The year 1930 was memorable in the Steifel family for another reason.  Sam, the self-made showman, met his wife-to-be Alberta “Bert” Miller, a beautiful, cultured, blond fashion model, whose American pedigree stretched back to 1640.  Brought together by  “happy accident” during a fashion show at the Stiefel-owned Bandbox Theater in Philadelphia’s Germantown section, the couple dated for six years, married in 1936, and produced heir “Sonny,” aka Bernard M., on June 22, 1937. 

One of his parents’ first excursions together in the fall of 1930 was to Washington, D.C. to tour the recently acquired Howard Theater and meet Shep Allen and his wife.  Unbeknownst to either couple, when not modeling Bert worked as a receptionist at the Embassy Hotel Beauty Shop, which was owned by Mrs. Allen.  Once the initial shock wore off, the foursome laughed and hugged, becoming lifelong friends.   The fact of this discovery was confirmed when Sam’s son met Shep in 1973 to enlist his aid in reopening the Howard, which had eventually closed following the 1968 riots in the nation’s capital triggered by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The son’s dream of reestablishing the Stiefel family’s roots in live theater came in the aftermath of his father’s decision to transfer his considerable creative energies to Hollywood, where he lived with his family from 1944 to 1951.  Shep had attempted to discourage Sam’s transition from the exhibition to the production side of the movie business, but Stiefel was determined to make the change.  To cement this decision, he purchased the Hollywood estate that Jack Warner built in 1930 for a cool $600,000; Sam moved his family onto its palatial grounds just as World War II was winding down.  His Hollywood years were star-crossed in every way and included:

• Friendships with Bud Abbott, Rudy Vallee, Jimmy Durante, Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, Joan Davis, Mike Todd, Betty Gable, Harry James, Jack Dempsey, Lucille Ball, and Johnny Mercer, Leopold Stokowski, to name a few;
• Acting as the manager for both Mickey Rooney and Peter Lorre during the height of their careers;
• Serving as the managing director for Music for the Wounded Concerts at the Hollywood Bowl on September 22, 1945 and August 26, 1946 that included such stars as Bob Hope, Leopold Stokowski, Bette Davis, Arthur Rubinstein, Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, Frank Sinatra, Jack Haley, Bob Burns, Lena Horne, Igor Stravinski, David Rose, Dorothy Lamour, and Robert Montgomery; and acting as the producer of two movies made in 1950, The Big Wheel and Quicksand, both starring Mickey Rooney.

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