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Percy E. Sutton is trying to describe the mini-entertainment empire he's building around the Apollo Theatre, but he keeps getting delayed.
First the Rev. Jesse Jackson, in town to campaign, is on the phone. "I'm so proud of that young man," says Mr. Sutton, who heads the candidate's national finance committee.
Next Mr. Sutton is arranging to have champagne sent to the Apollo, where the powerful chairman of the Federal Communications Commission is speaking at an event Mr. Sutton is co-sponsoring.
"We'll make some friends," says Mr. Sutton, the media maven.
This former Manhattan borough president is still a consummate politician. Those wheeler-dealer skills will be an asset as he and his media company, Inner City Broadcasting Corp., labor to make the legendary Apollo, the centerpiece of Harlem's redevelopment, a viable economic entity.
The Apollo master plan aims to draw revenue, and profits, by expanding the theater's role from mere concert hall to a state-of-the-art video and audio production center. In addition, the Apollo will be the core for spinoff businesses: records, a magazine, cable and syndicated television show production, licensing, music publishing and talent management.
"Former Apollo management said the biggest mistakes they made were that they didn't sign talent to management, didn't sign record contracts or start a music publishing company," Mr. Sutton says.
The Apollo, which has undergone a $17 million renovation with lots of state aid, is far more to the community than a 1,385-seat theater on 125th Street. It's become a symbol for the long-heralded Harlem revival.
"You need a dream that people can tie into," says Donald Cogsville, chief executive of the Harlem Urban Development Corp. "The Apollo is concrete and exciting and captures people's imagination. The imagination and chutzpah that Percy's got are going to make it survive."
Indeed, Mr. Sutton's fortunes are inextricably tied to the Apollo, even though he calls its immediate financial position "precarious."
Says W.A. Tatum, chairman of the Amsterdam News, "It's...