Astrachan reminisces on Downtown's 'Days Gone By'...

Lecia Forester

Daily Dunklin Democrat

Business leader, store owner, music promoter, actor. What has Kennett's Jack Astrachan not done in his lifetime?

As long as he has lived in Kennett, he has always been involved in the community in one form or another. His simple philosophy... "Family, business and music."

Many residents probably remember he and brother Sol as proprietors of James Kahn Department Store, which opened its doors for business in the year 1925.

James Kahn, Astrachan's uncle came to Kennett from Russia when the communists came into power and overthrew the Czar. Astrachan said that during this time, Hitler was gaining power and was taking over all of Poland, Czechoslovakia and the whole area. Finally, his uncle sent for the family which included Astrachan, brother Sol, his mother and father.

"We got out just in time. In fact, we had to hide out with a Catholic family for about a week before we got on the boat to the U.S.," Astrachan said.

The year was 1938 when the family finally made it to the United States from Danzig (now part of Poland, originally Germany). Astrachan's brother Sol came to Kennett to live with his uncle and aunt and work in the store. He graduated from Kennett High School in the year 1947 as Class Valedictorian.

Astrachan says to this day, he believes his brother still has his first paycheck, keeping it as a memento.

In the meantime, Astrachan and his parents, instead of coming to Kennett immediately, decided to settle in St. Louis, Mo. This is where Astrachan went to school, later on attending Washington University for a period of time.

Then in 1943, he was drafted into the Army and served until 1946. Among his stations of duty were Camp Blanding, Florida, Fort Monroe, Virginia and Fort Mead, Maryland where he was discharged.

After being discharged from the Army, the family decided to relocate to Kennett. This is when Astrachan became involved in the family business and his mother Sonia began her career as a cashier at the store.

He says of his mother, "She knew everybody in Kennett. She had a way of telling pregnant women whether it was going to be a boy or a girl. She was about 90 percent right." He adds, "She was funny. She said that Ultrasounds put her out of business." He also noted that she was able to speak six different languages, fluently.

Astrachan recalls, "My Uncle James died in 1969. He left the business to Sol and me." According to Jack, he and his brother bought two more buildings and enlarged the store.

Eventually, James Kahn housed a men and women's clothing department, children's department, shoe store, gift department and even a piece goods department at one time.

Later on a cosmetics counter was added, bringing the Estee Lauder line to Kennett. According to Astrachan, he was instrumental in getting the line of cosmetics in our area. He said, "We were one of the few small stores that Estee Lauder opened up. That was my pride and joy. I designed the counter. We did unbelievable with Estee Lauder. It was highly successful." He noted that representatives from Estee Lauder in New York came to Kennett three or four different times before giving the final ok.

When asked if he missed working in the store, he replied, "I miss the people. I'm a people person."

While James Kahn was open, Astrachan and his brother Sol would go to the markets in New York and Dallas on buying trips bringing back the latest in fashions to Kennett. Astrachan concentrated mainly on Ladies fashions while Sol would purchase gift items and childrens.

Astrachan related, "We kept up with the major stores in Memphis such as Goldsmith's. It was important to us to get the same merchandise as Goldsmith's, Dillard's and Famous Barr. That was what made us successful. We had the same thing they had in the cities and sold it for a little less. That was important.

"We had a wonderful staff, many of them stayed with us 10 to 20 years."

While the store was still open for business both men became more involved in the community. Astrachan at one time was President of the Jaycees, President of the Country Club, President of the Friends of Music and Vice-President of the Delta Fair.

His brother Sol had a successful eight years as Mayor of Kennett. During his term, he was responsible for paving the streets (devising a plan where homeowners would pay 50 percent and the city would pay 50 percent). Sol was also responsible for implementing zoning ordinances for business and residential areas.

When the store closed in 1998, the building was sold to Diane Sledge of Skeeter Kell Sporting Goods then later on sold to Jake and Lindsey Crafton who are the current owners of "The Opera House," a newly renovated version of the structure.

When asked how he felt about the renovation of the old James Kahn building, he said, "I think the Craftons did a wonderful, wonderful job restoring the Opera House. They're still working on it. They're putting up offices on the second floor. They are rental offices. Two are already rented to Patrick McHaney and Jack Holifield. They also bought the building next door. They're hoping to attract a business to it. They bought it from Diane Sledge and are going to renovate it and put a small business in there."

Astrachan also commented on the awning removal taking place downtown.

"It makes the town look more modern, more upscale," Astrachan said. "When we were in business, it was a different time, the square was full and every space was taken, there were no vacancies.

"There were businesses everywhere and things just changed. That was on era of time and a lot of people came downtown and the square was busy . Things changed. That's when the shopping center with Harp's came and that changed things. We had a good business. I think the square is coming back.

"It went downhill for awhile. I definitely think it's going uphill though because of the Opera House's renovation and the awnings coming down. It just looks more modern, it looks more upscale."

According to Astrachan, he attributes a lot of this success to Sara Graves, executive director of the Downtown Kennett Revitalization Program, and Frank, Debbie, Jake and Lindsey Crafton.

He adds, "I think the future for downtown Kennett looks better than it ever has. That was a great idea to put up that marquee (at the Opera House) so people would know what party is going on. I think the renovation of the Opera House by the Craftons is the number one spark plug for downtown Kennett....

"That has been the number one spark plug for the renovation of the square."

After the store closed, Astrachan was able to concentrate on one thing that has always interested him and that is music. When asked about how he became interested in music, Astrachan said, "I've always been involved in music. In fact, he was instrumental in bringing a lot of top notch entertainment to Kennett, including Bobby Vinton and Conway Twitty. This was during his years with the Jaycees. He remembers how Vinton was only supposed to sing for an hour but stayed on stage for an hour and a half. Concerning Twitty, Astrachan says the armory was already filled with 1,000 people and 200 people had to be turned away.

Other acts that Astrachan helped bring to Kennett included Bill Haney, Jerry Lawler and George Klein.

As a member who is also active in the local Friends of Music organization, Astrachan has brought to Kennett the music of the U.S. Army Band, the Navy Band and the Air Force Band. He notes that whenever these bands would come to town, there was always a large crowd. He added that one reason was the support of Bud Hunt and the Daily Dunklin Democrat.

As well as procuring talent for Kennett, Astrachan has also served as a booking agent for The Trend ( son Michael's college band), actually getting them a write-up in Billboard magazine. He was also instrumental in helping The Keynoters get started in the business.

He said, "When I came to Kennett, four girls from Bragg City came into the store and said we know you go to New York a lot. We want you to help us become well known. I personally got them with a big agent who discovered Della Reese. He signed them and immediately put them on the Ed Sullivan Show. That was my pride and joy."

Astrachan said that he has even gotten offers to promote as recently as last year. He added that Kennett has a lot of talent which includes Noll Billings, Trent Tomlinson, David Nail and Sheryl Crow.

One other act Astrachan promoted was at the Delta Fair. He had brought the Willie Mitchell Band to the area to perform. Astrachan notes that Mitchell said, "Jack, I want you to do me a favor, I have a singer I just signed and I want him to do a couple of free songs and I said offhand, Willie, they just want you an hour because they want everybody on the carousels."

Mitchell went on asking Astrachan to give this guy a chance. Finally, Astrachan said, "Willie, you're a friend of mine, got a great band, let this guy do three or four songs." According to Astrachan, the man was none other than Al Green. He remembers Mitchell had to beg him to let Green go on for free.

Among other things Astrachan has done is to sign up as an extra for the movie, "The Firm" Sidney Pollack was the director of the movie and he decided to strike up a conversation with him. Astrachan asked him if he knew the Pollacks from Blytheville, when he replied he didn't, Astrachan then told him how great his movie, "Wives and Lovers," was, Pollack told him it was "Husbands and Wives," not"Wives and Lovers." By this time, Pollack was a little upset and was spilling his coffee.

When the movie came out, Astrachan's scene had been cut out. He thinks that his conversation may have been the reason. For a day's work, he was paid $57 after returning the tie he had borrowed from wardrobe.

In recent years, Astrachan was inducted into the Hall of Honor at the Dunklin County Library. When asked about this, he said, "It's an honor and recognition for the place you live. He believes that he was honored because of his involvement in the community.

Before the conversation ended, Astrachan related one last story and that was how he met his wife, Margot. He noted that they had mutual friends in Caruthersville and he was given her telephone number. At the time, she was living in Memphis. He called her and went to Memphis twice for a date. The third time she came to Caruthersville for a visit. Astrachan took her to the store and proposed to her in the shoe department. Remember, this was their third date and the year was 1963. They've been married ever since and have one son, Michael who is married and now lives in Kansas City, Mo., and is a Web site developer.

When asked if he had it to do all over again, would he do things the same way, he said, "My life has been interesting. No regrets. Life just falls into place. You've got to be positive."