Musical Chairs
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Salus started out at the Music Box after graduating with a degree in film from Northwestern. He was a part-timer working the concession stand and proved adept at odd tasks like repairing the stand’s antiquated hot-butter dispenser. From there he moved up to the projection booth, a key post, and the owners began grooming him for the manager’s job. But according to Chaney, he and Carlo decided several months ago that Salus wasn’t working out. “He couldn’t learn to manage,” says Chaney, a point Salus says was made to him during his exit interview. He and the owners apparently clashed over staffing issues–Chaney complains that Salus “just couldn’t put himself above his staff,” while Salus says that he was less a manager than a middle manager, and that Carlo and Chaney would micromanage the theater and then disappear for long periods of time, complicating the managers’ schedules and responsibilities. Chaney confirms that he and Carlo had been working as consultants for the vintage Fox Theatre in Hutchinson, Kansas, northwest of Wichita.
Can’t Win ‘Em All
