Rudy at the Amuz-U in the 40s

Courtesy of his son John Elman, here is Rudy Elman manning the main portal of the Amuzu sometime in the 1940s.

Astute Cines fans know that the senior John Elman opened the Amuzu in 1913 and turned it over to Rudy later on. Rudy also received former rival theater The Star (situated just west across the alley) as a wedding present--The Star was operated for a time by A.H. Blank as part of his early his theatre empire.

John Elman of today tells us to look carefully at the tiling beneath Rudy's feet, and you will see the theatre's name spelt out in its alternate, hyphenated variation: "AMUZ-U". (John also tells us that it didn't strike him until years later that the name was a pun on "Amuse You"! His wife happened to point this out to him...)