I N E P T O C R A C Y

Ineptocracy
Ineptocracy (in-ep-toc’-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Another on Don ..........

When I started working at the Primm, my first morning (worked graveyard, 3am till 11am) on my first break, Don suggested we have coffee.

"Let's flip for it."

We did, and Don won. Don won every time we flipped for anything.

One morning, after the shift was over, Don invited me to go with him to meet an old friend of his at one of the casinos in town. Turned out, I went to meet Joe Hill. Turned out, Joe Hill was a legend in certain circles. During the course of talking with him, and he was a floor boss in the pit at that time, he had a number of occasions to change cards on the 21 tables. He would open the decks, quickly fan them, put them back in the box, and deliver them to whichever table was due.

One box, he opened, fanned them our and checked them, put them back in the box, and he put them aside. Don asked him what was wrong with that deck. "Factory marked, bad deck," he replied. He then proceeded to take out various cards, look at the backs of them, "three of hearts." Turn the card over, and, sure enough, the three of hearts was there. He handed me the deck, "Look at the backs, you can see where in the cutting at the factory there was a nick in the cutting blade, sticks out like a sore thumb," or something to that effect.

He ended up giving me the deck to take home so I could see what he was talking about. Before leaving, he was due for a break, so sure enough, we flipped, and I bought the coffee. Sat there enthralled listening to these two old timers go over some of their experiences.

We were leaving, shortly after we went back to the pit, he said goodbye to Don, then we shook hands, and he leaned over toward me, "Don't ever flip with Don, he knows what it is by the  way he catches the silver dollar."

Oh, the cards, Joe marked them when he rippled the deck, he was good, knew every card in the deck.

One of the many lessons that Don Eammelli taught me, don't trust anyone, with enough time and practice, anything can be learned and used in a casino, and trust no one. One of many lessons I learned from Don.

Jack

I don't know what made me think of it this morning, but my thoughts went back many years, to the Crystal Bay Club, North Shore, Lake Tahoe. That was in the days when there was a slow, two-lane road around the lake, a Summer resort, many places closed for the Winter.

The North shore had a few casinos, as did the South shore.

I worked at the Nevada Lodge, first Winter it had been opened, and had a room under the Crystal Bay Club, which was right across the street, nice. Since there weren't many places open, we spent most of our time in the Crystal Bay Club. I got to know the bartender there well, Jack, only his last name is forgotten. Don't know why, but we called him Homer, Homer Lipschitz.

 In the mornings a crowd of us would often go to someones home nearby, around the lake, fixed great breakfasts, had some really nice times. The lake was beautiful in those days, before the Winter Olympics and all the crowds and new construction.

Back to Jack, or Homer. One shift at the club, he had a heart attack and ended up in the hospital in Carson City. As the story goes, when he came to and woke up some hours later, his wife was on one side of his bed, and his girlfriend on the other. He said he just closed his eyes and went back to sleep. Never did hear how the story ended, but knew the best part.

A Morning to Remember ....................

I took Caleb, our dog, out, early this morning, and I was greeted by a crisp, clear, cool autumn morning hitting my cheeks. For some reason, I was instantly taken back to a similar morning I experienced in the late 50's, my first morning walking out of my room at a small lodge, on the way to work, at the Nevada lodge, at Lake Tahoe.

This was before all of the development that took place prior to the Winter Olympics, it was still rustic, one two-lane road, and basically as it was during the 30's and 40's. North Lake Tahoe was strictly a Summer resort. There were ski lodges that opened in the Winter months, but nothing like it is today, or even as it became in 1960.

I had taken a room in a small lodge, had a basement room with my own entrance, and I will never forget that morning. The fragrance in the air, all those pine trees, the cool air, the bright clear, clean alpine air, and I was on my way to work, just across the street, at the Lodge, as a dealer, working for Lincoln Fitzgerald.

I had worked in Reno for him previously, but had left and returned to Ohio. A number of changes took place in my life, I called him on the phone, asked if he had any openings, and he told me to "Come on out, I have a job for you." This in itself made me feel good. Fitz, remembering me, the grouchy old seasoned gambler who was a legend around Nevada, remembered me.

I took the train from Ohio to Reno, had too change trains in St. Louis. That was in the days of drawing rooms, club cars, dining cars, elegance, and not many dealers. I was received with a "celebrity" status among my fellow travellers. "You're a dealer, in one of the clubs, WOW."

In St. Louis, as the train was loading, an "entourage" came on board, family, kids, maids, nurses, a whole group. Augie Busch, was taking his family to California. Needless to say, there was ample Budweiser for all, compliments of Mr. Busch.

I still remember getting off the train at the old station, in Reno, and going directly to the Nevada Club, to let Fitz know I was in town.

"I want you to start at the Lodge, up at Lake Tahoe, day after tomorrow." He had bought the Lodge when I was back in Ohio, but the thought of working up at that "wonderland" made me feel special. And, then as I talked with some other dealers and told them where I was going, they were envious. A very select "few" were chosen to go to the lake, or "work up on the hill" as it was called.

Anyway, I got a ride to the lake, found a place to stay, unpacked and decided to take a walk through the Lodge. I knew a few of the dealers, spoke with them, and the more I took in all that atmosphere, the more excited I got about this new job.

"Doc" Ledford, one of the shift managers, put me on the day shift, to start with. Old one eyed Burt was working, Eddie Beatty, Bettye Johnson, were all dealers I knew from downtown. I was really impressed, with myself, this little "kid" from Ohio, was going to be working at Lake Tahoe, at the beautiful Nevada Lodge, heaven on earth to me.

That is why I still remember that first morning. I was already on "cloud nine," had on my heavily starched white shirt, French cuffs, nice cuff links, gorgeous tie, tasseled shoes, alligator belt with an attractive buckle, and my green apron in hand .... that Tahoe wind on my face, life was good, not a worry in the world, walking across the street from where I lived, in a log paneled room to the Lodge..

I will never forget that feeling, or that morning, life was as good as it gets, and I was one of the "elite" few, that Fitz chose to work up there.

Reno, Nevada

This is an old BLOG I put up quite a while ago, on another site. I have been getting response to it, but can't find the BLOG anymore, so, reprinting it here ......................

I first saw her in 1956, small town atmosphere, with some big town attractions. Harold's Club, a one of a kind, Pappy Smith, Harold, Lincoln Fitzgerald, Bill Harrah, Ernie Primm, Danny Fagan all are great memories, of a past that has been demolished, in most cases.

I don’t think I would want to visit Reno now, the small town is gone, freeways, mega casinos, it just would not be the same.

I used to walk to work on occasions, a few block walk down South Virginia, past the Riverside and the Mapes, next block, The Nevada Club, Lincoln Fitzgerald, Thelma Ganz. Bettye Johnson, Danny Fagan, Jimmy Jones, all friends or trainers, as I was learning to become a “dealer” or in those days we were called “clerks,” the only classification the IRS could find for us.

The days of keep your own tokes, put them in a drawer on the table, take a break, and take your tokes with you …………… no more ……………… the IRS wanted their share. Those were the days of $25 or $27.50 per shift, plus tokes, and they were great jobs. In the right spots, tokes could add up nicely.

Tokes were good at Harold's, female dealers, tight fitting western trousers, western shirts, cowboy boots …………… and ……………….. unheard of …………….. club policy, talk with the customers, explain the game to them, be friendly …………. unheard of in a casino. But it sure worked for the Smith family, largest in the state at that time, 7 floors, a gun collection, silver dollar bar, all sorts of attractions, a carnival atmosphere, but it worked.

Look at Vegas now, much grander scale, but what the Smith’s did way back then.


The Smith’s came from a carnival life, and added them to the casino, and won. And, they had fun doing it, and they believed in advertising, at that time, one of the most ambitious campaigns going. All over the world, “Harold’s Club or Bust.”

I saw Harold put the cover on a wheel, big game going on, students from the University of Nevada. They had a system ………… they were up to well over $120,000.00 (which was a ton of money in those days) …………… they started losing …………… when they got back to $100,000.00 Harold covered the table, closed the game, told them to quit …………. with their $100,000.00 not bad.

They finally lost it back in Vegas, but Harold got millions in advertising out of it. I was there the morning he put the cover on the table ………….. it was in every paper in the world …………. Nevada students win $100,000 at Harold's Club………… was Harold cagey or not?

All of the other clubs in Reno thrived off of Harold's advertising, they didn’t have to do much, Harold's was doing it all for them ……………… Harold’s Club made Reno, and the state of Nevada, what it is today ………… and the building was torn down, as was the Nevada Club ………….. now a plaza with benches and fountains ……….. all now, just a memory.

My Introduction to Nevada, casinos and Fitz

ARRIVING IN RENO - May, 1956

I first heard of Fitz when I got out of the Navy in 1956, and flew to Reno, Nevada, which is where my family was, at that time.

After a few days I was looking for a job, looked through the paper, and the Nevada Club was hiring. So, I got cleaned up and headed for downtown.

We were living in between Reno and Sparks at the time, gravel road, near the stockyards, the wild, wild, west.

I heard rumors about Fitz from everyone, mafia, Purple Gang, dictator, hard to work for, gruff old man, all sorts of information to make me nervous.

I headed downtown, found a place to park, parking was allowed on the streets in those days, and there was plenty of parking.

I parked just across the tracks, near the train station. I headed down Virginia Street, down and alley, and found the back door, to the Nevada Club. Went inside, asked a change apron where the office was, she pointed it out, and I headed for the CAGE, to face Fitz.

He was in the cashiers cage, white shirt, tie suspenders.I don't know what I said, but he asked me a few questions, brief background, married, from where, family, schooling, that was about it.

He told me to head for the police station and register and get a background check. I don't remember any of that, but I did go, got fingerprinted, and after a while, was given a card and told to return to the club.

I did as told, Fitz was still in the cage, he looked at the card, looked at me, "Come in at 3 in the morning, wear a white shirt and a tie." That was it, I had a job, didn't know what it was, but I knew I had to be in at 3am, white shirt and tie.

I look back on that meeting and try to remember, but I was so nervous and excited, it all became sort of a blurr. Remember, we are talking the mid 50's, no computers, I don't think I even filled out an employment form. I think all that information was gotten my first morning of work.

I think Fitz wanted to make sure I would show up before getting any of that information.I later found out there were a few things he liked about me, some college, 4 years in the Navy, married, young daughter, and my Father was a Doctor, and, I never drove a cab or was a bartender, two jobs that were no nos, for Fitz. He hired a bar manager, but let the manager do all the hiring of bartenders.