September 22, 2003 - As some of you may have noticed from my revisions or the Donators' Plaque the name of Danou Sears. I recently realized that not only is Danou a contributor and supporter of this site, she was the first female casino manager in Nevada. Ed Torres who owned the El Rancho of the Thunderbird/Silverbird/El Rancho clan appointed Danou Casino Manager of the resort in 1987. Danou was kind enough to not only supply me with newspaper articles describing her appointment but pictures of her taken with notables Moe Dalitz of Desert Inn/Stardust fame, Governor Richard Bryan, and David Goldstein of Dunes fame. I've added all this to the Thunderbird/Silverbird/El Rancho's page. I want to thank Danou for giving me all this information. I've asked Danou for some additional information and with her help, I will be updating this page in the near future.
The other notable addition is on the Sahara's page. As we all know, many entertainers have hobbies and interests outside the world of entertaining. I had received an e-mail from Nancy Williamson with a story about Buddy Hackett. Nancy had gone to see Hackett at the Kings Castle where he recited poetry he had composed. Hackett had stated that if anyone wanted a copy they could leave their name and address with the hotel and a copy signed by him would be mailed to them. Nancy did just that and she received the poems dated 1970. She has donated them to this site to show the another side of this great entertainer who recently passed away. Even though they were written in 1970, I decided to put them under June of 2003, the month Hackett left us.
Once I get Hackett's obit together I will move them to that page, but until that time I added them to the Sahara's page since he was very involved with the 6th Lady on the Strip. I want to thank Nancy for these poems and sharing with us another side of this comedian.
I've been doing both cleaning and updating this week. Over the years I heard about the Desert Inn's record breaking craps game but never had enough information to add it to this site. I also knew the dice were in a case at the resort but I have no idea what happened to them after Wynn it bought. Well, I finally got lucky and found an article/interview of a man who was there that night in 1950, and told a blow-by-blow description of that night. I've added Hy Kellick' description to the Desert Inn's page.
Speaking of the Desert Inn. I oftened wondered about the Colonial House which occupied what appeared to be on the Desert Inn property on the right. When Wynn purchased the property in 2000 and prepared for the Le Reve, that property was included. I did find out some interesting facts on the Colonial House which I added to her page.
I've added information and/or pictures from 1971 to all of the resorts existing during that year.
I have two links I am adding to my Links page. One is Vegas related, the other isn't:
1. Jay Sarno's son Jay contacted me and let me know about the Sarno Award named, of course, after Caesars Palace/Circus Circus visionary Jay Sarno. Please check out this site as you may know someone who qualifies.
2. I've been a dog person for years always owning one. About three years ago, I changed lanes and became a cat owner after my beloved dog Trapper died in 1996. I now have two cats and what I've realized is that scratching posts are so expensive for such low quality. I couldn't believe it. I was determined to find a good sturdy scratching post that would urge me to take out a loan - this site does quite well doing that without any outside help. I've found a man who makes scratching posts and they are definitely quality and costs from my research about $100-$200 less than what you find at stores. No cardboard is used and the carpet and sisal rope is quality. If you are looking for a real good scratching post go to Bret's auctions on Ebay. If by chance he doesn't have any up at the time you click this link, or you don't want to go through the Ebay route, don't worry, e-mail him off of the "Ask Seller" tab or ask me for his e-mail address. I'll be happy to give it to you!
September 8, 2003 - As you can see from the main page and this page, our own Sam Melchionne is selling some of his Saharan magazines. Please feel free to e-mail him for prices, etc.
Also, for those of you living on the West Coast, ABC (channel 7 here) is having an interview with Rick Frazier who created the Troops Phone Home plan that you see on the top of this page as well as the Main Page. It will be tomorrow morning at 6:00am, on Eyewitness News.
I'm still doing clean-up and I redid the Holiday pictures from the Fabulous Las Vegas Magazine form 1966 plus added a story. I also added holiday messages/pictures from the 1972 Fabulous Las Vegas Magazine and 1962 Spotlight along with some cute holiday stories to my Vegas section.
