brooklyndodgermemories

Yeah, they would have stayed in Brooklyn. JFK would be in the MLB hall of fame now.

I would have loved to see that, Kennedy had his problems as president before his assassination but he may have been a great owner with the Brooklyn Dodgers.

JFK had only 1,000 days to be president.............I thought he did a great job inspiring the youth of America. Be that as it may, JFK would have done the Brooklyn Dodgers proud (I feel). The Dodgers would be playing in Coney Island right now...........................I HATE WALTER O'MALLEY..................

O'Malley was all ready a player in the Dodgers, things might very well have turned out the same way. I would think that Kennedy would have wanted 100% ownership and that was impossible. Mrs. Mulvey would never give up her 25% share and she and her husband didn't need the money Kennedy would have thrown at her.

What a relief that we can say that without being banned, suspended or attacked.

I read that Mulvey was vice president of the Dodgers. So in fact one can blame him for the move to the Left Coast too. Or am I overseeing something?

James Mulvey was a big wig in the movie industry in Hollywood, I'm sure the move to LA was okay with him. Mulvey was on the Dodgers Board of Directors before Rickey and his group took over. He was removed from the board by Rickey, O'Malley and Smith. The Mulvey's never had any love for Rickey or O'Malley.

All of these fellas can be seen in the old Dodger yearbooks.

How about posting some pictures Pete. One thing you have to say about O'Malley, he went from a Brooklyn Trust Company gopher and being around the Brooklyn Dodgers to sole owner of one of the richest sports franchises of all time. He left a lot of bodies in his wake and threw many a former friend or associate under the bus, but he still made quite an accomplishment. But he is still a rotten SOB.

Tony I think you are being too kind to O'M.

James A. Mulvey had been with Sam Goldwyn from the inception of his independent production company in the early 1920s, and over the years became Goldwyn's most trusted business confidant. Before Goldwyn, Mulvey worked for the old Boston & Westchester Railroad in New York, then moved to Price-Waterhouse where he served as an accountant to movie client Sam Goldwyn. When Goldwyn went independent in 1922, he hired Mulvey to run his New York office to enable the producer to became a hands-on filmmaker on the west coast. Mulvey preferred anonymity, and rejected generous offers to become a high-ranking executive at several major studios. He remained as president of Samuel Goldwyn Productions (later Samuel Goldwyn, Inc.) for over four decades. In what was essentially a privately-held company, Goldwyn took exception to his rule of never taking on partners, and gave Mulvey a five and a fraction percentage ownership of his independent studio. James Mulvey, who specialized in distribution, was frequently consulted by his colleagues on complex industry issues, making him ideally suited for the collaborative interests of SIMPP.

Both James Mulvey and Gunther Lessing became important leaders of the Society. Mulvey would demonstrate his resourcefulness as a negotiator representing the independent producers in many of the foreign territorial disputes over quotas, while on the legal front, Lessing would stimulate the Society's antitrust agenda. As Mulvey and Lessing's influence grew, it also illustrated the prominence of the two most important SIMPP members, Goldwyn and Disney.


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Exit from SIMPP

After Goldwyn exited SIMPP in 1955, James A. Mulvey also relinquished his responsibilities from the Society. Then in 1960 Mulvey resigned from Samuel Goldwyn Productions to form a joint venture with a Canadian theater circuit to distribute foreign films with big-budget advertising campaigns. He had also taken an active interest in the Brooklyn Dodgers baseball franchise, serving as vice president since 1937. He became part owner of the team, and helped manage the Dodgers move to Los Angeles.

Mulvey married the granddaughter of Steve McKeever who inherited a 25% share of the Dodgers.He was on the Dodgers Board of Directors until Rickey, O'Malley and Smith obtained the other 75%.

As part of the '47 Dodgers sub-BioProject, I've had a chance to see an article on John Smith which mentions Andrew Schmitz in passing. It sounds like George V. McLaughlin, president of the Brooklyn Trust Company, had a lot to do with ownership matters behind the scenes.

The Brooklyn Trust Company held the mortgage on Ebbets Field as well as loans made to the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Ebbets estate and the one Mckeever brothers estate was being handled by The Brooklyn Trust Company insofar as their share in the Brooklyn Dodgers were concerned. George McLaughlin with the blessing of MLB in essence hired Branch Rickey as President and GM of the Dodgers. He also mad it possible for Rickey to acquire part ownership. The origonal group was Rickey andrew schmitz and John Smith as a silent unknown partner. Walter O'Malley basically begged McLaughlin to become part of the ownership group. The first block bought was the Mckeever 25% share. Later the group bought the Ebbets 50% share with Schmitz opting out and being bought out by the others. Schmitz said he wasn't interested in getting so involved with the team. Thus Rickey, Smith and O'Malley each had a 25% share of the team, with the Mulvey's owning the other 25%.John Smith always supported Rickey as being the best person to run the Dodgers on a day to day basis, but tended to side with O'Malley on other issues such as getting rid of Durocher, not acquiring the Brooklyn Dodgers football tea. and certain other things that O'Malley fought Rickey over.In an interview Smith said he marveled over Rickey's handling of the Dodgers baseball affairs saying they would never work in the business world but Rickey made them work in the baseball world.