Audio recording clip of interview with Faye Todd by Claytee D. White, October 15, 1996

You were telling me about Zula and Ted Wolfram. They owned the Landmark in 1978 when you go there. Start telling me again about meeting them and how you got to know them. I met them when I was working at the Desert Inn. They were special customers for the Desert Inn - high rollers, the two of them. We got to be very close friends. Zula and I would go shopping and the whole bit. She told me one time they were going to buy a hotel in Las Vegas and I would have to leave the Desert Inn and come and work for them. I thought, "No way." [laughter] I mean they were such simple people, so down to earth. I realized that they had money but I didn't think they were that wealthy, to buy a hotel. Apparently they was because they did. It was the Landmark that they bought. Escrow was closing in April and I was to be there and on the job in April. I thought, "Oh, my goodness." But I did promise that I would do it. She told me, "Faye, you would be my right-hand person, my eyes, my ears, and my voice," because they lived in Ohio. Zula Wolfram, Owner, and Faye Todd, Entertainment Director at the Landmark Hotel & Casino in the late 1970s 31 And they were going to continue to live in Ohio? Oh, yes. They continued to live in Ohio. I thought, "Well, okay." The offer was one I could not refuse. It was not twice my salary at the Desert Inn but three times what I was making at the Desert Inn. Now Faye, if you don't mind telling me just so I'll have some idea, can you tell me your income at the Desert Inn and then at the Landmark? I left the Desert Inn making about — hmm. I never got over sixteen thousand. I think I left the Desert Inn at sixteen thousand a year. When I left the Landmark I was making about forty-two or forty-three thousand a year. Now that's when you left the Landmark. Yes. How long did you stay with them? I was at the Landmark for six years. Great. Now let's talk about this. I'm excited about this. What kind of title were you able to get? I had a double title. My title was Entertainment Director/Corporate Executive Assistant. It was very, very nice. They continued to live in Ohio. I took care of things for them. Naturally we had a General Manager. And we had a CEO, the whole thing right there. But I was more-or-less the liaison between them and Zula and Ted. It was a wonderful, wonderful job. Did you get along very well with the CEO and the General Manager? 32 I did. I wouldn't have if I had pushed my weight around, which I did not. Okay, good. I understood how he must have felt. I more or less pampered his ego, I guess you might say. So I got along great with them. Who was General Manager? Jeff Silver. He was an attorney here in the city and I think he has gone back to being an attorney now. And you worked directly with him on a daily basis. Right. And I handled all the entertainment. Tell me about that! Handled all the entertainment! Sometimes I would have a problem — it wasn't a problem really, but there were white groups in town, word was out and they would say, "The lady there, does she book white groups?" I mean, I didn't want that because what I was booking was the best. That's right. So tell me some of the people that you booked. We had this guy, Freddie Umpire and his group. They were all lounge groups. Oh, you want to hear the showroom. Yes, I want to hear everything. Okay. Well it was the same budget that I had to stay within. So I had to go with entertainers who were more-or-less, had been great but all of a sudden they were not on the top anymore. So my budget would allow that. Oh, what's his name? He was so 33 wonderful. Oh, but Redd Fox. He was the hardest to work with. He was one of the main people. Why was he so difficult to work with ? Oh, he was very mean. I don't know. He wanted to be a superstar. But I always feel, if you're a superstar you don't have to say it. That's right. He was very difficult to work with. George Kirby. Do you remember George Kirby? Yes, of course! George Kirby was one of the nicest people you ever wanted to meet. But it was certain people like himself. And I'm trying to think of the guy's name that did the boll weevil song. Benton? Brook Benton. People of that class where they were great entertainers but all of a sudden they had just gone into the background. We had to more-or-less go with people like that. There's a comedienne. I see her every now and then on television. I booked her one time in the showroom. Quite a few that we used. But it was interesting. This is wonderful. This is the entertainment half of your title. Tell me what you did on the other half of the title? How did you have enough time to do all of this? It was very hard. It was not easy. I handled a lot of the corporate situations like making sure — now of course we had a comptroller that took care of the financial end of it but I was the one that he called when, "Next month we're not going to make payroll." Then I 34 relayed that information to Ted and Zula in Ohio. So you were really the pipeline to the owners. Right. I worked directly with the owners of the hotel. It was wonderful. They're great people and there is a story behind them, which is another story.