He founded the Holiday On Ice show, and later purchased and relocated a near-extinct National Basketball League (NBL) franchise which became the Los Angeles Lakers.
[1] In the late 1940s, impresario Morris Chalfen took "Holiday On Ice" to Mexico, Cuba, and Latin America, followed by an eight-month tour of Europe in 1950.
But audiences were recovering from the devastation of World War II and hungry for the glamour, thrill, athleticism, and grandeur of his American ice show spectacle.
As a result, Chalfen became the only international American ice show, the first to play behind the Iron Curtain (during the Cold War), China, and around the globe.
As the Gems had by far the worst record in the NBL, the Lakers had the first pick in the 1947 dispersal draft of players from the Professional Basketball League of America, which they used to select George Mikan, later to become the greatest center of his time.