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Transcript from interview with Mike Unger by Barbara Tabach, January 21, 2016

Date

2016-01-21

Archival Collection

Description

In this interview, Unger reflects upon his long and successful career in hotel management in Las Vegas and also in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He shares stories as a local celebrity, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked at Caesars Palace, as well as the big projects he oversaw, including organizing the first big fight nights, World Series of Tavern Poker and Grand Prix race. He talks about working with Morris Shenker, Moe Dalitz, Cliff Perlman and Billy Weinberger, and the role of the Jewish community in the city, and specifically in the gaming industry. Unger also discusses his non-gaming industry ventures which have included a satellite communications business and a bagel business.

Mike Unger was born in Queens, New York in 1947, and spent most of his childhood in Long Island, growing up in a predominantly Jewish and Italian community. As a young adult, Unger was already working hard, running one of his family?s restaurant after school. When he was in high school, his family moved to Los Angeles to accommodate his father?s health needs, and eventually end up in Las Vegas by 1967. Over the next two decades, Unger would work at nine properties in the city. Unger is one of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas? first hotel management graduates, and started his career with Summa Corporation in its management training program at the Frontier Hotel and Casino. After a brief stint at the Airport Marina Hotel in Los Angeles in 1972, Unger returned to Las Vegas, serving in management capacities at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino, Summa Corporation headquarters and Landmark Hotel and Casino. In 1978, he joined Caesars Palace Hotel and Casino management team, and was integral in creating the city?s first large boxing events, the World Series of Tavern Pool, and the Grand Prix race. Unger also ran properties for the White Mountain Apache and Colorado River Indian Tribes in Arizona, as well as the Showboat Hotel and Casino. In this interview, Unger reflects upon his long and successful career in hotel management in Las Vegas and also in Arizona and Pennsylvania. He shares stories as a local celebrity, particularly in the 1970s and 1980s when he worked at Caesars Palace, as well as the big projects he oversaw, including organizing the first big fight nights, World Series of Tavern Poker and Grand Prix race. He talks about working with Morris Shenker, Moe Dalitz, Cliff Perlman and Billy Weinberger, and the role of the Jewish community in the city, and specifically in the gaming industry. Unger also discusses his non-gaming industry ventures which have included a satellite communications business and a bagel business.

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Transcript of interview with Stanley Hyman by Eleanor Doble, March 10, 1981

Date

1981-03-10

Description

Interview with Stanley Hyman by Eleanor Doble on March 10, 1981. In this interview, Hyman discusses his job as a district manager for Farmers Insurance group, which brought him to Reno, Nevada in the 1940s, then to Las Vegas in 1951. He talks about the population growth of Las Vegas, and comments that the infrastructure of the city did not improve with the population growth. He also talks about some local disasters, the economy, entertainment, and the convention business in the area. He speaks briefly about recreation at Lake Mead and Mount Charleston, and atomic tests. The interviewer asks about women in leadership positions in hotels and in the insurance business.

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Invitation to the Copacabana New Year's Eve 1987 celebration at the Desert Inn, featuring a seven-course banquet prepared under the direction of Nat Hart

Date

1987

Archival Collection

Description

The oversized invitation to the New Year's Eve celebrations at the Desert Inn Hotel and Casino includes the description of a feast prepared by Food and Beverage Vice President, Nat Hart. The festivities also include a 1920s-style party at the Copacabana.

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Transcript of interview with Natalie Wolf by Barbara Tabach, October 22, 2016

Date

2016-10-22

Description

During this interview, Natalie shares stories of operating the bus station, a brief ownership of Commercial Deli (1987-1990), and her long career working collections for the casino industry. Her first position was at the Tropicana Hotel and has worked for MGM Properties, a loyal employee at the Mirage since 1990, starting a few weeks after the casino opened.

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Souvenir program and guide for Circus Circus, 1971

Date

1971

Archival Collection

Description

The souvenir guide and program to Circus Circus features descriptions of the entertainment acts performing at the hotel/casino.

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Transcript of interview with Walter Weiss by Claytee White, November 2, 2010

Date

2010-11-02

Description

In this interview, Walter Weiss discusses how Judaism and boxing kept him out of trouble in his youth. Weiss grew up in the Boston area, and started boxing as a teenager. Weiss talks about his boxing training, becoming a runner for a bookmaker, and coming to Las Vegas in the 1950s to be a bookmaker for the Stardust Hotel, and working the slot machine floor. He had several different jobs in various casinos, and discusses different people involved in the gaming industry in Las Vegas.

Walter Weiss life story begins in a Malden, Massachusetts during the Great Depression. His early background was a blend of observant Judaism, secularism, and the effects of the era. He was a troubled youth whose older brother encouraged him to join him in boxing. As Walter explains: I was a wild kid and ... boxing saved my life. His aptitude for boxing led him to be a sparring partner in New York City's famous Spillman Gym. There he met and worked out with some of the greatest fighters of the era, including Rocky Marciano. He recalls how he turned professional while attending the University of Miami and how he first came to Las Vegas in 1958 to escape his personal troubles and find work with a local bookmaker. Thus began his diverse employment history in the casino industry. He details his various positions and the cast of famous and infamous characters of the times. For six years he return to New York and worked as a Wall Street broker before arriving back in Las Vegas in 1973. He talks about his property ownership, lobbying for an amendment to Senate Bill 208, his personal religious changes and a sundry of observations about the changes that occurred as the state took over gaming.

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Transcript of interview with Freddie Glusman by Barbara Tabach, October 29, 2015

Date

2015-10-29

Description

In this interview Glusman discusses his early memories of being raised in Vancouver, Canada and how he ended up in Las Vegas. He reflects on how he first got his start in the town and his early dealings with casinos and their owners while he was working as a carpet and drapery salesman and while working for Fabulous Magazine. Glusman explains how he started his restaurant and tells about the people he encountered while doing this that where significant to both the Jewish community and Las Vegas as a whole. He recounts stories that include such people as Meyer Lansky, Al Sachs, and Moe Dalitz.

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Transcript of interview with George Levine by Barbara Tabach, April 16, 2015

Date

2015-04-16

Description

In this interview, George reflects upon his life in Las Vegas, particularly the period as ma?tre d? of the Sand?s Copa Room. Joined by his daughter - and former United States Democratic Congresswomen-Shelley Berkley, George shares stories of working in the gaming industry during this unique era, including those of Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton. He also talks about his life as a professional gambler.

Born on February 28, 1925 in Sommerville, New Jersey, George Levine?s family moved to his childhood home, Manhattan?s Lower East Side, when he was six months old. George served on a United States Navy aircraft carrier for thirty months during World War II. After returning home, he met his first wife Estelle, with whom he had two daughters, and soon moved to Kiamesha Lake, New York to work at the Concord Resort Hotel. In 1963, George and his family moved to Las Vegas and took his first job at Mr. Sy?s Casino. Six months later he began waiting tables at the Sands Hotel and Casino. He worked his way up the ranks and was ma?tre d' from 1979 until the hotel closed in 1996.

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Audio clips from interview with Blaine Benedict, November 12, 2015

Date

2015-11-12

Description

In these clips, Blaine Benedict dicusses how his family came to live in Las Vegas, Nevada; his father's career in Las Vegas casinos; and working in the casinos as a youth.

Sound

Audio clip from interview with Lovee duBoef Arum by Barbara Tabach, November 1, 2016

Date

2016-11-01

Description

Part of an interview with Lovee duBoef Arum on November 1, 2016. In this clip, Arum discusses her childhood, family life, and what brought her to Las Vegas.

Sound