I remember it well, because I was there. In 1958, I was the PR director of the Barcelona Hotel and Charlie was the PR director of the Empress Hotel, right next door. We were compadres, meeting often on our rounds to deliver press releases to the Miami Herald, the Miami News, the Miami Times and the Miami Beach Sun. Newspaper relations were incredibly important in those days, and Charlie and I made it our business to have good friends at all of our stops. How else did you make sure your release got printed???
Hotel PR wasn't really a full time job and both of us had other clients whose names and businesses we spent our days pushing. Charlie was hired by Zev Bufman, the owner/producer of the young Coconut Grove Playhouse, to promote productions at the Playhouse. Coconut Grove was not exactly a metropolis in those days. Actually, it was a little bohemian village with lots of artists in residence, when Charlie came up with the idea of a Parisian-style art festival along the main street leading to the Playhouse. The idea was to promote attendance for a new show. The end result was the world famous Coconut Grove Art Festival that still brings thousands of visitors to the Grove today.
The obit in the Herald talked about his remarkable career as well as his genuine likeability with friendships that numbered stars such as Liz Taylor and Richard Burton among his close friends. Charlie liked to call himself a press agent and he was definitely one of the best. At 94, he was still actively involved in "the business". Although my career veered away from the hotels and nightclubs I represented in those early years, with builder/developers, trade shows and financial clients the bulk of my business, whenever we ran into each other, it was always time for a little reminiscing about those crazy early days.
It made me sad to read of his passing. If I know Charlie, he's probably already promoting a group of angels in some fabulous new Christmas show. You will be missed, Charlie. That's for sure..
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