In the mid 1970s (I can’t remember exact dates) as manager I hired a local high school senior to work as my Doorman to take tickets. His name was Brett Smith. He was a great kid – smart, funny, hard working, and always willing to help on any project. He was the perfect employee! Brett also played high school football. One Friday evening he did not show up for work, which certainly wasn’t like him. I made a few calls trying to locate him and found out that he was in the hospital. During a footbal game a day earlier he and another player “hit heads” really hard. So hard it broke Brett’s helmet! Sadly he passed away several days later due to the injury. The entire Village was in mourning. While he worked for me Brett had said that his favorite movie was “American Grafitti”. After talking to the rest of the theatre employees we decided to hold a benefit in Brett’s name. I contacted the local distributing agency in Buffalo and they were able to get me a free copy of “American Grafitti”. We advertised the benefit in the Westfield Republican. We were only going to show the movie once on a weekday night when the theatre typically was not open. On that night we sold out all 621 seats and had a few customers standing in the back! It was a great success! All of the money that we took in was given to the Wesfield Academy & Central School to create the Blatt Bros Grand Theatre Brett Smith Memorial Schlorship Fund. The schlorship, which is still awarded today, is given to a high school senior who has worked at a part-time job during their high school years. Brett was a great young man who we unfortunately lost too early. But Brett’s name will always live on through this award. The Grand Theatre touched alot of lives in this community and this memory will always live on in my heart.
I was one of the last three managers of Blatt Bros Grand Theatre in Westfield. I started work there as a doorman my junior year in high school in 1968. I worked for Tom Tetreault. I worked over the years and ultimately learned to be a projectionist. I took over the manager’s position in 1974 when Tom wanted to retire from the business. I managed it until 1978 when I hired Rick Clauson (also of Westfield) to take over. When I was manager I hired William S. Locke (WSL) and trained him as a projectionist. We spent alot of time at the Grand over those years and developed some great memories. It broke my heart to have that wonderful old theatre torn down but it was in really bad shape structurally. While we worked there we were always having problems with the furnace, the roof, the plumbing, the projectors, the generator, etc, etc. But we had alot of fun with the movies and the people who patronized us on the weekends. I have alot of good stories so if anyone wants to know more just drop me a line at I now reside in Cincinnati but get to Westfield several times a year to visit my family. My best memory was developing the Brett Smith Memorial Scholarship by showing the movie “American Graffitti”. I’ll leave that story for a future post. Take care everyone!
In the mid 1970s (I can’t remember exact dates) as manager I hired a local high school senior to work as my Doorman to take tickets. His name was Brett Smith. He was a great kid – smart, funny, hard working, and always willing to help on any project. He was the perfect employee! Brett also played high school football. One Friday evening he did not show up for work, which certainly wasn’t like him. I made a few calls trying to locate him and found out that he was in the hospital. During a footbal game a day earlier he and another player “hit heads” really hard. So hard it broke Brett’s helmet! Sadly he passed away several days later due to the injury. The entire Village was in mourning. While he worked for me Brett had said that his favorite movie was “American Grafitti”. After talking to the rest of the theatre employees we decided to hold a benefit in Brett’s name. I contacted the local distributing agency in Buffalo and they were able to get me a free copy of “American Grafitti”. We advertised the benefit in the Westfield Republican. We were only going to show the movie once on a weekday night when the theatre typically was not open. On that night we sold out all 621 seats and had a few customers standing in the back! It was a great success! All of the money that we took in was given to the Wesfield Academy & Central School to create the Blatt Bros Grand Theatre Brett Smith Memorial Schlorship Fund. The schlorship, which is still awarded today, is given to a high school senior who has worked at a part-time job during their high school years. Brett was a great young man who we unfortunately lost too early. But Brett’s name will always live on through this award. The Grand Theatre touched alot of lives in this community and this memory will always live on in my heart.
I was one of the last three managers of Blatt Bros Grand Theatre in Westfield. I started work there as a doorman my junior year in high school in 1968. I worked for Tom Tetreault. I worked over the years and ultimately learned to be a projectionist. I took over the manager’s position in 1974 when Tom wanted to retire from the business. I managed it until 1978 when I hired Rick Clauson (also of Westfield) to take over. When I was manager I hired William S. Locke (WSL) and trained him as a projectionist. We spent alot of time at the Grand over those years and developed some great memories. It broke my heart to have that wonderful old theatre torn down but it was in really bad shape structurally. While we worked there we were always having problems with the furnace, the roof, the plumbing, the projectors, the generator, etc, etc. But we had alot of fun with the movies and the people who patronized us on the weekends. I have alot of good stories so if anyone wants to know more just drop me a line at I now reside in Cincinnati but get to Westfield several times a year to visit my family. My best memory was developing the Brett Smith Memorial Scholarship by showing the movie “American Graffitti”. I’ll leave that story for a future post. Take care everyone!