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Breck Wall grew up tough and honed that toughness into solid business acumen. He also grew up talented and that talent took him to movie sets in Los Angeles and allowed him to produce shows in Dallas, New York, Tahoe, and Las Vegas. Though his family became nonexistent early in his life, he formed his own broad family from a group of faithful friends around the country. One special friendship makes this interview worth reading — the one with Jack Ruby. Wall's talent though is the primary reason that this interview is good history. He did many shows and had up to five running simultaneously. The creative process was the fun part that allowed him to produce Passion , Alias, and Night Beat among many others. Bottoms Up is his signature production and has been at several venues in Las Vegas for the past 40 years. Breck Wall is living a full and interesting life. A good example is a phone call from The London Times'. "Mr. Wall?" 1 said, "Yes." He said, "Are you aware that your best friend, Jack Ruby, just shot Oswald?" I said, "What" I was in shock. I said, "No I'm not." And I talked to him very briefly,and I hung up the phone." The phone continued to ring as calls came in from the Dallas Morning News, The Washington Post, The New York Times, etc, etc.
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Oral history interview with George Levine conducted by Cynthia Cicero on February 11, 2014 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.
George discusses moving to Las Vegas and working as a waiter in the Copa Room at the Sands Hotel. He talks about working for Jack Entratter and Howard Hughes and describes the working conditions of his various positions in the Copa Room, including maître d. George also shares stories of different entertainers that would frequent the establishment.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Edythe Katz conducted by Walter Duttweiler on March 01, 1977 for the Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas. Katz discusses the Jewish community, Ralph Denton, atomic testing, and integration in movie theatres.
Archival Collection
From the Nye County, Nevada Photograph Collection (PH-00221) -- Series V. Smoky Valley, Nevada and Round Mountain, Nevada -- Subseries V.A. Carver, Carver-Duhme, and Carver-Book Families (Smoky Valley). Doby Doc Caudill lived in Carlin, Nevada, and had amassed a large collection of memorabilia of early Nevada history. He later sold his collection to the Last Frontier Casino in Las Vegas. One of the items in Doby Doc’s collection was this old steampowered locomotive, which was hauled to Las Vegas by way of Highway 50 and the Round Mountain turnoff out of Austin, then on to Tonopah and Las Vegas. The side of the train says "PAT McCARRAN SPECIAL".
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