The Gold Hill Hotel features two Nevada historical presentations this month, one involving the controversial Cal-Neva Lake Tahoe gaming license associated with Frank Sinatra and the other focusing on Nevada's place in film history.
The Tuesday Night Lecture Series on the Sinatra's gaming license will be held April 15 with the film presentation on April 29. Programs begins with dinner from 5 to 7 p.m. with the lecture at 7:30 p.m. The cost is $20 for dinner and lecture and $5 for the lecture.
In 1963, the Nevada Gaming Control Board moved to revoke Sinatra's gaming license at the Cal-Neva resort straddling the state line at Lake Tahoe. The board claimed that the singer gave "red carpet" treatment to known Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana, who was in "Nevada's Black Book" or List of Excluded Persons and thus ineligible to set foot in a casino.
Guy Farmer, a longtime norther Nevada journalist, writer and editor, served as press spokesman for the Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board in 1963. Throughout the investigations and hearings in the Sinatra case, Mr. Farmer acted as press spokesman, and was largely responsible for keeping the rest of the nation informed.
The film lecture "Elvis, Marilyn and the Space Aliens, Icons on the Silver screen in Nevada" will be held Tuesday, April 29 and presented by Robin Holabird, who has reviewed movies in the Reno area since 1976.
She spent more than 20 years directing the Reno-Tahoe Branch of the Nevada Film Office, a government agency that encourages movie and television producers to use the state’s locations and services. During this time she worked on hundreds of projects, dealing with Clint Eastwood, Taylor Hackford, PT Anderson and other directors on such projects as “Love Ranch,” “Sister Act” and “CSI.”
Nevada’s capital city and its immediate environs has had a long relationship with the film industry, both in abstract and hands-on ways. “The Misfits,” starring Clark Gable and Marilyn Monroe, was filmed in the area, including Dayton, east of the capital, and was released in 1961. It was the last completed film for both stars.
Holabird will share photos and explain how unique Nevada locations lure pop icons to movies and television programs throughout the Silver State.
Reservations call 775-847-0111 or info@goldhillhotel.net. Go here for more information.