Game 12: Claire Rothman - Russian Cream with Strawberries Romanoff
““I think everybody can hear me; I’m not exactly quiet. . . .I am the only woman in the United States who runs a major sports arena. I have a variety of duties. I book the building. I schedule the sports. The box office answers to me, all the staffing answers to me, and at night I get to play hostess.” - Claire Rothman, LA Times, May 28th, 1985”
Claire Rothman’s name might not be as instantly recognizable to Lakers fans as Jerry Buss and Pat Riley, but the former president and GM of The Forum was just as responsible as those two for the success of the Showtime Lakers. In fact, as Rothman explains below, Dr. Buss never would’ve bought the team if it wasn’t for her!
As head of The Forum, Rothman was responsible for not only handling scheduling and logistics for 41 home games of both Lakers basketball and Kings hockey (plus playoffs), but also the many events that occupied off-days: Concerts, tennis matches, ice skating, circuses, and many more. Rothman was a trailblazer in every sense of the word and was likely the first woman in charge of a major NBA/NHL arena, coming up at a time when few women were in any positions of power in sports.
As you’ll see in this interview, Rothman talked with me about dealing with misogyny and thriving in a boys’ club, how she got Jerry Buss to buy the Lakers, her thoughts on the Staples Center vs The Forum, why she knew that Jeanie Buss would be her father’s successor, her thoughts on the current Lakers roster, and why the upcoming HBO Lakers miniseries is “bullshit.”
This interview took place over the phone on 10/23/19, the day after the Lakers’ season opening loss vs the Clippers.
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Pablo: Thank you so much for taking some time out of your day to talk to me.
Claire: Well, I took out my cookbook because I hadn't looked at it in a long time! I still have all the books. The major change is my hair is now white.
I know you were running The Forum well before Dr. Buss bought the team, so I'd love to know more about how you came into that position.
Jack Kent Cooke called me while I was in Cleveland with the Colosseum and he said I had been recommended as the best arena manager and that they'd like me to come to California. So I came and I had a meeting with him and then he called me back in a few minutes and said, "Well, when are you going to start?" And that's how I came to be in California. Just like that. So I didn't get the title as General Manager right away. But it was my responsibility to book everything.
As in the musical acts in addition to the sports?
Right. And things like circuses and ice shows and gymnastics. Anything that we had I booked. And I scheduled the teams. I worked about two hundred nights a year at that time. But I loved it.
You ran The Forum at a time when few, if any, women ran a major arena.
I started at The Spectrum in Philadelphia and between my time there, I think I was there a little over five years, and my time at The Coliseum (in Cleveland) and my time in the beginning of my time in California, there was a period of twenty years when I was the only woman to run major arenas with both hockey and basketball in the NBA and NHL.
How did you thrive in that boys’ club, especially with a boss like Jack Kent Cooke whose reputation was a little... not so great.
Well, he was difficult. Very difficult. But I analyzed where I was at that time. I was forty seven years old when I came to The Forum and I said to myself, "If I were a man, I would be in my prime. But I'm a woman and I've been in several places so far. I have to stick it out here." And at that time, Cooke asked me if I could get the tennis (World Team Tennis) to play, so I called Dr. Buss and I got through to him which was a miracle. But I had no idea who he was. And he came over and I talked to him and I sold him one of our boxes. And that became my association with Jerry Buss. Then, Cooke was involved in a divorce with his first wife and moved to Nevada and I kept in touch with Jerry. And Jerry wound up being the only person that could buy it (the Lakers) because nobody or big corporation could buy something without seeing the books. Only Jerry Buss.
So you played a major role in Dr. Buss buying the team in the first place.
Yes. I introduced him and always teased him that I never got a finder's fee.
Speaking of the Buss family, I read in the LA Times that when you left The Forum in 1995, you told Dr. Buss that Jeanie should be the one to succeed him. I'm wondering what was it about Jeanie back then in 1995 that led you to make that recommendation?
Well, you know Jerry involved his children in the business at a very early age. Even when she was in college, she was handling tennis and things of that sort. And I saw the potential in her. I also left two assistants so she didn't have to work the number of nights that I did. And I did it because I wanted to do it. And I said, "She is the best person because she feels the responsibility to the family, to you, and she's the best person for it." Well, he was afraid that she would not have time for anything else in her life. But she did it. And we have remained very close friends over the years. She is an extremely talented woman.
Yeah, speaking as a Lakers fan, I'm very glad the team has stayed within the family instead of being sold to some hedge fund.
Yes, there are so few that have individual owners at this point. Most of them are big corporations. And it's beautiful. She says it's the family business. So I didn't make a mistake in recommending her and Jerry didn't make a mistake in giving her the chance.
The Staples Center is now 20 years old, as old as The Forum was during the Lakers' back-to-back titles in ‘87-’88, so I'm wondering what your thoughts are of the Staples Center both as a place for basketball and hockey and as a live music venue.
Well, there were a lot of advantages there for the building itself to make money because it had all of those boxes. And it has a place for the restaurant to serve them, for the club to serve them. You know, they used to call The Forum cavernous and after Staples Center, oh they said, it's not as intimate as the Forum. So, in my mind, The Forum will always be one of the premiere buildings for its time.
I love that they called it cavernous because I'm thirty, so I only got to see a few years of the Lakers at The Forum. And while I like Staples Center, it's so huge, especially the concourses and I feel like there's something missing there.
But you know the big concourses makes it easier for the fans to move around. And fortunately, I hope the restrooms are more adequate.
They definitely are.
I was a consultant on Staples Center though. I was a consultant on Anaheim too.
Oh, The Pond? Or it's called Honda Center now. I still haven't been to that one but maybe one of these days.
It's a nice building.
I rarely find myself in Anaheim.
Well there's not a lot of reasons to go down there.
The recipe you provided for the cookbook, Russian Cream with Strawberries Romanoff, I was wondering was that a family recipe? Did you put that together yourself?
No, I got a Valentine's card and on the back of it was this menu. And this recipe. And so I tried it and it was very, very good. And that is why I put it in the book. It's a good thing to make for your sweetheart.
I read that Gaby Hoffman was just cast to play you in that upcoming HBO TV show about the Lakers. Are you familiar with her?
No. I'm familiar with the show but it has not been approved by Jeanie so I've not had anything to do with it. I declined to be involved with it in any way. I did read the first episode that Jeanie sent me and I didn't like the way it presented Jerry and I didn't like the way it presented me. The thing that stuck out was that it said when I went to meet Jerry, I unbuttoned my blouse by three buttons. Now that's bullshit. I had a long term association as an arena manager. So I wouldn't have cooperated in any case. But I certainly respected Jeanie whose opinion it was not to cooperate. And she sent me the script which they had sent to her. Only the first episode. And she thought I would get a kick out of it. I thought it was written very juvenile.
Yeah, I got the hands on the script myself. I loved the book it was based off.
Yes, the book was terrific! I got to know him (Jeff Pearlman) when he wrote the book and I don't know where they got that nonsense from. Unless they feel they have to be salacious to appeal to a certain cross section.
I'm sure you heard that Steve Ballmer, the Clippers owner, is wanting to build a new arena in Inglewood. Did you have any thoughts on that? Whether he was copying the Lakers' aura of building in Inglewood?
Well, I thought that when they let the Clippers and Lakers both play at Staples, they were crossing a line that had never been crossed before. And they made it work. I can certainly understand why Ballmer would want his own practice court, his own arena. I think the league will cooperate in that it was made to work at Staples because they played on different days. And it would be advantageous to the league as well as to the Lakers to have them play on different days. But it's still under a cloud, it hasn't really been settled has it?
No, news came out about a month ago that James Dolan, the New York Knicks owner, had done this shadow campaign to elect a new Inglewood mayor who would decline to build it. It got very messy.
Well, Madison Square Garden is involved with Irvin Assoff and The Forum now. So as far as they're concerned, they'd rather not have another arena in the area.
So finally, I was just wondering if you happened to catch the Lakers game last night and what you thought?
I did. I was sick at that fourth quarter! They seemed to be standing around. Anthony Davis is playing and they don't seem to give him the ball! And when they give him the ball, he didn't make the shots. It was very disappointing but it's only the first game. We've got a lot of games yet.
I'm not panicking quite yet. It took LeBron in Miami almost half a season to get into the groove, so we'll see.
Well, he had his time last year and unfortunately he was injured for the first time in his career. He was out a long time. But everybody else that was on the court, I guess they wanted to see how they'd do. They looked like they were nailed to the floor.
Yeah, it's looking like there's going to be a problem when it comes to depth.
Yes, it's so important.
After Kuzma and Danny Green, I don't know exactly who's going to pick up the slack.
And Kyle Kuzma wasn't playing. So, that makes the difference. But go, Lakers, go!
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Russian Cream with Strawberries Romanoff
Russian Cream:
1 pint plus 3 tablespoons heavy cream
½ cup sugar
1 envelope plain gelatin
½ pint sour cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
Strawberries Romanoff:
4 cups fresh strawberries
½ cup powdered sugar
1 ½ ounces vodka
1 ½ ounces triple sec
1 ½ ounces rum
Mix together the heavy cream, sugar, and gelatin in a saucepan and heat gently until the gelatin is thoroughly dissolved. Cool until slightly thickened. Fold in the sour cream and flavor with vanilla. Whisk until mixture is quite smooth. Pour the mixture into a serving bowl or 3-cup metal mold. If you want to make individual servings, pour the cream into 6 small half-cup individual molds. Cover and chill until set, at least 4 hours.
To unmold, dip the container in hot water until the edges just begin to liquefy. Invert the mold onto a serving dish and surround liberally with Strawberries Romanoff.
Water and hull the strawberries and toss them with the sugar. Put them in a bowl and pour over the vodka, triple sec, and rum. Chill. When ready to serve, surround the Russian Cream mold with the marinated chilled strawberries.
Basically Jell-O whipped cream and vodka-infused strawberries.
This recipe was super simple to make. It’s really just an elevated version of strawberries and whipped cream with an extra kick. No really, make sure you’re settled for the night before eating these. I think I’m only going to eat fruit that’s been marinating in liquor from now on.
