| The Commercial Casino History Part 3
Next up, just returning from a theatre engagement in New York City, came Paul Whiteman, "King of Jazz," who blitzed Elko crowds during his nine-day stint. This left the Lounge management wondering where they were going to "hang" the customers during the Elko County Livestock Show and Fair. 
Club patrons who got a close up of Whiteman for the first time went away remarking: "He's a real guy." "I liked his informal way." "You can tell he's from the west."
When Whiteman was first signed to appear in Elko, it made the front page of Variety, the show business newspaper. So astounding was the news in the nightclub entertainment field, which the headlines read: "Whiteman Fixed to Play Stix." While in town, Whiteman, with the help of the mayors of Reno and Winnemucca, selected the 1941 Miss Elko County to rule over the fair time festivities. Headlines in the Elko Daily Free Press of September 9, 1941, declared: "41 Fair looms as Biggest in Show's History." People were attracted here from all sections of Nevada and neighboring states to see Whiteman and his orchestra in downtown Elko. It is putting it mildly to say that the entertainment world was agog over the fact that a city the size of Elko was so privileged to see big names appear one after another. Ted Fio Rito and Gertrude Nieson followed Donald Novis as the next Lounge attractions. Star of stage, screen and radio." Together, they presented the "1941 Harvest of Entertainment." The seventh "big time" show of the year featured Dave Marshall and the NBC orchestra during Thanksgiving week. Ending the 1941 list of famous personalities in the entertainment world, Chico Marx a member of the popular Marx Brothers comedy team, starred in the seven-day Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations with a five-act floor show. Young Crumley had a clause in every contract that required the star to give at least one free performance for the children and teenagers of the Elko community. Most of these shows were held in the Hunter Theatre. He insisted upon, and enforced, a policy that all these shows be on a level "to which you could bring your children." Anyone offering off-color entertainment soon found his contract cancelled. Special performances were also presented at the Old Folks Home and Nevada Industrial School. In 1942 after the nation entered World War II, the economy was booming and the American public became entertainment hungry. The Commercial's shows, during the war, were taken to Wendover Air Base at the Nevada Utah state line for the men who were stationed there. The Wendover Air Base is best known for their training of the bomb squadron of the Enola Gay. (Concluded in Part 4) |
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