The Hal Belfer Papers chronicle the professional career of producer, choreographer, and writer Harold (Hal) Belfer (1935-2004) and consist of general materials regarding his work in Hollywood, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the scrapbooks contains photographs of famous personalities from his early work in movies and theater. Also included are newspaper clippings, scripts, sheet music, arrangements, and photocopies of "Fabulous Las Vegas" and "Ken's Spotlight on Las Vegas," where Belfer had made notations.
The Hal Belfer Papers chronicle the professional career of producer, choreographer, and writer Harold (Hal) Belfer (1935-2004) and consist of general materials regarding his work in Hollywood, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. One of the scrapbooks contains photographs of famous personalities from his early work in movies and theater. Also included are newspaper clippings, scripts, sheet music, arrangements, and photocopies of "Fabulous Las Vegas" and "Ken's Spotlight on Las Vegas," where Belfer had made notations.
Collection is open for research.
Materials in this collection may be protected by copyrights and other rights. See Reproductions and Use on the UNLV Special Collections and Archives website for more information about reproductions and permissions to publish.
Materials remain as they were received.
Harold (Hal) Belfer worked as a writer, producer, and choreographer for over fifty years. Born on February 16, 1922 in Los Angeles, California, Belfer's mother enrolled him in his first dance class at the age of three. Belfer began as a tap dancer and gradually expanded his entertainment career, eventually receiving more than two-hundred motion picture and television credits for choreography, producing, directing, and staging.
In 1953, Belfer received a call to help produce the Lena Horne Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. He stayed in Las Vegas and became entertainment director for both the Flamingo Las Vegas and the Riviera Hotel & Casino before returning to California to be a personal manager for various celebrity entertainers. Belfer worked on movies with Elvis Presley and staged dance numbers for the television shows "Saturday Night Review" and "Colgate Comedy Hour." He produced the first live Liberace television show from Las Vegas.
Belfer was a member of the Director's Guild of America and the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was also a World War II Army veteran. Hal Belfer returned to Las Vegas in the 1970s and continued to work until he passed away on March 7, 1999.
Source:
"Producer, Choreographer Belfer Dies."
Hal Belfer Papers, 1935-2004. MS-00575. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.
Material was donated in 2011 by Larry Billman; accession number 2011-04.
Material was processed by Joyce Moore in 2015. In 2019, as part of an archival backlog elimination project, Jimmy Chang revised the collection description to bring it into compliance with current professional standards.