened a chain of sixty "House of Grams" and "House of TV" retail stores in the US, but his gimmicky sales pitches supposedly angered the powerful US Electrical Retailers' Association, and Gordon was allegedly forced out of business, incurring a heavy financial loss. It was then, at the suggestion of his friend Arthur Schurgin, a Detroit promoter, that Gordon decided to explore the possibility of presenting big-name acts in Australia.
However, Gordon told at least two other different versions of this tale to his Australian business associate Max Moore. In one account, Gordon claimed that his retail venture was successful, and that he eventually sold it for US$550,000 (a very considerable amount at that time, and apparently the largest single sum he ever made during his life) but Gordon further claimed that he had subsequently lost the entire fortune within three years, backing two unsuccessful Broadway productions and several loss-making music tours. Although the details cannot be readily confirmed, and may or may not be true, this pattern certainly accords with what is known of Gordon's Australian career, where he repeatedly made and lost small fortunes on his music promotions and other enterprises.Moore, p. 27 In a third (and perhaps least likely) version of these events, also recounted by Max Moore, Gordon claimed that in early 1953 he accepted a bet from some influential New York business people, who doubted his claims that he could start with nothing and become a success. He was challenged to prove himself and given a one-way ticket to Canada. Basing himself in Toronto, he moved into a luxury penthouse hotel suite, rented several retail properties and began advertising his new venture. Stocking the stores with TV sets, Gordon hired staff and used his proven hard-sell tactics and by the end of the first week he managed to make enough money to pay his bills; a short time later he apparently sold the business for a handsome profit. It was during his stint in Toronto that he allegedly met an Australian used-car salesman who encouraged him to try his luck in Australia.Moore, p. 28
Australian career
Gordon arrived in Sydney on the 30th September 1953. He stayed for a time at the Ushers Hotel in Darling Point before moving into a rented harbourside penthouse in the prestigious eastern suburb of Point Piper, where he remained until he left Australia for the last time in 1962.Moore, p. 29
Gordon's first Australian business venture was a marketing business utilising the latest American techniques such as telephone quizzes, competitions and discount coupons on to lure customers into a Sydney furniture and electrical appliances retailer, Royal Art Furnishings. His deal with the company gave him a percentage of the increased business, and his marketing tactics proved so successful that the company sold thousands of appliances,Moore, pp. 27-28 earning a considerable sum in a short time.
From the springboard of his initial marketing success, Gordon then established himself as a music concert promoter in Australia. Backed by his recent earnings and tapping his connections in the American music business, he founded a promotions company to bring out leading American music artists. He was keen to minimise his tax liability — Australian tax law in those days charged a double rate on performers who worked in both Australia and the United States — so he hired a skilled accountant, Alan Heffernan, who went on to become his permanent accountant and general manager, as well becoming a close friend and confidante.Moore, p. 31 Heffernan played a major role in Gordon's subsequent success and he helped to keep the company going through the mysterious period in 1958 when Gordon disappeared for almost a year. In 1954, Australian taxation law was amended, ending the punitive double taxation levied on artists who worked in both Australia and the U.S. As soon as the change took effect, Gordon terminated his work with Royal Art Furnishings to concentrate on building his concert promotions business.
The Big Show
Gordon's new company, which traded as The Big Show Pty Ltd, opened an office at 151 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay and in January 1955 he hired book-keeper and future promoter Max Moore as his assistant. Six months later Moore was elevated to the position of tour manager, and he coordinated most of the Big Show tours. The other Big Show staff at this time were Alan Heffernan (general manager), Perla Honeyman (publicity officer), Clive Mahon (assistant to Lee Gordon), Colleen McCrindle (Gordon's secretary) and receptionist Moira Delray.Moore, p. 35
Gordon negotiated a deal with venue owners Stadiums Limited for the use of their venues in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, at a cost of AU£500 per session,Moore, p. 42 and arranged the hire of Centennial Hall in Adelaide and suitable venues in other major cities. Stadiums Ltd was a famous Australian company that had been purchased in 1916 by colourful Melbourne business identity John Wren, whose life and career was the inspiration for John West, the central character in Frank Hardy's controversial novel Power Without Glory. Stadiums Ltd owned large venues in most Australian capital cities, including the Sydney Stadium, Melbourne Festival Hall and Brisbane Festival Hall. Through the first half of the 20th century these halls, which were originally built as sporting arenas, had hosted many major Australian boxing and wrestling matches, but they were ideal for Gordon's purposes since their "in-the-round" arenas were at the time the largest indoor venues in Australia's three east coast capital cities.
The notable except to this was Melbourne. The first Big Show tours in 1954 and early 1955 were all presented at the old West Melbourne Stadium, but it was destroyed by fire in the early hours of 24 January 1955, just before the last two Melbourne concerts of the first Australian tour by Frank Sinatra, whose shows had to be hastily relocated to the Melbourne Town Hall. The venue was soon rebuilt as Melbourne Festival Hall and was reopened in mid-1956, in time for the Melbourne Olympic Games, but in the interim Gordon was obliged to use a range of other Melbourne venues including the Town Hall, Leggett's Ballroom in Prahran, the Royal Exhibition Building, and the Palais Theatre in St Kilda, until the Olympics had ended and the new Festival Hall was again available for regular concert bookings.