Boardwalk Empire – A real life connection

Shadowfax

Shadowfax

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Boardwalk Empire – A real life connection

I have never watched the series Boardwalk Empire but will now have to after finding out about my wife’s family history over the weekend. The HBO series is loosely based around the first front for illegal gambling in Atlantic City NJ long before Casinos came about. The place was called The 500 Club, which was a Supper Club where now famous performers got their start. Paul “Skinny” D’Amato owned and ran the 500 and it turns out that my wife’s uncle was best friends with Skinny.

Uncle Dom was a Beautician who owned his own Salon and Wig Shop near the club so many stars had their hair done in his shop. He also opened The Academy of Beauty Culture also in AC which at the time became quite popular.

My Mother in Law is moving from her house into a small retirement apartment and has been throwing anything and everything out before the move. She came across a leather pouch that contained a bunch of pictures of Uncle Dom and his shop. She had asked my wife’s sister if she was interested and got a no, so without asking my wife, she threw the pouch away. Luckily she mentioned it before trash day and my wife insisted she get it out of the trash and gives it to us.

When we opened the pouch and went thru the pictures, our jaws were on the floor. What we have are many pictures of Uncle Dom doing the hair of very famous people, and many have personal notes and autographs. We also have several pictures of the Back Room of the 500 Club with Uncle Dom sitting next to Skinny and other sketchy guys. We even have a picture of Uncle Dom’s Wedding where Skinny was his Best Man and standing right there at the altar.

Along with all that, we have a copy of one of the famous pictures of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra on stage at the 500. Oh, and with pristine full autographs from both guys. We have 6 candid pics in the salon of Jayne Mansfield getting her hair done or just goofing off. All of them with a personal message and autographs. We have pics of Diana Dors, Denise Dorcet, Perle Mesta all with autographs. Some of the pics of Jayne Mansfield also have her husband, Body Builder and actor Mickey Hargitay.

One of the best and best kept photos does not have any signatures, but it is Uncle Dom doing the hair of Frank Sinatra’s Mother with his Brother in the pic also.

We are now working to figure out both a Historical and Personal value as well as how to best preserve what we have now. We are waiting for calls back from the AC Historical Society as well as Antique and Famous autograph experts in the area.

We have always wanted a good reason to go to the Antiques Road Show and now we have some of the real deal. Problem is, they are not coming anywhere near Philly in 2015 so we will have to wait until they do for that fun. This is really exciting for my wife and I so I thought I would share something Real and True about the beginnings of AC and the Fiction of The Boardwalk Empire series.

Cheers!

EDIT- Just realizing the timing of Boardwalk Empire is just before the late 40s when the 500 Club started, but the corruption and gambling in the series was the preliminary events leading up to what happened within the 500 Club.
 
Brian, great stuff & what a find, thanks for sharing.
 
That is a very cool story. Any chance of scanning some of the photos, and sharing?
 
cc43fan said:
That is a very cool story. Any chance of scanning some of the photos, and sharing?
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I would love to share this with everyone, but because we have no clue the value of what we have, and that the photos are 1 of a kind, I am apprehensive to put anything on the net that may lessen the value or uniqueness right now. Once we settle the historical and personal value we will decide how to share it.
 
Shadowfax said:
I would love to share this with everyone, but because we have no clue the value of what we have, and that the photos are 1 of a kind, I am apprehensive to put anything on the net that may lessen the value or uniqueness right now. Once we settle the historical and personal value we will decide how to share it.
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Don't do or post anything until you have the proper professional advice.
 
Mike said:
Don't do or post anything until you have the proper professional advice.
Click to expand...

Exactly. The Historical Society contacted us back and we are emailing with them. We spoke to a private collector who is interested too, but we won't sell them.

Trying now to locate an Appraiser in that area that specializes in these photos and autographs.

My current task is to google how to clean and store what we have so they don't get any worse. The best thing is that they have not seen daylight for 40 years or more.

Thanks for reading the story, it's pretty exciting to find out family history that ties into well known places and events.

Mi wife's mother just told us a story of the first time they took her to the 500 for dinner and a show, she was in a mood and threw all her food on the floor around the table trashing the whole area. So my wife trashed the 500 Club on her first visit as a toddler....pretty funny stuff.
 
Brian, that is the most interesting and cool post that I have ever read here.........WOW !!! That's so cool !!!
 
Thanks Mark, I will update the thread as we learn more about the collection. Glad it is interesting to others and not just my wife and I.
 
So it is turning out that anything having to do with the old 500 Club is very rare and collectable in itself. The photos and Autographs have a greater value alone and combined with the whole collection, even more. I still am having a hard time finding an Authenticator/Appraiser nearby to look these over. I really don't trust the couple web sites I have found where you email them a picture of the signature. Still some research to followup on. We know they are all real and authentic, but you need the Professional Certs to prove it for real. I can't get anything out of the Antiques Roadshow website or those listed as Antique Dealers and Appraisers.

What I have done so far is purchased a nice acid free Presentation Case and and sleeves of various sizes since one of the pics is 10x14. The pics really show a lot nicer in this setting and in a good order of what they are. While cleaning them up a bit and putting them into the sleeves, I found that whenever Dean Martin signed the pic of himself and Frank Sinatra, it must have been sitting on top of one of the Jayne Mansfield pics because the same Dean signature from the 500 pic is also embedded into one of the Jayne Mansfield pics. How rare is that?

While emailing many people for help, I found a few of Jayne's children with Facebook accounts, but neither responded. I also found that daughter Mariska Hargitay of Law & Order SVI fame had started a foundation for domestic violence called The Joyful Heart. I had reached out to them a few weeks ago asking how to contact Mariska but never heard back....until this morning when I got an email that included the email address of Mariska's personal assistant. I will write to her tonight to see if she is at all interested in seeing or having copies of these awesome 1-of-a kind pics of her parents.

It turns out that JM sigs generally go between $500 and $1000 each and because of what these are and associated with, they are most likely worth far more. There is a site called History For Sale where they have several JM items and Mickey Hargitay items in the upwards of $6K.

I know Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra sigs are pretty valuable and because these are from the 500, they are also worth more. Together on the same historic photo more still. Turns out there are collectors of 500 Club memorabilia and old gambling chips.

It will take some time to really figure out what we have, but the journey so far has been exciting to say the least. Hard to imagine my wife's family having such ties to early organized crime and the start of illegal gambling in AC before Casinos were ever thought of.

More updates to come as the journey continues.
 
This is interesting.
Hey, turn right around and contact the Antiques Roadshow people again and tell them you want your 15 minutes of fame....just kidding.
If you do hear from Mrs. Mariska Hargitay be sure to remember to also thank her for her work with her foundation and everything.
 
Shadowfax said:
Boardwalk Empire – A real life connection

I have never watched the series Boardwalk Empire but will now have to after finding out about my wife’s family history over the weekend. The HBO series is loosely based around the first front for illegal gambling in Atlantic City NJ long before Casinos came about. The place was called The 500 Club, which was a Supper Club where now famous performers got their start. Paul “Skinny” D’Amato owned and ran the 500 and it turns out that my wife’s uncle was best friends with Skinny.

Uncle Dom was a Beautician who owned his own Salon and Wig Shop near the club so many stars had their hair done in his shop. He also opened The Academy of Beauty Culture also in AC which at the time became quite popular.

My Mother in Law is moving from her house into a small retirement apartment and has been throwing anything and everything out before the move. She came across a leather pouch that contained a bunch of pictures of Uncle Dom and his shop. She had asked my wife’s sister if she was interested and got a no, so without asking my wife, she threw the pouch away. Luckily she mentioned it before trash day and my wife insisted she get it out of the trash and gives it to us.

When we opened the pouch and went thru the pictures, our jaws were on the floor. What we have are many pictures of Uncle Dom doing the hair of very famous people, and many have personal notes and autographs. We also have several pictures of the Back Room of the 500 Club with Uncle Dom sitting next to Skinny and other sketchy guys. We even have a picture of Uncle Dom’s Wedding where Skinny was his Best Man and standing right there at the altar.

Along with all that, we have a copy of one of the famous pictures of Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra on stage at the 500. Oh, and with pristine full autographs from both guys. We have 6 candid pics in the salon of Jayne Mansfield getting her hair done or just goofing off. All of them with a personal message and autographs. We have pics of Diana Dors, Denise Dorcet, Perle Mesta all with autographs. Some of the pics of Jayne Mansfield also have her husband, Body Builder and actor Mickey Hargitay.

One of the best and best kept photos does not have any signatures, but it is Uncle Dom doing the hair of Frank Sinatra’s Mother with his Brother in the pic also.

We are now working to figure out both a Historical and Personal value as well as how to best preserve what we have now. We are waiting for calls back from the AC Historical Society as well as Antique and Famous autograph experts in the area.

We have always wanted a good reason to go to the Antiques Road Show and now we have some of the real deal. Problem is, they are not coming anywhere near Philly in 2015 so we will have to wait until they do for that fun. This is really exciting for my wife and I so I thought I would share something Real and True about the beginnings of AC and the Fiction of The Boardwalk Empire series.

Cheers!

EDIT- Just realizing the timing of Boardwalk Empire is just before the late 40s when the 500 Club started, but the corruption and gambling in the series was the preliminary events leading up to what happened within the 500 Club.
Click to expand...


Hi Brian,

This is fascinating reading. I was hanging on every word! Please post some more information as you learn it.

Thanks,
Ken
 
Eric- I am an email away from personal contact with Mariska and will surely thank her for the work of the Foundation in my opening. The ARS does not have an simple contact us but posts a listing of all the appraisers with contact info. Most never replied and the few who did said not for them with no suggestions, so great help they were. They also are not coming to my area at all this year and even if they do, it's a lottery to get into the event.


Ken- I will followup my story as it develops.

The Atlantic County Historical Society curator called my wife yesterday with several helpful hints and a big desire to see and hear the story when we can make a plan to go there, the Atlantic City Museum, which has a bunch of 500 Club items, and a local Antique dealer/collector who we already spoke to and were told he would no doubt make an offer on this collection just as he told us earlier. Not for sale, but curious as to what a serious collector would offer.
 
Shadowfax said:
Eric- I am an email away from personal contact with Mariska and will surely thank her for the work of the Foundation in my opening. The ARS does not have an simple contact us but posts a listing of all the appraisers with contact info. Most never replied and the few who did said not for them with no suggestions, so great help they were. They also are not coming to my area at all this year and even if they do, it's a lottery to get into the event.
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Yeah, I had a feeling the ARS was going to be a bust. Pretty snobby folk from what I've heard.
Another thing about Mariska. I hear that she is a very nice person and down to earth. So I hope you hear from her. I think you might because of your gesture of trying to contact her first about her family pics. I have a feeling you may hear from her personally.
 
Brief Update-

We put together a real nice and compelling letter to Mariska and sent it off on Saturday. Who knows what kind of response we will get and when, but I can only assume that since it took two full weeks to get the reply from the Foundation with her assistant's email addy, they checked that it was OK to give it to us.

What we have realized is that in 1973, Jane Mansfield died in a car wreck, my wife's Uncle Dom died from unknown liver problems, and the 500 Club burned down.

Shortly after we get back from our Vermont Ski Trip next week, we will arrange a short trip to Atlantic City to meet with the Historic Society and the AC Museum, who both have asked to see the collection and help us gather more details and info that we are lacking and they have records of. We will also meet a reputable dealer/collector which several people have pointed us towards. At this time we just want to see what his offer would be and also ask to see the collection he already has that relates to our own.

More updates to come as things progress.

Cheers!
 
If Mariska is available and gets your letter and if the wording is legit and everything, you will hear from her. In my experience, that's how the few good, down to earth Hollywood type people (actor or musician) operate, sometimes they do bypass their assistants. (Although she may relay that through her assistant). I'm kind of hoping you hear from her personally, she is a very nice person by all accounts I have heard and it would give you something to tell too.
Don't sell her mum's pics or her dad's or any related to her until you hear from her. Some dealer/collector may offer you some enticing sum, but Mariska may gratefully want them. All you may get is an endearing letter for them from her, but that is worth far more than any other monetary offer you may get, ever.
I have two personally addressed autographed pics from George Takai not because I asked for them. He insisted I have them after running into him in a shop and our hour long conversation. That makes them of non-monetary value. Every autograph I ever got was not because I asked. I also have autographs from the band Spirit including Randy California because he insisted and he went to each member and had them sign the picture after our surprise half hour talk with the band when they came over and sat at the table my friend and I were sitting at after they played. I will never know why that happened.
Then there is the point that I am one of very very few guys to have gotten a hug from a Bangle. I've already told how that happened. No autograph or pic, but again, to me those would have been worth nothing. Michael Steele's kindness, gratefulness and her willingness to surprise me in the gag the band I was working for set up and the memory of that is worth more than anything.
 
MusicDirector said:
If Mariska is available and gets your letter, you will hear from her. Although she may relay that through her assistant. I'm kind of hoping you hear from her personally, she is a very nice person by all accounts I have heard and it would give you something to tell too. Don't sell her mum's pics or her dad's or any related to her until you hear from her. Some dealer may offer you some enticing sum, but Mariska may gratefully want them.
Click to expand...

We will not be selling any of it and I offered Mariska copies if we don't arrange for her to see the whole collection herself. Whenever we do communicate, we will also ask for a signed pic of herself to include in the collection. I am counting on personal communication from her in the next few weeks.....after she and Ice-T run a background check on us :) to verify we are not stalkers.

When we get close to death, we will most likely will them all to the Historical Society or Museum for all to see and not just sit in a collectors closet.
 
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