Samuel Rubin, who was known as “Sam the Popcorn Man” for making popcorn almost as popular in New York City movie theaters as kisses, has died at 85.
Mr. Rubin died Feb. 5 in Boynton Beach, Fla., according to his daughter, Karen.
Movies had prospered without popcorn until the Depression, when theaters scrambled to make up for reduced ticket prices by turning to “audible edibles.” The appetite of moviegoers was so great that from 1934 to 1940, the nation’s annual popcorn harvest grew to 100 million pounds from 5 million.
There is some dispute about when Mr. Rubin joined the trend. Marty Winter, who worked for Mr. Rubin and in turn employed him over their careers of more than 60 years in the movie concession business, said Mr. Rubin saw popcorn being made in Oklahoma on a visit around 1930 and started selling it at concessions he controlled when he returned to New York.
But Mr. Rubin’s daughter and another longtime colleague, Carl Levine, said it wasn’t until the early 1950s that Mr. Rubin began to sell popcorn in a major way. His company had the refreshments concession for major movie chains in the New York metropolitan area, including RKO, Brandt and Loews.
Over his concession career, Mr. Rubin did not neglect candy. He developed movie-size candy bars and boxes, which could be sold for $1.50 instead of 35 cents.
