GLR November-December 2024

INTERVIEW

Matthew Hays chats with a superstar philanthropist

Celebrities, and How to Mobilize Them

O VER THE PAST 35 YEARS, the Toronto-based philanthropist Salah Bachir has raised mil lions of dollars for a diverse range of causes. Having emigrated from Lebanon to Canada in 1965, starting in the ’80s he founded and headed numerous media companies, notably Cineplex Media and Cineplex magazine, the trade magazine Premiere , and Famous Players Media, a film marketing part nership. He revolutionized the Canadian movie biz with his Scene Loyalty Program, and he launched an annual trade show, Focus on Video, to promote Canadian cinema. As a patron of the arts, he has supported many promising artists and amassed

S ALAH B ACHIR

Matthew Hays: One of the things I find poignant about your book is that your experiences as a gay man and an immigrant, and your issues with your weight all overlap. Salah Bachir : A triple threat—isn’t that what they call it in the business when someone can sing, dance, and act? And that is what I had to do sometimes to feel accepted—even though I felt I was just as normal as the next person. I just happen to be gay. A lot of people in the book faced rejection in the industry because of their weight, like Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor, and Orson Welles. Or people like Eartha Kitt, who fought for civil rights, and Ella Fitzgerald, the great singer, were dis missed as being too heavy and not cinematic enough. It’s that

a collection of over 3,000 works. As a philan thropist, he has donated millions and raised far more at the many fundraising events he has sponsored—funds that have supported numer ous LGBT causes as well as arts organizations. He has used his network of celebrity friends and contacts to enhance his various fundrais ing communities efforts, which have helped so many worthy organizations. For his philan thropic contributions, Bachir has been awarded the Order of Canada (the nation's highest civilian honor) as well as several hon orary doctorate degrees. Bachir recently published a memoir titled First to Leave the Party: My Life with Ordinary People... Who Happen to be Famous (McClel land & Stewart). After reading it, one is left with the impression that there isn’t a single fa mous person he hasn’t known. In a series of short but sweet chapters, he describes meeting, and often befriending, a bevy of some of the most celebrated figures of the past 75 years, in cluding Marlon Brando, Mary Tyler Moore, Ginger Rogers, Norman Jewison, and even Cesar Chavez (and that’s just the short list). Bachir cuddled with Edward Albee, had

Salah Bachir at home. Photo by George Pimentel.

Marlon Brando over for a barbeque, and got groped by Liber ace. If this sounds like it’s bordering on the surreal, then I’m de scribing it perfectly. But far from being simply a list of Big Names, Bachir manages to reveal something about himself throughout the pages of this very frank book. I spoke by phone to Bachir at his Toronto home. Matthew Hays teaches media studies at Marianopolis College and Concordia University and is the co-editor (with Tom Waugh) of the “Queer Film Classics” book series.

same old not-fitting-in thing and how it affected their lives. You could be the biggest and best at your job and still get tossed on the trash heap. I think in many respects being both queer and an immigrant gave me an appreciation and respect for being an outsider. MH: First to Leave the Party grew out of a terrible health scare you had, correct? SB : I had a kidney transplant, which was supposed to go smoothly, but then I had sepsis, another surgery, and an

November–December 2024

23