Skip to main content

Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal

ent000900-003

Image

File
Download ent000900-003.tif (image/tiff; 105.4 MB)

Information

Digital ID

ent000900-003
    Details

    Publisher

    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    3. In such an atmosphere of profligacy, money tends to have ephemeral or exaggerated values, and Jack admits that it produces some curious results. Last spring, as a case in point, old friends Joe E* Lewis and Ted Fio Rito met in a casino and Ted asked Joe to lend him $600. The .comedian gave the band leader one of his magnificent shrugs and said, ?╟ÑTed, I won?╟╓t lend you the money but I?╟╓ll win it for you in a jiffy.?╟Ñ Hours later, Lewis wearily dragged his feet away from the dice table and handed Ted the $600. "Gee that's great,?╟Ñ Ted said: ?╟ÑHow much did you win??╟Ñ "Win??╟Ñ Lewis Screamed,?╟Ñ! lost $20,000.?╟Ñ Ezio Pinza, among others, presented a special probelm at the Sands. Jack has made it a rule to discourage his stars from playing at the hotel, even though their presence at the tables invariably attracts huge crowds. ?╟ÑIf they lose in my place,?╟Ñ he says frankly, "they might go away hating me, and I wouldn't be able to sign them again." But Pinza wanted to play, so Jack confided that there was one particular nickel Slot machine geared to pay more than the others, and that only Pinza would know which one it was,. "Another thing,?╟Ñ he said, "people sometimes leave money in the slots, and if you search each one late at night, you're apt to find quite a few coins." Pinza went for the suggestion, Jack recalls, and for the next two weeks hotel patrons were treated to the unique spectacle of the world's highest paid basso intently playing one nickel slot machine, and surreptitiously salvaging a few forgotten -more-