Search the Special Collections and Archives Portal
Search Results
Transcript of interview with Gerald Gordon by Barbara Tabach, November 02, 2016
In 1961, at the age of thirteen, Gerald ?Jerry? Gordon became a bar mitzvah. This typical coming of age celebration was unusual in that he had simultaneously studied in both his home state of California and his adopted home of Las Vegas, where he spent summers with his grandparents. 1961 is also the same year that the Gordons made Las Vegas their permanent home. Jerry graduated from Las Vegas High School, attended University of Nevada, Las Vegas and earned his law degree from University of California, Los Angeles. His gregarious and trustworthy personality led him to career building steps in the legal community of Las Vegas that included illustrious names such as Louis Wiener, Jr., David Goldwater, Neil Galatz, and many others. His personal law specialty became bankruptcy, especially dealings with hotel/casinos. As a member of the Jewish community, Jerry?s energy and expertise to organize was instrumental in the construction of Congregation Ner Tamid, the reform synagogue, at its site on Valle Verde and I-215. It was a multi-year process and includes a vast array of stories?a cash donation from Moe Dalitz, finalization of receiving of a donation land from the Greenspun family during the High Holy Days, and the ongoing challenges of a building campaign during a recession. In addition, he explains that CNT included two unique negotiations: 1) a cell tower and 2) a solar field on the synagogue?s property. Jerry and his wife Yvonne met while attending UNLV. Yvonne taught math at various levels in the Clark County School District. They raised their two children, Sara and Jeffrey, in Las Vegas, and forged an important role together in Congregation Ner Tamid. In April 2017, they were among those honored for their work with the synagogue.
Text
Transcript of interview with Betty Bunch by Joyce Marshall, January 9, 1996, February 7, 1996, & February 13, 2002
Betty [Rosenthal] Bunch began dancing as a child. By the time she was nine years old she decided she would have a dancing career. At 18 years she began to work in stock theatre productions. Within a short time, she had joined the Moro-Landis dancers. She landed her first job in Las Vegas in 1956 at the Sahara Hotel as part of the opening line for Donald O'Connor. Following the Sahara, she worked as a dancer at the Riveria, and then returned to the Moulin Rouge in Hollywood. In 1961 while vacationing in Las Vegas, she landed a job dancing at the Dunes. She continued to dance, sing and do comedy until after the birth of her second child. At that time, she retired from the Las Vegas showroom, but not from show business. Her involvement in both film and stage has remained rich and varied. This interview focuses on the time Betty spent performing on the Las Vegas strip, including her long involvement with the acclaimed afternoon show Bottoms Up. The interview provides information on workin
Text
Transcript of interview with Ronald Simone by Claytee White, May 5, 2009
Musician Ronald Simone of Las Vegas credits his father’s guidance and his upbringing in New Haven, Connecticut, for shaping his musical and educational aspirations. Due to its proximity to New York City and the influence of Yale University, New Haven offered its residents the finest in musical entertainment; as a result, many musical greats were from or had lived in New Haven and most Broadway shows opened at New Haven’s Shubert Theater. Born in 1935 with the gift of perfect pitch, Simone began to play the piano at a young age and could play most pieces by ear. He began playing professionally at age eight in 1943 with a weekly stint on a radio show, Kitty's Revue. Still in grade school during World War II he began touring locally with an amateur producer, who formed a show that played military bases and hospitals around Connecticut and into New York and Massachusetts. In high school Simone formed his own trio and a quartet and played piano in gin mills, illegal card rooms, and resorts in upstate New York while playing trumpet in the high school band. He joined the Musicians Union at 18 and continued to play in New York and Connecticut clubs and theaters throughout his five years at Yale. During his second year at Yale the School of Music became a graduate school, from which Ron graduated in 1958. Ron’s sister Louise married one of his Yale classmates, a drummer, and the couple moved to Las Vegas. Ron visited his sister in 1959, loved the musical opportunities he saw, transferred his Musicians Union membership, and moved to Las Vegas with his friend, violinist Joe Mack, in September 1960. After sub work and playing a lounge show at the Riviera, he spent five and a half years in the Riviera showroom, moving in 1966 to the Desert Inn, where he played piano in the exclusive Monte Carlo Room for five years for the likes of Dean Martin, Sandy Koufax, Sammy Davis Jr., and Kirk Kerkorian. From there Simone went to the Dunes, where he remained for the next nineteen years working with choreographer Ronnie Lewis and rehearsing and playing all the Casino de Paris shows, line numbers, and production numbers. In July 1989, Musicians Local 369 went on strike. Because Simone was playing the Follies Bergere at the Tropicana—the first house band to strike—he was among the first musicians to walk out. Musicians at all but three Strip hotels (Circus Circus, Riviera, and the Stardust) followed. While the musicians strike lasted nearly eight months, Simone was recruited for sanctioned sub work for the duration at the Lido de Paris show at the Stardust. After the strike ended he worked with Johnny Haig's relief band playing six nights a week at various hotels.
Text
Transcript of interview with Susan Jones Watson by Claytee White, February 20, 2013
A resident of Southern Nevada from the age of three, Susan Watson shares her memories of growing up and living in Las Vegas. After a year in Boulder City, Susan's father bought an old army barrack and converted it to a home in North Las Vegas; Susan remembers playing in the desert with her siblings and attending elementary and middle school before starting at Rancho High. Watching her mother design costumes for Strip performers and beautiful dresses for her own high school dances no doubt helped Susan develop her own sense of taste and style - something that she would put to good use over many years as an interior designer. Before that though, Susan shares her memories of what life was like in the Las Vegas of the 1950s and 1960s: cruising Fremont Street; movie nights; after-school work; favorite teachers; lunches on the lawn; and dance club. All combine to paint a vivid picture of a smaller town and a simpler time in the Las Vegas valley.
Text