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In her glory days, Atlantic City was a sideshow on piers, a carnival on the Boardwalk, a house of women for hire, a back room full of cards and money. A world where visitors shed clothes at the beach and inhibitions at nightclubs, where more people came for sin than sun. She was a place where anything goes and everyone went, where the rules did not apply. Atlantic City was the birthplace of American Cool in mid-century, the first home of the Rat Pack, a haven where a down-and-out Frank Sinatra was always welcome - and never forgot it.
This book is the history of an iconographic American resort that explores showbiz greats who got their start there, real-life excesses that strain even the wildest imaginations and the outrageous characters who made it all happen. In this city of paradox, imbalance generated stability, mobsters were welcome, and recklessness brought people happiness.
Look closely at the details - the rumrunners, the Boardwalk and the clubs, and at their sepia images fading into time gone by - in the pivotal decades from Prohibition to the Jet Age. These were the golden years, when celebrities and tourists filled the days and nights of Atlantic City, when political corruption, illegal gambling and prostitution were all part of the Atlantic City Experience. Chance of a Lifetime details the rise and fall, and rise again, of Atlantic City¹s glorious glitz and guts.
Chance of a Lifetime is the inside story of that fantastic time by one who saw and heard it firsthand. Author Grace Anselmo D'Amato was married to Willie D¹Amato, manager of his brother Skinny's 500 Club. In this intimate account of the city, the club and the famous and infamous people who passed through, the author shares a very personal view of the naughty Queen of Resorts. The reader can almost imagine sitting in a zebra-print booth at the old Five when she drops by to tell the storied history of this 20th-century playground by the sea.
Chance of a Lifetime is about a place in time when larger-than-life people like political boss Enoch Nucky Johnson and supersmooth 500 Club owner Paul ³Skinny² D¹Amato grabbed fame and power and rode waves of popularity. They built a city on sin as a matter of civic pride and saw no contradiction whatsoever.
Only in Atlantic City, and only in this shining era, could such men have seized the opportunity to influence politics and entertainment, the two main realms that to this day characterize the Queen of Resorts.
Atlantic City was Las Vegas. This town was wide open. - Skinny D'Amato
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Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Brand New!. Seller Inventory # VIB0848833236