By Chris Kornelis
Claire Rothman married at 18, had her first child at 19 and gave up being a stay-at-home mom before she was 30 to work as an accountant. It wasn't until she was almost 40 that she embarked on what became a singular career in the entertainment industry.
Rothman, who died Nov. 22 at the age of 97, was president and general manager of the Forum, home of the Los Angeles Lakers, during the team's "Showtime" era -- when Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar brought home five NBA championships -- and of hockey's Los Angeles Kings. At the same time, Rothman was bringing in the biggest names in pop music -- from Prince to Queen -- and helped turn the arena into an epicenter of entertainment, sports and culture.
Running one of the most important, influential venues in the nation, she also helped professionalize the concert business. Music impresario Irving Azoff, who booked acts like the Eagles into the Forum, called her "the pioneer of the arena music show," whose respect for music in buildings built for sports rippled across the industry.
"She really treated music like it was just as important as the Lakers and the Kings in the building," Azoff said. "That hadn't happened before then."
Wild Kingdom
Claire Polakoff was born in Philadelphia on Aug. 8, 1928. Her father, Paul Polakoff, worked a variety of jobs and her mother, Anna Schwartz, eventually worked in a dress shop. She married Arthur Rothman right out of high school.
Claire Rothman worked as an accountant at Arthur Rothman's hotel and hospital-supply company, and helped it navigate bankruptcy. She worked a number of other accounting jobs before going to work for the Philadelphia Spectrum, around the time of her 1967 divorce. She later helped the arena's operator come out of bankruptcy.
"Nobody would have predicted how much of a springboard that would be for her," her son, Barry Rothman, said.
Divorced and with her children finished with high school, Rothman took a job at the old Wild Kingdom animal park in Orlando, Fla., and then the Cleveland Coliseum. In 1975, Jack Kent Cooke, owner of the Forum (now the Kia Forum) -- and its marquee tenants the Lakers and Kings -- asked her to come out for an interview. Rothman worked her way up the ladder quickly and was soon running the building -- booking shows, scheduling games, overseeing the box office, hosting VIPs -- at a time when there were no other women running a major venue in the U.S.
"She had a commanding presence when she walked in a room," said Fred Rosen, who worked with Rothman and the Forum as he turned Ticketmaster into an industry juggernaut. "Maybe that's the best way to put it, especially in a room with a bunch of guys who, if you think the world is politically incorrect now, you can't imagine what it was like in the music business then."
Jeff Pearlman reported in his book "Showtime" that Rothman's boss, Cooke, would make the women on his payroll twirl for him and delighted in dressing down Rothman over the most tedious of infractions. ("Showtime" was the basis for the HBO series "Winning Time," in which Rothman is portrayed by the actress Gaby Hoffmann.)
Introducing the Laker Girls
Things changed when Jerry Buss bought the teams and the Forum in 1979. He wanted going to the Forum to be a show. He ordered up a fast-paced style of play from his coaches and players, introduced the Laker Girls cheerleading squad and charged Rothman with turning the arena's VIP area into a nightclub. She transformed the Forum Club into one of the hottest spots in Los Angeles -- considered the city's answer to Studio 54. Buss held court, but Rothman, immaculately dressed, known for her coordinated scarves, made it a business.
"When Dr. Buss purchased the Lakers, Kings and the arena, it already had the reputation of attracting the biggest acts in music," said Jeanie Buss, co-owner and governor of the Lakers. "Now, my father adds that Showtime aspect to the Lakers and it meshed perfectly [with] what Claire had established. She created an atmosphere that continued to build upon itself."
Rothman saw the commercial potential in arena concerts long before it became the big business that it is today. She booked Prince for six nights in 1985, Genesis for five nights in 1986 and Neil Diamond for 10 in 1989. She booked the acts herself and built close relationships with artists. Rosen said she was also an early advocate of Ticketmaster, now owned by Live Nation Entertainment, which brought added revenue streams to the industry.
"Being tough is one thing, being honorable was special," Rosen said. "And anybody who came in contact with her, she had an impact on."
In addition to her son, Barry, Rothman's survivors include her daughter, Karen.
Rothman left the Forum in 1995 and went to work with Rosen at Ticketmaster before retiring in 1999. Later, she moved to Las Vegas with her second husband, eye surgeon Edwin Hill, whom Barry Rothman called "the spouse she wanted and wished she had had earlier in her life."
Though she was a trailblazing woman in the industry, she didn't want her contributions to be seen through the prism of her gender. She used to refuse to sit on a panel if the other panelists were venue managers who were women.
"I didn't want to be known as the best woman manager," she told Billboard in 2018. "I wanted to be known as the best manager."
Write to Chris Kornelis at chris.kornelis@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 01, 2026 14:00 ET (19:00 GMT)
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