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Transcript of interview with Ruth Poirier by Joanne Goodwin, February 5, 2003
Date
Archival Collection
Description
In 1927, a sixteen-year-old girl from Rockford, Illinois moved to New York City to play trumpet with the all-girl bands common from the 1920s through the end of World War II. During this period, which spanned Prohibition, the Great Depression, and World War II, all-girl bands came into their own in America. They were especially popular during the war, when most men were off fighting but people still needed and appreciated music. This was also a time when jazz and swing became wildly popular in this country. All-girl bands were able fill a niche left empty by men at war. Doris Eloise Pressler was born in Jamesville, Illinois on January 17, 1911 to Bertha Hendrich Pressler and Louis Pressler. Almost immediately after her birth, the Pressler family moved to Rockford, Illinois. Bertha was a teacher, a homemaker and mother. Louis did auto body hand-painting and also managed a bar. In addition, he played baritone saxophone and taught his daughter Doris to play trumpet. They both performed with hometown bands, playing churches, dances, and other social events. In 1927 at age sixteen, Doris left school, moved out of the family home, and went to work for Walgreens in downtown Rockford. In her free time she played music. Doris began her professional music career in 1927 as a trumpeter with the Gypsy Sweethearts in Rockford. That same year, she moved to New York, where she played in the only women’s band that ever performed at New York’s historic Roseland Ballroom. During the early 1930s, Doris performed with the Red Dominos, an all-girl band that was part of a variety show produced by E. K. Nadel. However, it was tough for girl musicians during the Depression. Few managers wanted to hire female players when so many men were out of work. Doris persevered, and through the 1940s, she traveled and played with other all-girl bands such as Annette Demon and her French Dolls and the Hollywood Debs. While Doris pursued her music career, a little girl in Wisconsin was learning to play the piano and trombone. Born on April 13, 1917, Ruth Poirier came from a musical family: her father John played drums and French horn, her brother drums and bassoon. John performed with the local Elks Club group, while Ruth and her brother played for their high school band. Ruth’s mother Mary had been a nurse, so when she finished high school Ruth decided to attend nursing school in Chicago. After a year, she returned home to Wisconsin and trained as a beautician. In 1939, Ruth answered a local ad for girl musicians and signed on as a trombonist with an all-girl band. Her first gig lasted only a month, the band dissolved, and she left to tour with Annette Demon and her French Dolls out of Milwaukee. While playing down South, Ruth met a fellow musician who became her lifelong companion, Doris Pressler. In July 1939, Ruth and Doris took off for Southern California. While living in Long Beach, Doris performed with bands at the 660 Club on the Pike, a well-known waterfront amusement park, and at the Waldorf Cellar. She also played a gig at Murphy’s, across from the Showboat in Las Vegas. Girl musicians began getting more jobs because the men were being called into military service. Ruth, a “Rosie the Riveter” during the war years, helped to build Navy fighter planes for Douglas Aircraft in El Segundo, California. After the war ended in 1945 women, whether “Rosie the Riveters” or band members, lost their jobs to the hordes of returning servicemen. Realizing that all-girl bands were “gonna go nowhere at all,” Doris had decided in the early 1940s to return to school and pursue studies in her second love, mathematics. She took classes in math and engineering at the University of Southern California, and then joined the Los Angeles County surveyors’ department as a civil engineer. After two years there, Doris transferred to the road department, where she worked until her retirement in 1974. Ruth returned to work as a beautician, running a shop out of her home. The Greater Los Angeles area contained an active gay and lesbian community both during and after the war. Doris and Ruth enjoyed a social life that included girls’ clubs such as Tess’s and drag clubs like the Flamingo. According to Ruth, these were “sitting-down, drinking places…and visiting. We had one club where they had dancing…. But then they let everybody in.” After the war, everybody just wanted to have fun, and Doris and Ruth enjoyed getting together with all types of friends in clubs and in private homes. During these at-home evenings, Doris and others would play popular music for everyone’s enjoyment. After their retirement to Las Vegas in 1974, Doris and Ruth were active in their local senior center. Doris played with the Las Vegas Senior Band for ten years, and Ruth worked in support of the band and the center. According to Ruth, Doris loved playing with the band, and enjoyed it more because she was retired and could devote herself to her playing. Doris Pressler and Ruth Poirier lived together through six decades of radical social change in America. From the rise of women musicians and workers outside the home, through the return of women to more “traditional” roles after World War II, and finally the revolution in women’s roles from the 1960s to the present, Doris and Ruth experienced it all. And through it all, they maintained a relationship that lasted for 62 years, until Doris’s death. According to Ruth, “I enjoyed my life. I never found anything wrong with . ... I think Doris would say the same."
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Transcript of interview with Susan Fine by Cecillia Boland, February 18, 1976
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Interview with Susan Greenspun Fine by Cecillia Boland on February 18, 1976. In this interview, Fine talks about growing up in Las Vegas and her schooling. The interview is geared towards the growth of Las Vegas from her childhood to her adulthood, including roads, air travel and medical facilities. She is the daughter of Hank and Barbara Greenspun, owners of the Las Vegas Sun newspaper, and discusses being involved in all the happenings around town because of that.
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Transcript of interview with Lyn Robinson by Barbara Tabach, September 18, 2014
Date
Archival Collection
Description
One day in 2012, UNLV student Lyn Robinson spied a posting on the bulletin board for a photographer for the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center. She was an art major with a concentration on photography. She was also had a deep appreciation of the horror of the Holocaust and what the survivors she would take photos of had endured. Thus began a two year project, during which she took photos of over sixty survivors. Her images are preserved at UNLV Special Collections & Archives. Prints are displayed at the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center. On September 18, 2014, Lyn shared her work for this oral history recording. She is a native of Florida, daughter of a horticulturist father and pianist mother.
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Transcript of interview with Alfred "Al" Isola by Stephen Kalish, March 15, 1976
Date
Archival Collection
Description
On March 15, 1976, Stephen Kalish interviewed Alfred “Al” Isola (born August 3rd, 1917 in Oakland, California) in his office about his garbage company and early Southern Nevada. The two discuss Las Vegas’ lack of a unified garbage system and how dumping sites have had to adjust their practices in order to limit their impact on pollution. Isola also explains the different disposal protocols for wet and dry trash. On the second tape of the interview, an unidentified woman enters the conversation.
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Emilia Marquez oral history interview: transcript
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Oral history interview with Emilia Marquez conducted by Maribel Estrada Calderón on July 5, 2019 for the Latinx Voices of Southern Nevada Oral History Project. Claytee D. White and Emily Lucile are also present during the interview. Emilia Marquez was born in the United Stated and raised in Alexandria, Virginia, where her father worked as a bricklayer, until the age of twelve, when her father decided to move the family back to Uruguay. She describes acclimating to her new life in middle school and her shift from being perceived as an outsider in Uruguay to accepting Uruguay as home. She describes life in Uruguay and the positions that her family held while living there. After meeting and marrying her husband they trained to work in a casino. She trained as a slot machine operator, and her husband trained as a dealer. This eventually led them to leave Uruguay for the U.S. After the encouragement of her father and mother, she moved with her mother to Las Vegas to work in the casino industry. She describes working as a change person at the Luxor before moving to the newly opened Palms, where she worked until she left it to work at the Wynn. She ends the interview talking about various Uruguayan dishes and traditions, and a brief history of Uruguay. Subjects discussed in this interview: Uruguay, immigration, Las Vegas Strip, Latinx, Luxor.
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Transcript of interview with Eugene Brandise by Mark Mangiaracina, March 3, 1980
Date
Archival Collection
Description
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Irwin and Susan Molasky Papers
Identifier
Abstract
The Irwin and Susan Molasky Papers (early 1900s-2012, bulk 1970-2012) primarily contain materials related to real estate development work by Irwin Molasky with his company, the Molasky Group of Companies, in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, the collection includes personal photographs (early 1900s-2011, bulk 1970-2011) of family members, friends, and events, as well as a Proclamation from Clark County, Nevada to establish the Molasky Family Park.
Archival Collection
Photographs of Caesars Palace signs, Las Vegas (Nev.), 2002
Date
Archival Collection
Description
Site name: Caesars Palace (Las Vegas, Nev.)
Site address: 3200 S Las Vegas Blvd
Sign owner: Park Place Entertainment
Sign details: Caesars Palace is located between the Flamingo Rd. on the western side of Las Vegas Blvd Caesars has grown over the years since it's opening, but remains the true to its classic form. Signage for the resort is limited compared to some but consists of significant pieces of signage such as two large pylon signs, a rotating sign for Planet Hollywood, building signage consisting of logo text, as well as a porte-cochere. The property itself is an over abundance of classic design form after another, mixed among modern amenities like an Omnimax theatre. Caesars Palace is a permanent icon in Las Vegas Imagery and folklore.
Sign condition: Structure 4 Surface 4 Lighting 4
Sign form: Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère
Sign-specific description: The YESCO pylon is located at the northern side of the property and is constructed of black painted steel and centers around a base of four columns aligned in a row. The sign faces north/south. The four columns rise out of the ground about six feet in the air before a long horizontal, gold bordered, rounded end cabinet, that reads and points to free covered parking. The text is graphically applied and internally lit. The cabinet is lit from the backside with neon, creating a halo behind the sign. The columns continue upward until they are met with the triangular cabinet, pointing east, with the two faces, being occupied a color LED message center. The interior edge of the face of the sign is bordered with green neon. Above the visible top edge of the wedge shaped message boards, the Caesar's Palace logo if illuminated in red neon upon a rectangular section created out of two entablatures, stacked on top of each other. The top entablature reads "Caesars" in red letters and "Palace" in the second row The two are capped with pediment lined on the interior edge with gold neon and a back-lit Caesar's logo. The exterior of the cabinet is polished aluminum, with metal channel letters. The original pylon built much earlier, utilized six-column shafts capped with golden statuary, secured to a large concrete base. When facing the columns, facing north, or south, the majority of the view of the vertical pieces is taken up by the giant internally lit message center, with removable lettering. The outer edge is crafted the same as the face of the other pylon, but it is bordered in pink neon. The four center columns supports an entablature supporting the logo text, and above that a pediment rounds out the classic architectural combination. The top half of the pediment is larger and supports the text "Caesars," while the lower, narrower section reads "Palace". The entire pediment is striped horizontally with bands of aqua neon that creates a field for the text. The text is in the stylized roman text, in channel letters, and lined with red neon. One of the most attractive pieces of signage is the Caesars porte-cochere. The famous fountains lead up to the main entrance, which is shadowed by the massive porte-cochere, which is one of the few remaining on the strip that displays such grandeur. The Porte-cohere is a hulking collection of levels, stacked upon on another, but grow in size as each level steps upward. The rest looks as if a massive set of plaster steps were turned upside down and placed over the entrance. The edge of each level is lined with brass treatments that are repeated vertical poles of polished brass, greeting a repeated striping pattern. From behind this treatment and pushed further back beyond the human eye, a rose colored glow is produced by intense lighting fades into a soft halo as it dies out toward the edges. The mass and girth of the structure is helped out visually by the angles chosen to in its design. The entire construction seems to sag under it's own weight, for each level is slightly cupped into a concave shape. Each levels edges are concave as well, producing a illusion of movement in space. To the right of the porte-cochere there is still the aqua tinted light pouring out of the latticework, that fills the arcade of arches. On the main tower directly behind the porte-cochere, the red neon logo is present as well as elsewhere on the building as well. Facing east this particular set of letters looms high over head. The section of the building is a vertically elongated temple front, stretching the height of the building. Four pilasters run the vertical length of the building, holding black spans of tinted windows in between. They each are topped with golden Corinthian capitals, which hold up the classic entablature and pediment. "Caesars Palace" is spelled across the entablature in channel letters and filled with red neon. In the pediment above a golden crest of Julius Caesar's profile flanked by two encompassing olive branches. The crest is ambiently lit with white light. The tower just behind the main building also supports text on its east face as well. As the narrow edge of the tower, the vertical plane rises upward but is flat and smooth until it reaches the top section. It is essentially a giant entablature created out of the temple fronts on either side that wrap around to meet on the width. On this flat plane, "Caesars Palace" is spelled in the classic lettering and neon treatment seen on the building letters just below that. The building itself is ambiently lit but the profile of Caesar above the text is not a brightly lit as the other. On the south side of the parking garage, on the western edge of the property, the channel letter logo reads in red neon as well.
Sign - type of display: Neon; Incandescent
Sign - media: Steel; Plastic; Masonry
Sign - non-neon treatments: Paint
Sign animation: Chasing, flashing, oscillating
Notes: The V-shaped red channels on the silver main pylon chase each other downward toward the ground. The main text on the pylon animates as well. The letters light up one at a time with red neon from left to right as the arrows continue to chase downward. The logo/text sign located above the giant replica of the Harley Davidson, animate as well. The incandescent bulbs which fill the text, spelling the name of the establishment, oscillate, steady burn, then shut off, and then restarting the sequence. The letters that spell cafe on the lower portion of the sign animate in concert and with the same sequence as the main text.
Sign environment: Caesars Palace sits in one of the biggest and busiest sections of the strip, and has always been a mainstay. The ambiently lit classic features of architecture seem almost specter like moments, with the blazing red eyes of the Caesars text staring from afar. From the street, the actual structures are set a bit back from the street, seeming rather distant. Construction is currently present around the exterior edges of the property, which rather dampens effect of the theming, but everything shines through. The theme does step out to the street with the statuary, creeping out to pedestrians and the pylon signs. The main signs are street side, pointing toward the casino. Headed south on the west side of the street the two pylon signs lead up to the porte-cochere. Standing underneath the porte-cochere looking out, the fountains provide a picturesque scene to see the other side of the street. The buildings loom high over head. The environment contains elements, which can be seen repeated throughout hotel exteriors. The large water element, the Classic architectural design motif, and the spectacular porte-cochere are still evident in properties built today. Even though Caesars continues to evolve with the current trends, all of these elements were presenting its original design.
Sign manufacturer: Pylon 1: YESCO Pylon 2: Ad Art
Sign - date of installation: 1966, 1998
Sign - date of redesign/move: On-going additions since 1966
Sign - thematic influences: Caesars Palace may be the first themed resort, which has taken its theme to an extreme the likes of which had never been seen before. Ever since it's original inception in 1966, Caesars Palace has sought to give its guest the most of the Ancient Roman theme. Caesars is simply dripping with imagery and architecture that is steeped in the theme of Ancient Rome. No matter where you go there are collections of statuary, domes and columns, false temple fronts create the facades of the towers, and low geometric hedges and cypress trees all add to the theme. Any themed property can draw influence from Caesars Palace, and still stands as one of the highest markers for competitors to be judged by.
Sign - artistic significance: Very important signage that can be seen reflected in many aspects of non-casino culture. Caesars Palace is one of the icons of American popular culture, and the distinctive Romanesque neon is a big reason why.
Surveyor: Joshua Cannaday
Survey - date completed: 2002
Sign keywords: Pylon; Fascia; Porte-cochère; Neon; Incandescent; Steel; Plastic; Masonry; Paint
Mixed Content