|
|
|
Details here (and below on this Message Board page):
http://www.antiquegamblingchips.com/AguaaaaaaaTest.htm#menu
POSSIBLE ID's (more certain of the ones with asterisk)
1. Josef von Sternberg
2. George Arliss? (George Arliss? Not in a million years ; he had a thin face and certainly didn't chomp cigars )
3. *the Marx Brothers
4. *the 4th Marx Brother is behind that tree. Bela Lugosi?
5. *Raoul Walsh
6. Ernst Lubitsh ?
9. Constance Bennett ?
10. Mary Pickford?
11. Edward Everett Horton? Eddie Cantor (or 30, 53 or 54 for Cantor); Bela Lugosi?
12. Una Merkel?
13. Bette Davis? (wide Bette D. eyes)
14. Bette Davis?
15. Milton Berle
16. Barbara Stanwyck ?
17. Clark Gable? Johnny Weissmuller?
18. Joan Crawford?
19. George Raft?
20. Rudy Vallee?
21. *Paul Whiteman Charles Laughton?
22. Carole Lombard (hair, forehead a good clue). Bette Davis?
25. Jimmy Durante? Ernst Lubitsh ?
27. Irving Berlin? (see 53 too)
28. *Joe E. Brown
29. *Norma Shearer?
30. *Eddie Duchin ? Irving Thalberg?
31. Boris Karloff?
32. Clara Bow? (was my choice -- fluffy hair; but hair should be dark); Joan Blondell? (not as much hair); Marion Davies? …. Carol Channing (Judy Garland ?) No--Carol Channing was 13 years old in 1934
33. *Wallace Beery Paul Muni?
34. *Xavier Cugat (eye brow, receding forehead, eyes, mustache, name there) James Cagney?
51. Leo Carrillo?
52. Will Rogers, most likely. Some say Wallace Beery, but see #33
53. Irving Berlin? (see 27 too)
54. Fredric March?
55. Hugh Herbert
56. Lupe Valez
58. Gladys George
59. Maurice Chevalier? Charles Boyer Edward G. Robinson Maurice Chevalier?
60. Richard Dix
61. George Raft
64. Alphonse Menjou?
66. *Tallulah Bankhead Bette Davis? Marlene Dietrich?
68. Bela Lugosi?
71. Orson Welles
73. James Cagney ?
74. Clark Gable via ears
75. Bob Hope
76. Hedda Hopper? Fanny Brice Myrna Loy
77. Henny Youngman, "I bet - seated next to Fanny Brice, which would make sense" Buster Keaton? William Powell? Montague Love?
79. Cecil B De Mille? George Burns?
83. *Laurel and Hardy
84. Polly Moran (made movies with Dressler #85). Gloria Swanson?
85. *Marie Dressler
86. Greta Garbo?(Garbo & Dressler #85 were both in "Anna Christie.") Bette Davis?
87. *Louis B Mayer
88. Lon Chaney? Arthur Treacher?
89. Jack Warner (thin mustached) (at table with movie moguls) ?
HISTORY OF AGUA CALIENTE
From 1919 to 1933, Alcohol, Casinos, Prosti tution and Horse Racing were all forbidden or tightly restricted in California, (what else is new) and all were easily available in Tijuana. Agua Caliente, Tijuana, was opened in 1928. It lay only six miles South of the Border, less than 20 miles from San Diego, accessible by train, a one hour plane ride from Los Angeles, it covered 655 acres and cost about $10 million at the time.
Agua Caliente was heralded as the Monte Carlo and Deauville of the Western Hemisphere. It was the biggest, most lavish resort of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. It had the world's richest horse races and golf tournaments. "The Agua Caliente resort cost approximately $10,000,000, an enormous sum of money for that period. The first stage of the project comprised a 500 room hotel, casino, health spa, and café, inaugurated on June 23, 1928. The second stage consisted of an "olympic size" swimming pool, health clinics, 18 hole golf course, putting course, horse racing and greyhound race tracks, gardens and tropical aviary, bungalows, laundry, and workshop areas completed at the end of December 1929. The resort also had its own private radio station and airport facility [and railroad link].
"Movie czars and stars, sports notables, diplomats, maharajas, ranking politicians and famous aristocrats mingled there in luxurious surroundings along with more ordinary patrons anxious to see and be seen with such luminaries. Mobsters also dropped in on the scene. Bugsy Siegel visited and imagined a similar plush resort on what became the Las Vegas Strip."
All this came to an end with the repeal of Prohibition in the U.S. and the relaxing of gambling at California racetracks, the development of gambling in Nevada, and, finally, the criminalization of gambling in Mexico in 1935."
CARICATURES ON MENU COVER:
Agua Caliente Menu Cover. Shows caricatures of the Hollywood elite who visited the place, drawn by Xavier Cugat! Scene is probably in the Casino's Patio. Menu is described by the seller on eBay: "Rare and very special menu from the Agua Caliente Race Track Restaurant in Old Mexico Tijuana in the 1930s. Agua Caliente was Known as The Playground of the Stars . Famous musician, actor and bandleader-- Xavier Cugat-- did this amazing caricature of all the major stars of the day who once frequented this famous restaurant. I can spot Laurel & Hardy, Joan Crawford, The Marx Brothers, Eddie Duchin, Tallulah Bankhead, Mary Pickford, Marlene Dietrich and Ramon Navarro.... just to name a few. "How many can you name?"...the menu asks. "Xavier Cugat" name is printed on the drawing (at lower right)." Actual date, Tuesday July 31, 1934 is on the inside of the menu. It is a four-page menu (see the two inner food/price pages below) which measures about 8 1/4" x 11 3/4" when closed.
Robert
.
.
|
|