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Morton "Mort" Saiger Portraits and News Articles (MS-00769)

Abstract

The Morton "Mort" Saiger Portraits and News Articles (1960-1987) consists of four newspaper and journal articles about Saiger and the Last Frontier Hotel Casino, two professional photographic portraits of Saiger, and a presentation plaque from the International Golf Club.

Finding Aid PDF

Date

1960 to 1987

Extent

0.14 Cubic Feet (1 flat file)
1.67 Linear Feet

Related People/Corporations

Scope and Contents Note

The Morton "Mort" Saiger Portraits and News Articles (1960-1987) consists of four newspaper and journal articles about Saiger and the Last Frontier Hotel Casino, two professional photographic portraits of Saiger, and a presentation plaque from the International Golf Club.

Access Note

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.

Arrangement

Materials remain in original order.

Biographical / Historical Note

Morton "Mort" Saiger was born July 22, 1903, in Opatov, Poland. He fled Poland in 1920 three days before he was to be inducted into the army. Settling in Denver, Colorado with his father, he showed an early interest in show business, winning awards as a ballroom dancer, appearing in several silent films, and performing as a baritone in a 1939 Los Angeles, California production of Mozart's opera, "Bastien and Bastienne."

In May 1942, Saiger took a job at the newly opened Colony Club in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was here that he met R. E. Griffith, a Texas theater chain owner who built the Last Frontier Hotel. Griffith hired Saiger as an all-around assistant at the new hotel in the fall of 1942. By 1945, he had become a 21-dealer on the casino floor.

When Griffith sold the Last Frontier in 1952, Saiger moved to the Desert Inn as dealer and floorman until 1969, when he returned to the renamed New Frontier Hotel-Casino as a floorman. In 1972, he became the hotel-casino's first host and was dubbed "Mr. Frontier" by Summa Corporation entertainment director Walter Kane. Saiger held the position of host until his retirement in the mid-1980s. After his retirement, he was invited to write a personal narrative on the

history of Las Vegas by the University of Nevada, Reno's oral history program.

Mort Saiger died in 1997, at the age of 93.

Source:

Karen Zekan, "Gaming Pioneer known as 'Mr. Frontier', dies," Las Vegas Sun, June 2, 1997, accessed August 16, 2018, https://lasvegassun.com/news/1997/jun/02/gaming-pioneer-known-as-mr-frontier-dies/

Related Collections

The following resources may provide additional information related to the materials in this collection:

Frontier Hotel Photograph Collection. PH-00168. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Preferred Citation

Morton "Mort" Saiger Portraits and News Articles, 1960-1987. MS-00769. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.

Acquisition Note

Accession number 1990-101.

Processing Note

In 2018, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Melise Leech processed, rehoused, and arranged the materials, wrote the finding aid and entered the data into ArchivesSpace.

Resource Type

Collection

Collection Type

EAD ID

US::NVLN::MS00769

Finding Aid Description Rules

Describing Archives: A Content Standard
English