Early Life and Career
Many aspects of Gordon's biography remain sketchy or obscure, and many accounts contain contradictory information. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Gordon was born in Detroit, Michigan, 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. However, other sources claim that Gordon was in fact born in 1917 in Coral Gables, Florida.
He began promoting jazz concerts at university; after graduating he reportedly worked in several 'colourful' business enterprises — during World War II he reportedly ran a mail-order business that operated out of Lima, Peru, and later he moved to Cuba, where he booked entertainment for the famous Tropicana nightclub in Havana.
A number of stories circulate about Gordon's immediate postwar career. One account says he established a chain of electrical goods stores in the USA, which eventually failed. On the supposed advice of a friend, Detroit promoter Arthur Shergin, he came to Sydney in 1953 to investigate the possibilities of promoting concert tours there.
According to his Australian business associate Max Moore, Gordon claimed to have established a successful chain of electrical retail stores, with numerous branches in the USA and Canada, and that he eventually sold the business for US$550,000. This was a considerable fortune at that time, and it is apparently the largest single sum he ever amassed during his life. However, he said, he had lost the entire amount within three years, backing two unsuccessful Broadway productions and several loss-making music tours. Although the details cannot be readily confirmed, this pattern of action certainly accords with the rest of Gordon's career, as he repeatedly made and lost small fortunes on his music promotions and other enterprises.
Another (possibly apocryphal) version of these events, recounted by Max Moore, states that in early 1953 Gordon 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.
Read more about this topic: Lee Gordon (promoter)
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