At the height of his empire, he owned or operated 84 theatres across the United States and Canada. In 1929, he was accused of raping a 17-year-old dancer named Eunice Alice Pringle; the negative publicity led to the selling of his operations and he ceased to be a force in exhibition or vaudeville ever again. He is largely forgotten today in historical accounts of the early development of motion pictures. He died in 1936 worth only a fraction of his previous net worth.