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The Chip Board Archive 17

Re: Extra! Please read...Part 2
In Response To: Extra! Please read... ()

I stand by my statement:

I cannot guarantee that these chips are vintage.

However, below is a scan from the ebay auction:

Here are two of the chips I have of the same color:

Looks to me to be the same color chip, same mold, same font, same caricature (although a better detail on the individual chips). Perhaps these chips were not from Cal Neva Lodge, but from one of their other casino performances:

In the early 1950s as the popularity of the Big Band sound started to wane, and Prima began losing money, just as he needed it to support the pregnant Smith. Prima found work with Smith in small venues all over the East Coast. Eventually he called up his friend Bill Miller, who was then entertainment director of The Sahara nightclub and casino in Las Vegas, and asked for a job. His friend Cab Calloway warned him against the cramped Sahara lounge, but the financial pressure was too great. Prima and Smith worked hard throughout the 1950s, performing multiple shows a night, finishing at 6 am. Their efforts were rewarded with a resurgence in their popularity, and they were at least partly responsible for making the lounge at The Sahara a hotspot. To bolster the cut-down band, Prima brought in Sam Butera to play saxophone and lead the band. Over the next nine years, he and Smith raised two children, while he made scores of records, owned racehorses, appeared on television, and even opened a golf course. They outgrew the lounge and were promoted to the big room.

Messages In This Thread

Louis Prima & Keely Smith promo chips
I have a few sets for sale .....
Re: Louis Prima & Keely Smith promo chips
Extra! Please read...
Re: Extra! Please read...Part 2
Re: Extra! Please read...Part 2
That kind of suspicious nature....
Scan from my 2006 post

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