Reel good
for 30 years

By William Kenny
Times Staff Writer

More than a few things have stood the Hollywood movie industry’s test of time over the last 30 years.
National Lampoon’s Animal House, released in 1978, remains in the eyes of many as the best comedy film of all time, while one of its debutant performers, Philadelphia’s own Kevin Bacon, is still one of the industry’s more prolific actors.
Other studio productions that year, such as Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile, The Boys from Brazil starring Gregory Peck, and Foul Play, with Chevy Chase and Goldie Hawn, similarly have held up through the decades.
But the contributions by any of those films to the collective consciousness of modern movie buffs can only pale in comparison to that of one Northeast Philadelphia company.
Movies Unlimited also is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. As a pioneer of the video-rental industry, and now perhaps the largest independent DVD retailer in the world, the company — including founder Jerry Frebowitz and its longtime executive staff — certainly have earned a prominent and unique place in the history of the silver screen.
Although Movies Unlimited closed its staple rental business and flagship storefront at Castor Avenue and Knorr Street some three years ago, the company continues to thrive with its mail-order DVD business, based in a 22,500-square-foot warehouse at 3015 Darnell Road, near Comly Road on the northern fringe of Northeast Philadelphia Airport.
The firm employs 80 people; about half of them have worked for the company 10 years or more.
Together, they serve roughly a half-million unique customers each. The company’s inventory of some 400,000 videos includes films of every era, genre and title that customers simply can’t find anywhere else.
"I don’t know that we’ve done anything all that special," general manager Ed Weiss said of his company’s strategy of stocking aisle upon aisle of golden-era films, both popular and obscure, along with all of the widely circulated new releases.
"I guess we’re the only ones who cultivated the customers who wanted that," he said.
As a rule, Movies Unlimited has always been willing to stock at least one copy of any title and let customer-demand dictate how many more might fill the shelves.
"In a lot of ways, that philosophy is what has carried the whole thing through for thirty years," said Irv Slifkin, the company’s marketing coordinator.
Weiss is convinced that the past is important to the company’s future.
"If we didn’t specialize in the nostalgia business, we wouldn’t have the stature we have in the movie world," he explained.
Whereas walking into the old Movies Unlimited retail shops, which numbered five throughout the region at the company’s peak, was almost nirvana for hardcore film fans, the annual Movies Unlimited DVD Catalog fills the role now.
The special 30th-anniversary edition is 832 pages — thicker than an old Sears catalog — with several dozen titles and summaries on each. Unlike many film guides, the volume doesn’t rate individual movies. But with production years and star actors listed for each entry, along with selected poster art, the book is a quintessential reference manual. It costs $9.95, while most individual films inside it are priced at $14.99.
"We try to make it fun to browse through it," Weiss said.
"We’ve mastered a way to summarize the plots and market the movies," Slifkin added.
Film fans aren’t the only ones being impressed. According to Weiss, the Movies Unlimited database of customers includes many of the big names that can be found in the closing credits. Although he’s not at liberty to name names, the list includes one of the biggest leading men of the 1970s, one of the most popular and highest paid actresses of the 1980s and ’90s, a multiple Oscar-winner and the director of one of the biggest-grossing series of all time.
Some buy copies of their own work to complete their personal collections, Weiss said, while others rely on his company to find old or rare films.
"We have what (wholesale) distributors have, even more than what distributors have," Slifkin said.
The Movies Unlimited executives, both of whom joined the company as sales clerks at Castor Avenue more than 25 years ago, also credit adaptability under the direction of Frebowitz for the longevity of the business.
Frebowitz, who still serves as president, started out by marketing VCR tapes and machines in the early days of the technology.
He quickly realized the potential of a rental business, long before places like West Coast Video and Video Village entered the marketplace.
"I can still remember when I started working at the store in 1980," Weiss said. "I remember asking two questions: ‘Do you want to rent or buy?’ and ‘VHS or Beta?’"
Several new formats have come and gone in the ensuing years, such as CED discs and laser discs. Meanwhile, alternate technologies like cable, satellite and on-demand television have moved the market away from rentals and back to sales.
Now, the days of conventional DVDs are numbered too, they say, as Sony’s Blue-Ray discs are rapidly working their way into the marketplace.
Though the conversion will be yet another hassle and expense for movie buffs, it can only help Movies Unlimited as collectors look to update their libraries.
"They’re going to bring out a little at a time so they have something new to sell every month," Weiss said of the film industry. "The studios are good at re-marketing the same product over and over again." ••
Visit Movies Unlimited online at www.moviesunlimited.com or call 1-800-4-MOVIES.
Reporter William Kenny can be reached at 215-354-3031 or bkenny@phillynews.com