About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 4: About That Residency

Toward the end of World War II, piano sensation Liberace pioneered the concept of a residency, where venues dedicate their stages exclusively to individual superstars, often for years at a time.

In their own subsequent residencies at the Copa Room at the Sands, Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack helped establish the swanky, after-dark revelry for which Vegas has been become notorious.

Starting in the late 1960s, Elvis Presley was a Vegas fixture.  And, of course, Wayne Newton.

With round-the-clock musicians, magicians, comedians, blue men and white Bengal tigers, the Strip became the premier global destination not just for indecorous gambling, but also for family-friendly entertainment.

(In case you're wondering who the members of the Rat Pack were:  Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop.)

--DaCoot

About That Las Vegas Town-- Part 2: Gambling and Quickie Divorces

Continued from June 13.

At the turn of the 20th century, the oasis town became a rest area for wagons and a stop on the new railroad connecting Los Angeles and Salt Lake City.

This railroad was completed in 1905, and in 1911, Las Vegas was incorporated as a U.S. city.  Though gambling was prohibited at first, clandestine casinos opened for business.  Then, in 1931, everything changes when Nevada became the first state to legalize gambling, as well as the first to offer quickie divorces.

From then on, the Silver State was synonymous with American excess.

Around the same time, construction began on the Hoover Dam, which would supply water and power to the valley.  This monumental project brought in an influx of construction workers to the city of Las Vegas, and local entrepreneurs wasted no time in opening casinos to relieve these men of their spare cash.

--DaCoot

James O'Leary's Life (You Know, That O'Leary as in Great Chicago Fire O'Leary)

From the September 19, 2021, Chicago Tribune "Chicago's history is punctuated with devastating fires" by Rick Kogan.

Only, this was O'Leary, the son of Kate and Patrick O'Leary who had the famous cow, Daisy, who supposedly kicked over the lantern and started it all.

He was only two when the fire took place.  His parents and he moved south to the rough-and-tumble neighborhood around the stockyards.  His parents became virtual hermits, shamed by their connection to the fire, he became one of the city's first big-time crime figures.

In the early 1890s, he built a palatial gambling mecca at 4183 Halstead Street which included a billiards room, several bowling alleys, a saloon, a barbershop and a sauna.  He had his name- O'Leary- set in giant electric letters proudly emblazoned across the massive ironbound oak door.

Steel plates covered the outer walls, and the inner walls were made from heavy oak covered with zinc.  It was, O'Leary said proudly, "fire-proof, bombproof and police-proof."

"Big Jim," as he was known, died in 1925, but his gambling house continued to operate.  It was destroyed May 19, 1934, when the second-biggest fire in Chicago history blazed, taking out nearly 90% of the Union Stock Yards, injuring 50 firefighters and killing hundreds of cattle.

A large crowd stood watching the blaze, and one insensitive fellow was heard to say, "Them cows, they had it coming."

Steak Tonight, Fellows!!  --Cooter

Talking Football Rivalry, George Trafton Takes On "Mr. Chicken-- Part 2:

The Decatur Staleys (future Chicago Bears) and the Rock Island (Illinois) Independents clashed in two of the roughest games of 1920.  In the first one, Trafton sent four Independents off the field with injuries as the Quad City crowd booed.  The worst fate befell halfback Fred Chicken, who broke his leg when Trafton tackled him into a fence post near the field.

Three weeks later, the same two teams met again in Rock Island.  Gamblers -- who had started to turn their attention toward pro football after the baseball Black Sox scandal in the previous year got involved.

Bears owner, coach and right end George Halas sequestered his team across the Mississippi River in Davenport, Iowa, hoping to keep his players away from the gamblers.  But word got around that the smart betting money was on the Independents winning and Trafton being knocked out in the first quarter.

The only information they could get on the player who was to take George out was that he went by the name "Mr. Chicken,"

Most of the Bears honored Halas' directive and didn't bet.  But not George Trafton.  He took all his money and bet on his team and himself.

Was This "Mr. Chicken" Fred Chicken?  --DaCoot

October Anniversaries: Peanuts, Circus Circus and Legos

From the October AARP Bulletin.

OCTOBER 2, 1950--  The first "Peanuts" comic strip was published.  I am glad the Chicago Tribune continues to reprint them daily.  Gotta love that WWI Flying Ace and, if there was a Major League Baseball team that could have been Good Ol' Charlie Brown's, it would have had to have been the Chicago Cubs.

OCTOBER 18, 1968--  Circus Circus Casino resort opened in Las Vegas on The Strip.  Last I heard, it was still there, but probably not for much longer.  My favorite casino on the Strip is Slots of Fun back when they had the $1 Blackjack tables and 75 Cent bottles of Heinekin and Corona as well as the huge quarterpounder beef hot dogs.

OCTOBER 24, 1961--  The patent was approved for toy building blocks that became known as Legos.  I was ten, but never got into Legos.  They seem to be doing pretty well now.  But, I was pretty-well hooked on the Lincoln Logs and Erector Sets (and what was the one with the spindles and wooden round things?).

I Built Many a Great Fort With Those Logs.  --Cooter

Ten Things About Cheating-- Part 4: Advantage Tools and Robert Kennedy

7.  About a century ago, many American companies that made legitimate playing cards and poker chips also sold a variety of "ADVANTAGE TOOLS"  devices to help cheaters.  These included "card pricks," "poker rings," "punches" or "peggers" to mark a card by creating a subtle indentation, as well as "holdout machines" that allowed cheaters to pull cards out of the deck and hold them until needed -- either up their sleeves or under the table.

Getting caught, of course, might prove to be somewhat unhealthy for the cheater.

8.  ROBERT KENNEDY, who would later become a senator and U.S. Attorney General admired for his support of civil rights and his crackdown on the mob, left his Rhode Island boarding school at age 16 after becoming involved in a cheating scandal.  His roommate and other witnesses said he passed around a stolen English exam, but it is not clear whether he left school on his own or was expelled.

Nothing Up My Sleeve.  --Cooter

Ten Things About Cheaters-- Part 2: One-Armed Bandits and Crossbiting

3.  In the 1980s and 1990s, TOMMY GLENN CARMICHAEL feasted on slot machines.  His ingenious inventions--  the "kickstand," "monkey paw" and "light wand" -- cheated the one-armed bandits with ease.  At his peak, he played every day, crisscrossing the country and raking in thousands of dollars daily.

But, he dutifully paid his taxes, which is why, after he was caught and sentenced in 2001, he got time served and probation.

Well, at least someone beats them.  They've sure taken enough of my money.

4.  To 'CROSSBITE" is an old British term for cheating, especially pulling a fast one on someone who is trying to pull a fast one on you.

Remember, pay Your taxes.  --Cooter

Ten Things About Cheaters-- Part 1: Spanish Basketball and America's Youth

From the April 12, 2015, Chicago Tribune "10 things you might not know about Cheaters" by Mark Jacob and Stephan Benzkofer, masters of discovery, diggers of books.

Tax time is sometimes cheating time in America.  Recently, Atlanta educators were convicted of test-rigging and then there was the U.S. Little League title thing.

Here are some other cheats:

1.  The SPANISH BASKETBALL  team in the 2000 Paralympics won the gold by fielding a team of supposedly mentally handicapped players.  They outscored opponents by an average of 36 points a game, but only two of its 12 players actually were mentally handicapped.

2.  YOUNG PEOPLE  are conflicted by cheating  A recent study showed that 99% of 23,000 respondents agreed that it was important to have good character.  93% were satisfied with their own character.  But more than half admitted to cheating on a test and nearly 3/4 said they had copied homework.

And get this, nearly 1/3 said they weren't completely honest about responding to the survey.

What?  Who Me?  --Cooter

Got Them Old Gambling Blues

From the April 7, 2014, Time Magazine "Roundup: The world's gambling hot spots."

**  NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA, has the second-highest number of gambling machines worldwide.

**  NEVADA, the home of LAS VEGAS, has 181,109 gambling machines, more than any other state in the world.  Last year its casinos booked $11.1 billion in gambling revenue.  So, everyone obviously is not a winner, regardless of what they try to tell you.

**  SINGAPORE has two casinos that pull in some $6 billion annually in gambling revenue, making it the second biggest gambling hub in Asia.

**  MACAU has fewer gambling machines than Nevada, but pulled in $45.2 billion in revenue last year, the world's highest.

**  Gambling is illegal in JAPAN, but it has over 4.5 million gaming terminals, which reward players with tokens and other prizes instead of cash.

I don't know, but pretty much every bar in Illinois seems to have four or five gambling machines now.  Maybe Illinois has the most?

How Broke I Am.  --Cooter

The Last Big Baseball Scandal-- Part 4: The 1919 World Series

The White Sox had won the World Series in 1917 and were heavy favorites to to defeat the challengers from the National League, the Cincinnati Reds. Some even talked of a dynasty as the Sox had it all: pitching, hitting and defense.

But the series opened poorly for the Sox with starting pitcher Eddie Cicotte hitting the Reds' leadoff batter to signal the fix was on. The Sox lost 9-1. Game two was a 4-2 loss, but the Sox won game three.

The fix returned in game four with a 2-0 loss. The Reds went on to win the 8th game of the nine game series and the world championship on the same day that Mrs. O'Leary's cow started the Chicago Fire 48 years earlier.

Rumors of a fix were immediate. Comsikey offered a $10,000 reward for information that the series had been thrown, but refused to pay several claimants. Everybody returned for the 1920 season and played well.
A Sad Time For Us Sox Fans, Indeed.  --Cooter