Breck Wall grew up tough and honed that toughness into solid business acumen. He also grew up talented and that talent took him to movie sets in Los Angeles and allowed him to produce shows in Dallas, New York, Tahoe, and Las Vegas. Though his family became nonexistent early in his life, he formed his own broad family from a group of faithful friends around the country. One special friendship makes this interview worth reading — the one with Jack Ruby. Wall's talent though is the primary reason that this interview is good history. He did many shows and had up to five running simultaneously. The creative process was the fun part that allowed him to produce Passion , Alias, and Night Beat among many others. Bottoms Up is his signature production and has been at several venues in Las Vegas for the past 40 years. Breck Wall is living a full and interesting life. A good example is a phone call from The London Times'. "Mr. Wall?" 1 said, "Yes." He said, "Are you aware that your best friend, Jack Ruby, just shot Oswald?" I said, "What" I was in shock. I said, "No I'm not." And I talked to him very briefly,and I hung up the phone." The phone continued to ring as calls came in from the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, etc, etc.
William Dean Whitaker was born in 1925 and raised in a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Dean, as he is known, talks briefly about his parents and his brothers, for his youth quickly ended when he joined the Air Force and became an aviation cadet once he had turned 18 years old. The year was 1943 and World War II was raging. He became a member of the 398 th Bomb Group and flew twenty missions before being captured by the Germans. In this oral history, Dean talks with vivid recollection of the day he was captured and details of being a POW in Germany. Among his anecdotes are those of his mother's unwavering belief that he would return home, the humanity of a German soldier, and of meeting Gen. George Patton. Included are photos and excerpts from his personal history of his life during the war. Dean and his wife Lucille moved to Las Vegas in 1990.
The UNLV Libraries Collection of Tropicana Resorts Publicity and Press Materials includes equity research reports, press kits, press releases, promotional materials, and newspaper and magazine clippings for Tropicana Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, and Tropicana Atlantic City in Atlantic City, New Jersey, dating from 1958 to 2010.