'Jethro' licensed to run 'Hillbillies' casino in NLV
By ED VOGEL
REVIEW-JOURNAL CAPITAL BUREAU
CARSON CITY -- With no discussion, the Nevada Gaming Commission on Thursday licensed former actor Max Baer Jr., better known as TV's dim-witted Jethro Bodine, to operate the Beverly Hillbillies Gambler Casino in North Las Vegas.
Baer, 67, was not even required by the commission to show up at the hearing in which he and his two partners received gaming licenses. Two weeks ago he attended the Gaming Control Board hearing in which he was recommended for a license and answered questions from members.
John Karras will have a 90 percent interest in the casino at 2501 E. Lake Mead Blvd. that consists of 30 slot machines and a restaurant. Baer and Roger Camras, his longtime business partner, will have a 10 percent interest.
Baer, however, will have nothing to do with the casino's operation other than to make appearances and work on its marketing strategy.
He has been a member of the board of directors of the company that now owns the casino for the last year. When Baer became a director last summer, the business became known as the Beverly Hillbillies Gambler Casino.
Baer played Jethro Bodine on the top-rated "Beverly Hillbillies" television show between 1962 and 1971. He owns the Beverly Hillbillies trademark and has tried for decades to construct a Beverly Hillbillies hotel-casino in Las Vegas and Reno.
Despite being licensed for the North Las Vegas business, Baer said at the control board hearing that his primary goal remains opening a full-fledged hotel-casino in Carson City.
He has bought a shopping center at the site of an old Wal-Mart store, but the area is not zoned for casinos and the primary tenant, J.C. Penney, objects to changing the zoning to accommodate gaming.
Once he opens a Carson City casino, Baer said, he would transfer the Beverly Hillbillies name to it. He vowed to begin construction on the 240-room-hotel-casino by June.
By securing the unrestricted gaming license now, Baer said he will not have to wait as long or go through another full investigation to acquire a license for the Carson City casino.
Unable to secure roles after the TV show, Baer directed and produced movies like "Macon County Line" and the "Ballad of Billy Joe" and became a multimillionaire. Baer, who has a business degree, said he has been retired since 1979.
Baer said in an earlier interview he believes the Beverly Hillbillies still is popular with people today, despite it having aired more than a generation ago. He said the show is in reruns in most TV markets.
But "Bonanza" also was a blockbuster TV hit in the "Beverly Hillbillies" era. A "Bonanza" theme park at Incline Village closed down last year after being in business since 1967.
"I know this character, this brand so well that I cannot have a failure," Baer said in the recent interview, noting there are "Beverly Hillbillies" themed slot machines in casinos. "I do two or three interviews a day. We won't get 10 million people here. But if we get 150,000 people, it will be something that Carson City never has seen."
