Abstract
The Dick Maurice Papers and Audiovisual Recordings (1958 to 1990 and undated) document his career as a talk show host and as a columnist in Las Vegas, Nevada. It also documents his experience as a hostage during the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 355 hijacking on September 10, 1976. Included are photographs, correspondence, press releases, news clippings, programs, and the transcript of the episode of The Merv Griffin Show on which Maurice appeared. The bulk of the collection consists of audiovisual recordings of his interviews with entertainers, and his radio and television programs.
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Scope and Contents Note
The Dick Maurice Papers and Audiovisual Recordings (1958 to 1990 and undated) document his career as a talk show host and as a columnist in Las Vegas, Nevada. It also documents his experience as a hostage during the Trans World Airlines (TWA) Flight 355 hijacking on September 10, 1976. Included are photographs, correspondence, press releases, news clippings, programs, and the transcript of the episode of The Merv Griffin Show on which Maurice appeared. The bulk of the collection consists of audiovisual recordings of his interviews with entertainers, and his radio and television programs.
Access Note
The papers and photographs in this collection are open for research. Use copies of the recordings do not exist, reformatting/production of use copies is required before access will be granted; this may delay research requests. Advanced notice is required.
Publication Rights
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Arrangement
Papers and audio/visual material remain in original order.
Biographical / Historical Note
Talk show host and columnist Dick Maurice was born on November 5, 1946 in Connecticut where he spent his formative years. In 1965, he enrolled at Northeast Broadcasting School in Boston, Massachusetts. After graduation he moved to New York City, New York where he stayed
until the fall of 1975 when an agreement was reached with Red Gilson, general manager of KSHO-TV, an ABC affiliate, to give Maurice his own morning TV talk show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Within a few months, Maurice was also writing two newspaper columns for the Las Vegas SUN.
On September 10, 1976, en route to Chicago from New York, the Trans World Airlines (TWA) jet that Maurice and his business partner Gary Greco were on was hijacked by Croatian dissidents. Maurice interviewed the hijackers and took many pictures. Although the flight was diverted, no passengers were seriously harmed.
In 1977, his TV show moved to Channel 5, becoming a one-hour weekly Sunday night program. In November, 1978, “Dick Maurice’s Las Vegas” debuted at the Frontier Hotel. This live national radio show with open phone lines eventually moved to the lobby of the Dunes Hotel and then to the Riviera in late 1979. In 1980, Maurice and his business partner Gary Greco started an entertainment/television weekly magazine that they called ShowBiz. By the fall of 1982, it began appearing every Sunday in the Las Vegas SUN as well as in hotel rooms throughout the city and is still in print today.
Dick Maurice passed away on November 9, 1989, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Preferred Citation
Dick Maurice Papers and Audiovisual Recordings, 1958-1990. MS-00441. Special Collections. University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
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Acquisition Note
Materials were a gift from Gary Greco in 1990; accession number 2001-027. Materials were collected by the director of the Arnold Shaw Popular Music Research Center and transferred to Special Collections.
Processing Note
Material was originally processed by Joyce Moore in 2002. In 2014, as part of a legacy finding aid conversion project, Kayla McDuffie revised and enhanced the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards. A rough inventory of the unprocessed audiovisual materials was done in 2016 by Joyce Moore.
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Storage Location
All audio tapes are stored in the Lied Automated Storage and Retrieval Unit (LASR). Advanced notice may be required to access these materials.
Appraisal Note
4 audiotape reels that were unsalvegeable due to conservation concerns were removed from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Libraries Special Collections and Archives' holdings. Please contact speccoll.techserv@unlv.edu for more information.