1674-58 Morris Lansburgh t ¢ } "r.a otelmani Lost Sneeze, ;
•
• int y at the Beach
f- cR
:'end in a Series Thirty-two million dollars burgh hits every hotel ever
OY REESE SHAW worth of hotels kept him here. I day. Keeping up with him t
l
Monad Starr writer We sat rim in one of them I the somdespetimes
of the office sial
the one Lansburgh calls and sometimes of visitors me
Fear has most people by the - g appointments •
.
Coat-tails, dragging them back I Susie." ! The phone rang.
from success. I He is general manager a n d
co-owner 'dr Miami Beach's
"Horrible!" said LansburgIt
"You have to take a few cal-; He listened awhile. "Rotted:
Sans Souci and Versailles. He
culated risks in this oworld,"�is co-operator of the Casablan- What about Sherry?" There
said Tris Lansburgh getting!ca, Sherry Frontenac and big I wap some talk about other
up from ms chair aniwalking new Deauville, all corporation hetels. "Good. Great. Sure —
around as he talked. ventures. g�ahead."
Hay fever brought the Headquarters is "Susie" — He put down the receive-
dark, lean man to Miami. the Sans Srnrei — but Lens- and smiled: "Now, where wens
ar- ..- -
-- , we?" This was a pattern the
repeated itself all through the
interview as he phoned or was
phoned.
Be•he denies that he h as
ulcers or a split personality
"Only hay fever," he laugher
•"and I got complete relief fron-
that here."
i:N 5011-‘4 Born in Baltimore, 41-year-
, old Lansburgh moved to Mi-
C4y (,f, ami in 1940. He'd spent a year
at Johns Hopkins University
912-01 15114- and five years in his father's
distillery business.
l�`v
e „„' www1 U "I had to make a living,"
VY V"`111 he recalled. "So I leased the
Wofford Hotel for the sum•
mer."
Lansburgh figured it was a
calculated risk. The rent•was
only some $7,000 to $8,000 for
the season and be put a couple
of thousand down.
"There was no money bete
in those days; he recalled.
The deal worked out fine
Later, he leased the Strath
Haven, too, and sold Miami's
first "package tours."
"We brought folks down on
the Clyde Mallory steamship
lines to Jacksonville, switches:
them to a hus and brought
them into Miami for a quiche
'vacation while the boat y:orlced
its way to port here.They pick-
•ed up the boat, then, and re-
turned."
When the Army took over
Miami Beach hotels, I.ans-
burgh sold imported Swiss
watches4
After the war, he launched
a series of calculated risks.
I buying or leasing hotels and
picking up associates along the
way. When he felt it was wise,
he shed old investments and
I moved into new operations.
Lansburgh's biggest thrill
came in 1956 when he rebuilt
and doubled capacity of the
Versailles, which he'd purchar
ed in 1950. •
I "It was a very rewarding ex-
perience."
He attributes his success
'chiefly to"timing."
"I grew up with the resort
business." he explained. `I
guess I've been intelligent
enough to see the opportuni-
ties — and quick enough to
•keep ahead of the pace.
"It's a last-moving busi-