1949-1953 Only months after Cleveland bar owner, Norman Khoury’s 1949 acquisition of Club Savoy in Las Vegas, Nevada, California mobster/gambler Allen Smiley, an associate of the then-deceased Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel, unexpectedly approached him. Smiley introduced Khoury to Bob “The Fixer” Smith, who’d been prominent in Vegas’ gambling industry in the 1930s. Subsequently, Smith allegedly purchased…
1958 Reverend Maurice D. Tulloch, 50, a Kansas man, gave up his Baptist ministry for shilling in a Nevada casino. Feeling as though his life was suffocating him, a month earlier he’d walked out of a church seminar and had gone to a bus station where he’d heard a woman purchase a ticket to Las…
1958-1961 The debut of topless showgirls in Las Vegas roused disapproval — not surprising given it occurred early in the Leave it to Beaver era. The Stardust was the first to abandon bras and tops, doing so when it unveiled a show featuring the Bluebell Girls for the hotel-casino’s 1958 grand opening on The Strip.…
1956 The Fremont in Las Vegas commissioned a large oil painting that depicted a “lady of chance” to grace a wall in its casino. The hotel-casino’s press agent, Shelly Davis, asked aspiring actress Sandra Giles to pose for the piece for renowned artist, Philip Paval. During the hotel’s grand opening, the piece of art was…
1958 Sixteen glamazon, primarily English dancers from Paris’ Lido Club troupe were imported to open Las Vegas’ Stardust hotel-casino. The Bluebell Girls’ show broke all attendance records; about 1,400 people left the gaming tables and bars each night to see it. “The celebrated dancers have been hailed as one of the most popular imports from…
1976 Natalie Cole made her Nevada performance debut at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino (formerly the International Hotel) on a double bill with Bill Cosby in April.
1967 & 1970 Apparently, the beloved crooner Frank Sinatra, Sr. had a temper, which he sometimes unleashed when casino operators denied him additional, excessive amounts of credit when gambling. In one instance when Sinatra lost control, he wound up losing two front teeth. That was in 1967, when he provoked a fight with Carl Cohen,…
1955 A dancing waters routine at the new Royal Nevada hotel-casino upstaged big-money entertainers — Carmen Miranda, Danny Thomas, Liberace and others — in Las Vegas, Nevada. The five fountains of colored water (30 tons of it) frolicked to waltzes and mambos played by an orchestra. Hans Hasslach, who introduced the attraction to the U.S.…
1947 To keep players gambling at their clubs, Las Vegas, Nevada casinos boosted incentives with offerings such as double odds on craps, bingo prizes of $1,000 ($10,900 today), extra slot machine jackpots and brand new Cadillacs.
1942 The Las Vegas, Nevada Board of Commissioners ordered all commercial slot machine owners to drop off to the local police station a master key for each of their devices to: • Ensure the devices were operated honestly • Determine the revenue they created However, when merchants, tavern owners and gambling club operators protested vehemently, the…