A memorial service was held recently for the late casino operator Claudine Williams, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal story about it notes that Williams and her husband sold the Silver Slipper to Howard Hughes. Citing an oral history by Williams, the story says Hughes wanted to buy the casino because he was worried that the casino's sign, a rotating silver slipper, might come loose and crash into his Desert Inn hotel across the street. See the story here.
This story conflicts with another common tale about why Hughes wanted to buy the Silver Slipper. In this story, the rotating sign was shining into his hotel room window and he didn't like it. The problem with this story is that Hughes' windows were covered. He didn't look out and little or no light came in. He wasn't sitting in his suite looking out on the Strip, so he might not have even been aware of the rotating sign at all.
This fact, of course, also calls Williams' story into question. However, Williams' story contains an important fact: It was Bob Maheu, Hughes' chief executive in Las Vegas, who told her that Hughes worried about the sign. Maheu was instructed to buy the casino, so in order to get the job done, he could have cooked up any old story about why Hughes wanted it. He could have told Williams the fictional story about the sign just to make conversation, or to in some way entice her to make the sale.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
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6 comments:
Noah Dietrich commented about Hughes' motivation for all hotel buying in the "Amazing Mr. Hughes". He said, that Howard had learned an early lesson Noah had drummed into him, to not leave earnings lying about, but to keep them invested in properties that were good investments and that he followed that advice in Vegas.
Noah however, never liked the idea of Hughes investing in casino's due to their exposure to depressions etc. Recent events have once again proved the little man's wisdom, hey!
In the third paragraph of your article you say, "Maheu was instructed to buy the hotel..." As I recall, the Silver Slipper was a casino only, not a hotel. I don't think there were any rooms available there at all. It is interesting to note that Hughes owned the Silver Slipper personally, it was not Hughes Tool Company owned. I'll have to look back for the reason for that.
Paul B. Winn
Yes, it was a casino only. Sorry abou that. It's so common to call the properties on the Strip "resorts" or "hotels," because 99 percent of them are.
It's amazing how these silly stories gain traction. If you go to "Empire" and read about the negotiations for and acquisition of the Silver Slipper it becomes obvious that the stories about Hughes being concerned about the sign falling, or that the reflection through the window bothered him are just that - stories. The Silver Slipper was one of several properties involved in negotiations Hughes conducted to acquire properties in Las Vegas. It's several pages in "Empire" but the details are all there. Paul B. Winn
I've been trying to find a map of the old strip, to try to see the relative location of the Desert Inn, The Silver slipper, etc, Several people have told me about tunnels connecting them and I'm trying to check out the rumor.
Good catch on the hotel/casion semantics, I made the same mistake myself.
What a difference 138 billion dollars make???
Wouldn't it be strange if that little arrest at the Italian/Swiss border had a connection to Howard Robard Hughes II??????
Now wouldn't that just be the biggest coincidence of all time???
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