Allan Harvey Bell
Allan Harvey Bell, 79, of Kansas City, Missouri, passed away Nov. 1 at home.
Private graveside services were held Wednesday at Mount Carmel Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to Kehilath Israel Synagogue, 10501 Conser, Overland Park, KS 66212; The Jewish Community Center of Greater Kansas City, 5801 W. 115th St., Overland Park, KS 66211; or to the charity of your choice.
Allan was born on Jan. 22, 1941, in Kansas City. He was the son of Dorothy and Morris Bell, and the grandson of Sam and Alta Bell of Kansas City and of Esther and Joseph White of Omaha, Nebraska. He was the oldest of four children.
He worked at the Bell family’s paint store, Longwear Paint & Varnish, in North Kansas City, as a child. He bought his first car when he was 14 and initially hid it from his parents by parking it around the corner. He started a theatrical booking agency, America’s Best Attractions, when he was a freshman at Southwest High School in Kansas City, and he booked bands for the high school. Allan was a member of the Delta Alpha Gamma fraternity, graduating from Southwest in 1959.
He earned a bachelor’s degree, with a dual major in journalism and television and film production, from the University of Miami in 1963.
During the first week of his freshman year at Miami, he met the woman who would be his wife, Ruth Gitomer. In his own inimitable way, he promptly “moved in” to the Gitomer family home in Miami. Allan continued to work as a theatrical agent, with a focus on booking bands, while in college. He was also the sports editor of the school’s student newspaper, The Miami Hurricane. He was a member of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.
He married Ruth at the Seville Hotel in Miami Beach on June 16, 1963. Allan and Ruth spent their honeymoon in Europe. They then moved to Kansas City, and Allan went to law school. He earned a law degree at the University of Tulsa in 1967, while still running America’s Best Attractions. He opened his first Kansas City offices upstairs in the Longwear Paint building, which by then was better known as the Burlington Carpet store.
As the head of America’s Best Attractions, he booked musicians like Chuck Berry, Booker T. & the M.G.s, and Ike and Tina Turner, along with dancers, burlesque performers, magicians, comedians and circus acts. He was inducted into the Kansas Music Hall of Fame in 2017. Some of America’s Best Attractions’ papers, photographs and posters are in the Allan Bell Collection at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Libraries.
He started a travel agency, Allan Bell Charters, in 1970 and operated the travel agency for more than 30 years, simultaneously practicing law for more than 50 years. Allan was one of the pioneering attorneys in Kansas City in immigration and nationality law.
Allan is survived by his children, Allison and Michiel Pilgram of Jersey City, New Jersey, and Jeffrey and Marla (Rabicoff) Bell of Leawood, and by his grandchildren, Jacob Bell, Sophie Bell and Sylvia Pilgram. Allan is also survived by his brother, Michael Bell, and by his sisters, Carolyn Steinberg and Beverly Alport. He is survived by many nieces and nephews.
Allan was a lifetime member of Kehilath Israel Synagogue. He was a longtime member of Meadowbrook Country Club, even notching a hole-in-one on the course’s famed 12th hole.
Allan was known for his many passions, including going to estate sales, eating Gates BBQ, reading newspapers, watching live music, collecting ties and jackets and shopping for Statue of Liberty posters. He always had a bag of Twizzlers or some dark chocolate to share. He loved his children and adored his grandchildren, and his zest for life and good humor were infectious.
Allan lived by the advice of his grandfather, Sam Bell: “Meet the people.”
Online condolences for the family may be left at www.louismemorialchapel.com.
Arrangements by The Louis Memorial Chapel, 816-361-5211.