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Cassella, Danny
Danny Cassella was a Las Vegas, Nevada big band performer and orchestra leader from the 1940s to the 1960s. Cassella grew up in Newcastle, Pennsylvania, where he studied violin and drums. It was shortly after he graduated from Newcastle High School that a traveling musical show gave him the opportunity to fulfill his dreams. After gaining experience with the traveling production, Cassella's musical ability was noticed by a number of orchestras. He decided to go to Hollywood. He appeared in the 1933 movie Flying Down to Rio with Fred Astaire.
Person
Gill, Benjamin
Benjamin Gill arrived in Goldfield from Seattle, Washington around 1905. An accountant, Gill worked for a number of mining and brokerage companies. From 1906, he was secretary and local agent for the Begole Mining Syndicate, owned by mining financier, F. H. Begole, of Marquette, Michigan. He also acted as secretary for the Nevada Registration and Trust Company of Goldfield.
Person
Williams, Rejoyce
Rejoyce Williams was born April 26, 1905 in Fordyce, Arkansas. She left Fordyce when she was 17 for Oceanside, California, with her husband and their two children. The family then moved to Saginaw, Michigan, and eventually had nine children, six of whom survived. In 1960, the Williams family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada for two reasons: their youngest daughter, who suffered from asthma, needed to live in a dry climate and Williams’ mother-in-law lived in Las Vegas.
Person
Giles, Reva
Reva Giles grew up in the little town of New Carlisle, Indiana and was one of twelve children. Her mother stayed home with the children while her father worked for Studebaker, a large automobile manufacturer. Right after high school, Giles moved to Redland, California, to live with a sister, working first at an ice cream shop and then a bank.
Person
Morris, Bobby
Bobby Morris (born Boruch Moishe Stempelman) was born June 30, 1927 and immigrated from Wilno, Poland to Brooklyn, New York in 1937. His passion for drumming was ignited soon after, and he began shining shoes to pay for drumming lessons from Henry Adler. At the age of thirteen, Morris got his first gig playing at the Musicians Union in the Catskill Mountains during the summer. He soon developed a career playing jazz around town with different artists while simultaneously studying at the Manhattan School of Music.
Person
Exber, Mel
Mel Exber (1923-2002) was an innovative sports book operator and the longtime owner of the Las Vegas Club casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. Exber was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 3, 1923. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and moved to Las Vegas in 1947. With his business partner, Jackie Gaughan, Exber opened the Saratoga Sports Book in 1953. Exber bought the Las Vegas Club in 1960, and also owned interests in the El Cortez, Plaza, Club Bingo, Western, Nevada, Gold Spike, and Barbary Coast.
Person
Bustamante Adams, Irene, 1968-
Irene Bustamante Adams believes in the reinvention of oneself as the path to the future. And since coming to Nevada in 1990 she has proven that anything is possible.
She was born and raised in rural California where she worked the fields alongside her family members growing up. Her mother is a native of New Mexico, with family that dates back six generations; her father was born in Mexico.
Person
Frassmann, Dorothy, 1931-
Dorothy Frassmann was born October 29, 1931 in Brooklyn, New York. Right before her parents divorced while she was five, Frassmann moved to Canada to live with her great aunt. She moved back to the United States when she was ten years old because World War II started. She met her husband, Lewis, when she was 15 and he was 20 or 21; they married only a month after meeting each other in Texas. After a series of turmoil between Frassmann and Lewis, they got divorced less than a year later. She was left to support herself in Hubbard, Texas at the age of 15.
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