Whenever you are faced with an unsolvable problem the easiest thing to do is to move the parameters of the difficulty facing you. Such is the case with the Democrat Presidential candidates. Their problem is to figure a way to beat Trump in 2020. Since they have no pressing issues such as the economy in the United States, standing in the world they have to resort to impossible subjects such as abolishing ICE, killing the Electoral College, restacking the Supreme Court and lowering the voting age to 16.
Individually some of the more bizarre planks in the Dems platforms include tearing down the border wall, free college education, legalizing national prostitution, abolishing all insurance companies, everyone should be a Vegan and breaking up big tech companies.
For his part President Trump will be running on his record of achievements and has said that he welcomes facing the eventual winner on the Democrat side. He even offered to go behind the gym with Joe Biden, who at the time of this writing has yet to declare***
In days when an international or national event was to occur in Northern Nevada reams of publicity would be released. Just one example was the NCAA national synchronized swimming meet held in Reno in the 1950’s.
Last week a little publicized national event was the 41st annual collegiate mining competition held in Virginia City. The event was open to the public and hosted by the University of Nevada’s Mackay Muckers team.
By contrast when the first Virginia City actual Camel Races occurred in 1960 the event garnered nationwide coverage. What made that first race so special was that the director of the motion picture “The Misfits”, was the winning jockey. Since that time the Camel Races have gone on to be the signature event held in Virginia City each year***
Mentioning the Misfits recalls to mind how the Mapes Hotel became so intimately involved is a story in itself.
On a cold and windy winter night in Reno with a fierce blizzard raging in the mountains, my phone awakened me well after midnight. It was a call from the manager of the Mapes, Walter Ramage. Since I was handling public relations for the hotel he asked me to come down right away. Not wanting to get up and get dressed I said “can’t it wait till the morning?” He replied “no it’s too important, you have to come down right away”. I drove the few blocks to the hotel and found Ramage in the lobby dressed in hat and over coat. He grabbed me by the arm and escorted me down the alley beside the Truckee River to the Holiday Hotel (now the Renaissance). Once there we encountered two gentlemen standing in the lobby with their luggage. One was a bald gentlemen named Doc Erickson and the short pugilistic looking fellow named Tommy Shaw. Erickson turned out to be the production manager for the upcoming filming of the “Misfits”, while Shaw was the first assistant director of the flick. Once we had gotten them registered at the Mapes we adjourned to the Coach room for a round of cocktails. During that time I learned that the Misfits was due to start filming that summer and it would be the most expensive black and white motion picture during up to that time. It would have a script written by the famous playwright Arthur Miller, it would be directed by John Huston, and star Clark Gable, Merrilyn Monroe and Montgomery Clift. They would be abetted by Ely Wallach and Thelma Ritter. Also, like other movies, it would be shot in sequential fashion.
During the long shoot there were many interesting side stories involving the casting crew. One in particular occurred when I got a phone call from Wingy Grover, The manager of the Cal-Neva lodge at Lake Tahoe, who informed me that Frank Sinatra, who was appearing at the lodge, wanted to invite the principals of the movie to his Saturday night floor show. Grover asked me to line up the celebrities and transport them to the lake. I told him I would make the rounds and get back to him. I contacted all of the top brass and saved Gable for last since he was the most approachable. He excepted on the condition that the crew of the picture, some 90 folks, be invited also. I said I would call Grover and make the request. When I did Grover exploded over the phone and said that it was the height of the season and the show was sold out. I told him if he wanted Gable he had to take the crew or he could have the celebs without Gable.
To be continued.
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