Podcast appearances and mentions of Kirk Kerkorian

Kirk Kerkorian's Benevolent Engagement with Armenia | Ep 409, February 2, 2025Conversations on Groong - February 2, 2025TopicsWho was Kirk Kerkorian?How Kerkorian Discovered ArmeniaInvesting in ArmeniaEnd of Investments and Death of KerkorianGuestHarut SassounianHostsHovik ManucharyanAsbed BedrossianEpisode 409 | Recorded: January 22, 2025Subscribe and follow us everywhere you are: linktr.ee/groong

In this episode of On the Corner of Main Street, Jonathan Jossel and Gary Vickery sit down with the legendary Alex Yemenidjian, former CEO of MGM Studios and Tropicana Las Vegas. Alex shares his fascinating journey from Argentina to Los Angeles, his career beginnings in accounting, and his unexpected yet influential relationship with Kirk Kerkorian, one of the most iconic figures in Las Vegas history. Alex discusses the transformations in Las Vegas, from the early days of big personalities like Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson to the boom in themed mega-resorts like MGM Grand and New York-New York. He shares insights into his role in building MGM's legacy, including orchestrating high-stakes events like Mike Tyson's fights, the art of creating Vegas resorts with a "wow" factor, and his strategic acquisition of the Mirage. Later in the episode, Alex reflects on his time revitalizing the Tropicana and how he foresees the future of Las Vegas development. Tune in to hear stories about power moves, Vegas transformations, and invaluable life lessons from one of the most respected minds in gaming.

Show Notes: Welcome to the Rainmakers Podcast where I will give case studies on how different investors made their billions. In this episode we are continuing our journey to learn the investment methods of Kirk Kerkorian to see how he got out of his mess after investing in MGM using debt during an economic recession leaving him with MGM stock and a net worth of $70M dollars after having $350M dollars only a year earlier. Special thanks to @45wallst on twitter for helping with the research of this episode. Follow him here: https://twitter.com/45WallSt Follow me: https://twitter.com/rainmakerspod Sources: Fade Out: The Calamitous Final Days of MGM by Peter Bart Winner Takes All by Christina Binkley Indecent Exposure: A True Story of Hollywood and Wall Street by David McClintick Keynote Speech to The Society of Automotive Analysts - Jerome B. York 1996 Don't Ever tell Babe Ruth how to hold his bat by D.M. Kerkorian: Casinos Trump Cars by Businessweek 2006 Kerkorian Shuffles the MGM Deck by Businessweek 2007 Kerkorian Faces Debt Woes by Businessweek 2009 Kerkorian in the Emerald City by Ralph King Jr The Strip and The Street by Bernard Condon Beverly Hills Meets Motown by Time Magazine 1990 Kerkorian, Columbia In Peace Pact by Robert J. Cole Kerkorian to Seek 20% of Columbia by Robert J. Cole New UA Will Start As 'Shell Company' by Thomas C. Hayes Third Time Is Still a Charm for Financier Kerkorian by James Bates The MGM Grand Hotel, which opened in December 1973, by Chris Chrystal Timeline: Kirk Kerkorian's long career of bold investments by LA Times 2015 Kerkorian and MGM, Off Again by Frank Ahrens Ted Turner: Back from the Brink by Stratford P. Sherman

El antiguo dominio de la mafia en Las Vegas se está debilitando a medida que los federales presionan con más fuerza que nunca. Hace apenas unos años, nadie construía nada en el Strip sin la participación de gánsteres. Ahora, a medida que los 80 dan paso a los 90, el megadesarrollador en ascenso de Las Vegas, Steve Wynn, comienza su ascenso para luchar contra Kirk Kerkorian como los nuevos reyes del Strip, y no necesitan dinero ni influencia de la mafia para hacerlo.Wynn abre lo que se convertirá en el casino resort de mayor éxito financiero del mundo. Y no está financiado por fondos oscuros del hampa, sino por Wall Street, con el sector corporativo interviniendo para expulsar a la mafia del mundo que creó.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Las Vegas está teniendo mala reputación en la prensa, gracias a la creciente atención sobre el control de la mafia. Los poderes legítimos en los pasillos del gobierno de Nevada necesitan algo (o alguien) para darle una capa de respetabilidad a la Ciudad del Pecado.Que llegue alguien. Es uno de los hombres más ricos y poderosos del planeta. Y también es un sujeto imprevisible. En lo que respecta al nuevo gobernador Paul Laxalt , ese no es un factor decisivo.Y el rico promotor Kirk Kerkorian tiene planes de construir el hotel más grande del planeta. Planes que presagian una nueva ola de construcción en el Strip de Las Vegas.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Show Notes: Welcome to the Rainmakers podcast! This show is going to be an exploration on the world's best investors from past and present to see how exactly they made their returns. In this episode we will cover the early career of Kirk Kerkorian. Follow me: https://twitter.com/rainmakerspod Links: International Hotel Ad: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_Las_Vegas#/media/File:International_Hotel_advertisement.jpg Alix Pasquet Presentation: https://youtu.be/YMmjbHAHdNU?si=kKyvFOBg6jcsRpeL Sources: Kerkorian: An American Success Story by Dial Torgerson The Airline Industry by William M. Leary The Only Way to Fly: The Story of Western Airlines, America's Senior Air Carrier by Robert J Serling Third Try at the Club by David McClintick How It All Came Apart In the Eurodollar Market by Lewis Beman Kirk Kerkorian: Friend or Foe? : His Presence in the MGM Deal Receives Mixed Reviews by Michael A. Hiltzik Entrepreneurs: The High Ride on Free Time by Time Magazine Kerkorian Doesn't Want All the Meat off the Bone by Irwin Ross

Random Vegas  Vegas has been attempting to go smoke free since the early 90s.  The first casino to ban cigarette smoking was at Silver City Casino in 1991.  Vegas Pic of the week  It was the original mega sign.  Not quite a super pylon but big enough that it was a statement piece.  The champaign tower at Flamingo, shared by @_GrandPaD, stood as a beacon for the property for years while she was a low-rise building.  The cylindrical structure lit up at night with glowing bubbles that cresecendoed into the revolving name of the property at the top.  Sadly it was removed by Kirk Kerkorian who decided to push the property closer to the road to pull in more foot traffic.  It was replaced in 1968 with the iconic super pylon known as the Flamingo plumb signage.  News Where It's At Movie Bugsy The Documentary Best Places to Stay In Vegas Summerlin Studios Kennel Club Suite

The Eighties were a wacky time in aviation history. Deregulation ushered in a variety of kooky airlines that catered to all kinds of crowds, from a smokers' airline to fancy-pants first-class-only carriers. Even Donald Trump had his own airline, complete with gold-plated bathrooms. But Trump wasn't the only one decking out planes to look like one of Hugh Hefner's mansions. Casino and movie studio magnate Kirk Kerkorian of MGM had the wild idea to create an airline meant to satisfy celebs' every whim on flights from New York to Los Angeles. Frequented by the likes of Madonna and Guns N' Roses, for a brief stint MGM Air was THE WAY celebs flew the friendly skies. But alas, every rose has its thorn and every celebration must come to an end. We're going deep into the demise of the airline whose motto was "everything else should be called second class."Email us at toomuchmoneypodcast@gmail.com! Too Much Money is hosted and produced by Jo Piazza and Doree Shafrir. Music is by Lisa Brenner. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

EPISODE 20 - “Greg Bautzer: Hollywood's Legal Lothario” - 01/29/2024 Long before notorious trials like O.J. SIMPSON's made momentary celebrities out of legal eagles like JOHNNIE COCHRAN, ROBERT SHAPIRO and ROBERT KARDASHIAN, there was attorney GREG BAUTZER. From the working class docks of San Pedro, this ambitious Golden Boy with movie-star good looks and a brilliant legal mind became the most trusted confidante of the elite of Hollywood. Not only was he a peerless power broker for the likes of HOWARD HUGHES and KIRK KERKORIAN, but he also dated the most eligible Hollywood actresses, including LANA TURNER, DOROTHY LAMOUR, GINGER ROGERS and JOAN CRAWFORD. This week, we explore the cases, the women, and the life of this legal Lothario.  SHOW NOTES:  Sources: The Man Who Seduced Hollywood: The Life & Loves of Greg Bautzer, Tinseltown's Most Powerful Lawyer (2013), by B. James Gladstone “Greg Bautzer Weds Actress Dana Winter,” June 11, 1956, The Los Angeles Times “Dana Wynter, Husband Back In Hollywood,” June 11, 1956, The Hollywood Citizen News “Actress Sues Greg Bautzer For Divorce,” September 1, 1967, The Los Angeles Herald Examiner “A Conversation With Greg Bautzer,” December 1984, The Hollywood Reporter “Services Thursday for Attorney Gregson Bautzer,” October 27, 1987, Variety “Greg Bautzer, Attorney for Film Stars, Dies,” October 27, 1987, by William Overhand, The Los Angeles Times “Gone With The Winds,” July 1988, by Paul McNamara, Los Angeles Magazine “Howard Hughes and the Original Power Lawyer,” May 31, 2013, by B. James Gladstone, The Hollywood Reporter IMDBPro.com Wikipedia.com --------------------------------- http://www.airwavemedia.com Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on our podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Founders ✓ Claim What I learned from reading Ted Turner's Autobiography.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Listen to Art of Investing #4 David Senra Lessons from the Founder Historian. ----(9:00) My net worth dropped by about 67 million per week, or nearly 10 million per day, every day for two and a half years.(10:00) Once to drive home a point about the difficulties of attracting good loyal employees he told me: Jesus only had to pick 12 disciples and even one of those didn't turn out well.(10:00) Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise .(11:00) Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141)(13:30) The problem isn't getting rich, it's staying sane. — Charlie Munger(17:00) I learned a lesson that would stick with me throughout my career. When the chips are down in the pressure's on it's amazing to how creative people can be.(20:00) My father always maintained many of the different billboard businesses as separate legal entities. (He didn't want to dilute ownership of his main company and separate entities allowed for periodic reorganization to offset capital gains liabilities.(20:30) When you own an asset your job is to maximize its value.(23:00) He combines the assets he has in a way his competitors can not.(24:00) The more I learned about TV stations the more I realized that ours was a disaster. Of the 35 people who were on the payroll when we took over only two were still there a year later —the custodian and the receptionist.(25:00) Ted Turner believed in the power of television more than almost anybody else.(30:30) My dad taught me early on that longterm relationships with your customers and partners are very important. You never know how the guy who you're friendly with today might be able to help you tomorrow.(31:00) Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business by Mark Robichaux. (Founders #268)(32:00) What other people in his industry sees as a threat, Ted sees as an opportunity.(37:00) These issues were all unchartered territory. All of us, the regulators, the broadcasters, the program suppliers and the leagues were sorting things out on the fly. I was working as hard as I could. I'd go all out during the day, working on sales, distribution, regulatory issues, whatever the battle happened to be, and I'd worked right up until it was time to fall asleep. I had a pull down Murphy bed in my office and I would literally work until the point of total exhaustion. Then I'd put my head on the pillow at night worried about problems. Then I'd wake up and spend the entire next day trying to solve them.(44:00) One of the most important ideas in the book is the power of Belief: Clearly the company for whom the economics of 24 hour news would have made the most sense with a big three broadcasters. They already had most of what was needed: studios, bureaus, reporters, anchors. They had everything but a belief in cable.(45:00) I'm going to be a billionaire. And here's why. I'm going to put this station up on a satellite and I'm going to get a news thing going. Sports, movies and news, 24 hours a day, all over the world. He said this in 1976.(46:00) Henry Ford didn't need focus groups to tell him that people would prefer inexpensive, dependable automobiles over horses. Alexander Graham Bell never stopped to worry about whether people would prefer speaking to each other on a phone.(49:00) I'm always convinced that one of the reasons that I've been successful is that I've almost always competed against people who were bigger and stronger, but who had less commitment and desire than I did. For Turner Broadcasting this dispute meant everything. We had to win.(52:00) Ted's Superstation idea is printing money: $177 million in revenue and $66 million in profit. This is in the 1980s!(53:00) It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.(57:00) He has a keen understanding of how to combine assets to create an advantage that no one else has.(58:00) The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. (Founders #65)(58:00) Genius has the fewest moving parts. Never get into deals that are too complicated.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Founders ✓ Claim What I learned from reading Ted Turner's Autobiography.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Listen to Art of Investing #4 David Senra Lessons from the Founder Historian. ----(9:00) My net worth dropped by about 67 million per week, or nearly 10 million per day, every day for two and a half years.(10:00) Once to drive home a point about the difficulties of attracting good loyal employees he told me: Jesus only had to pick 12 disciples and even one of those didn't turn out well.(10:00) Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise .(11:00) Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141)(13:30) The problem isn't getting rich, it's staying sane. — Charlie Munger(17:00) I learned a lesson that would stick with me throughout my career. When the chips are down in the pressure's on it's amazing to how creative people can be.(20:00) My father always maintained many of the different billboard businesses as separate legal entities. (He didn't want to dilute ownership of his main company and separate entities allowed for periodic reorganization to offset capital gains liabilities.(20:30) When you own an asset your job is to maximize its value.(23:00) He combines the assets he has in a way his competitors can not.(24:00) The more I learned about TV stations the more I realized that ours was a disaster. Of the 35 people who were on the payroll when we took over only two were still there a year later —the custodian and the receptionist.(25:00) Ted Turner believed in the power of television more than almost anybody else.(30:30) My dad taught me early on that longterm relationships with your customers and partners are very important. You never know how the guy who you're friendly with today might be able to help you tomorrow.(31:00) Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business by Mark Robichaux. (Founders #268)(32:00) What other people in his industry sees as a threat, Ted sees as an opportunity.(37:00) These issues were all unchartered territory. All of us, the regulators, the broadcasters, the program suppliers and the leagues were sorting things out on the fly. I was working as hard as I could. I'd go all out during the day, working on sales, distribution, regulatory issues, whatever the battle happened to be, and I'd worked right up until it was time to fall asleep. I had a pull down Murphy bed in my office and I would literally work until the point of total exhaustion. Then I'd put my head on the pillow at night worried about problems. Then I'd wake up and spend the entire next day trying to solve them.(44:00) One of the most important ideas in the book is the power of Belief: Clearly the company for whom the economics of 24 hour news would have made the most sense with a big three broadcasters. They already had most of what was needed: studios, bureaus, reporters, anchors. They had everything but a belief in cable.(45:00) I'm going to be a billionaire. And here's why. I'm going to put this station up on a satellite and I'm going to get a news thing going. Sports, movies and news, 24 hours a day, all over the world. He said this in 1976.(46:00) Henry Ford didn't need focus groups to tell him that people would prefer inexpensive, dependable automobiles over horses. Alexander Graham Bell never stopped to worry about whether people would prefer speaking to each other on a phone.(49:00) I'm always convinced that one of the reasons that I've been successful is that I've almost always competed against people who were bigger and stronger, but who had less commitment and desire than I did. For Turner Broadcasting this dispute meant everything. We had to win.(52:00) Ted's Superstation idea is printing money: $177 million in revenue and $66 million in profit. This is in the 1980s!(53:00) It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.(57:00) He has a keen understanding of how to combine assets to create an advantage that no one else has.(58:00) The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. (Founders #65)(58:00) Genius has the fewest moving parts. Never get into deals that are too complicated.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Founders ✓ Claim What I learned from reading Ted Turner's Autobiography.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----Listen to Art of Investing #4 David Senra Lessons from the Founder Historian. ----(9:00) My net worth dropped by about 67 million per week, or nearly 10 million per day, every day for two and a half years.(10:00) Once to drive home a point about the difficulties of attracting good loyal employees he told me: Jesus only had to pick 12 disciples and even one of those didn't turn out well.(10:00) Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise .(11:00) Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141)(13:30) The problem isn't getting rich, it's staying sane. — Charlie Munger(17:00) I learned a lesson that would stick with me throughout my career. When the chips are down in the pressure's on it's amazing to how creative people can be.(20:00) My father always maintained many of the different billboard businesses as separate legal entities. (He didn't want to dilute ownership of his main company and separate entities allowed for periodic reorganization to offset capital gains liabilities.(20:30) When you own an asset your job is to maximize its value.(23:00) He combines the assets he has in a way his competitors can not.(24:00) The more I learned about TV stations the more I realized that ours was a disaster. Of the 35 people who were on the payroll when we took over only two were still there a year later —the custodian and the receptionist.(25:00) Ted Turner believed in the power of television more than almost anybody else.(30:30) My dad taught me early on that longterm relationships with your customers and partners are very important. You never know how the guy who you're friendly with today might be able to help you tomorrow.(31:00) Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business by Mark Robichaux. (Founders #268)(32:00) What other people in his industry sees as a threat, Ted sees as an opportunity.(37:00) These issues were all unchartered territory. All of us, the regulators, the broadcasters, the program suppliers and the leagues were sorting things out on the fly. I was working as hard as I could. I'd go all out during the day, working on sales, distribution, regulatory issues, whatever the battle happened to be, and I'd worked right up until it was time to fall asleep. I had a pull down Murphy bed in my office and I would literally work until the point of total exhaustion. Then I'd put my head on the pillow at night worried about problems. Then I'd wake up and spend the entire next day trying to solve them.(44:00) One of the most important ideas in the book is the power of Belief: Clearly the company for whom the economics of 24 hour news would have made the most sense with a big three broadcasters. They already had most of what was needed: studios, bureaus, reporters, anchors. They had everything but a belief in cable.(45:00) I'm going to be a billionaire. And here's why. I'm going to put this station up on a satellite and I'm going to get a news thing going. Sports, movies and news, 24 hours a day, all over the world. He said this in 1976.(46:00) Henry Ford didn't need focus groups to tell him that people would prefer inexpensive, dependable automobiles over horses. Alexander Graham Bell never stopped to worry about whether people would prefer speaking to each other on a phone.(49:00) I'm always convinced that one of the reasons that I've been successful is that I've almost always competed against people who were bigger and stronger, but who had less commitment and desire than I did. For Turner Broadcasting this dispute meant everything. We had to win.(52:00) Ted's Superstation idea is printing money: $177 million in revenue and $66 million in profit. This is in the 1980s!(53:00) It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.(57:00) He has a keen understanding of how to combine assets to create an advantage that no one else has.(58:00) The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. (Founders #65)(58:00) Genius has the fewest moving parts. Never get into deals that are too complicated.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders by investing in a subscription to Founders Notes----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

What I learned from reading Ted Turner's Autobiography. ----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at FoundersNotes.com----Listen to Art of Investing #4 David Senra Lessons from the Founder Historian. ----(9:00) My net worth dropped by about 67 million per week, or nearly 10 million per day, every day for two and a half years.(10:00) Once to drive home a point about the difficulties of attracting good loyal employees he told me: Jesus only had to pick 12 disciples and even one of those didn't turn out well.(10:00) Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell, and advertise .(11:00) Total Recall: My Unbelievably True Life Story by Arnold Schwarzenegger. (Founders #141)(13:30) The problem isn't getting rich, it's staying sane. — Charlie Munger(17:00) I learned a lesson that would stick with me throughout my career. When the chips are down in the pressure's on it's amazing to how creative people can be.(20:00) My father always maintained many of the different billboard businesses as separate legal entities. (He didn't want to dilute ownership of his main company and separate entities allowed for periodic reorganization to offset capital gains liabilities.(20:30) When you own an asset your job is to maximize its value.(23:00) He combines the assets he has in a way his competitors can not.(24:00) The more I learned about TV stations the more I realized that ours was a disaster. Of the 35 people who were on the payroll when we took over only two were still there a year later —the custodian and the receptionist.(25:00) Ted Turner believed in the power of television more than almost anybody else.(30:30) My dad taught me early on that longterm relationships with your customers and partners are very important. You never know how the guy who you're friendly with today might be able to help you tomorrow.(31:00) Cable Cowboy: John Malone and the Rise of the Modern Cable Business by Mark Robichaux. (Founders #268)(32:00) What other people in his industry sees as a threat, Ted sees as an opportunity.(37:00) These issues were all unchartered territory. All of us, the regulators, the broadcasters, the program suppliers and the leagues were sorting things out on the fly. I was working as hard as I could. I'd go all out during the day, working on sales, distribution, regulatory issues, whatever the battle happened to be, and I'd worked right up until it was time to fall asleep. I had a pull down Murphy bed in my office and I would literally work until the point of total exhaustion. Then I'd put my head on the pillow at night worried about problems. Then I'd wake up and spend the entire next day trying to solve them.(44:00) One of the most important ideas in the book is the power of Belief: Clearly the company for whom the economics of 24 hour news would have made the most sense with a big three broadcasters. They already had most of what was needed: studios, bureaus, reporters, anchors. They had everything but a belief in cable.(45:00) I'm going to be a billionaire. And here's why. I'm going to put this station up on a satellite and I'm going to get a news thing going. Sports, movies and news, 24 hours a day, all over the world. He said this in 1976.(46:00) Henry Ford didn't need focus groups to tell him that people would prefer inexpensive, dependable automobiles over horses. Alexander Graham Bell never stopped to worry about whether people would prefer speaking to each other on a phone.(49:00) I'm always convinced that one of the reasons that I've been successful is that I've almost always competed against people who were bigger and stronger, but who had less commitment and desire than I did. For Turner Broadcasting this dispute meant everything. We had to win.(52:00) Ted's Superstation idea is printing money: $177 million in revenue and $66 million in profit. This is in the 1980s!(53:00) It would be 13 years before we faced another 24 hour news channel.(57:00) He has a keen understanding of how to combine assets to create an advantage that no one else has.(58:00) The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. (Founders #65)(58:00) Genius has the fewest moving parts. Never get into deals that are too complicated.----Get access to the World's Most Valuable Notebook for Founders at Founders Notes.com----“I have listened to every episode released and look forward to every episode that comes out. The only criticism I would have is that after each podcast I usually want to buy the book because I am interested, so my poor wallet suffers.” — GarethBe like Gareth. Buy a book: All the books featured on Founders Podcast

Join us Monday night at 7:30pm as we welcome Harut Sassounian to the #WiseNuts podcast! For 40-years he has continuously published with the California Courier, featuring weekly editorials distributed globally, Harut Sassounian has been a prominent voice in shaping discussions. Serving as the President of the Armenia Artsakh Fund, he has overseen the dispatch of over a billion dollars in humanitarian aid to Armenia. Additionally, as the head of HyeID, Sassounian is driving a transformative project to establish a Diaspora Armenian Parliament through democratically elected delegates. Follow the WiseNuts on FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/watch/WiseNutsPodcast/ Follow the WiseNuts on Twitter: https://twitter.com/wise_nuts Follow the WiseNuts on IG: https://www.instagram.com/wisenuts_podcast/?hl=en #HarutSassounian #CommunityLeader #PodcastGuest #ANCA #ArmeniaFund #Artsakh #WiseNutsPodcast #kirkkerkorian --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/wisenuts/support

Kirk Kerkorian is one of the ultimate entrepreneurs of the 20th century. From rags to riches, Kerkorian's story is truly inspiring and a great example of hard work and determination paying off big time. In this episode we'll take you on a journey through his early days, his rise to the top, and all the challenges he faced along the way.  We'll talk about his early years, flying planes during WW2, and his start as a developer in Las Vegas. We'll also go over how he built the biggest hotel-casino in the world, not once, but three times! So, grab some popcorn, sit back and join us as we delve into the incredible life of Kirk Kerkorian. Oh, and don't forget to smash that like button, leave a comment, and hit subscribe for more episodes on true stories about people making millions.

“Kirk's attitude was all positive. This was man who believed he could do anything and was willing to put it all on the roll of a dice.” Principles are king in life and in business. Kirk Kerkorian modelled this throughout his life. You may not know Kirk Kerkorian because was a humble man, though he mingled with some of the biggest names in his generation such as Howard Hughes and John Wayne among many others. Kirk believed in maintaining his reputation. It was a matter of integrity and earning people's trust and loyalty. He donated money on a large scale but never took credit. In 1988, Armenia was hit by a massive earthquake and Kirk donated $1 billion for aid and rebuilding. Kirk also modelled the value of taking risks in business, with one such risk resulting in him becoming the landlord of Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. There are many stories like these and today's guest, William Rempel, captured as many as he could in his book, The Gambler: How Kirk Kerkorian Became The Greatest Dealmaker In Capitalist History. Kirk died in 2015 at the age of 98 and his legacy lives on in the many people who knew and loved him, and in The Gambler. William was an investigative journalist with the LA Times for decades, travelling the world and discovering stories, some of which he's turned into books. You can find The Gambler - How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became The Greatest Dealmaker In Capitalist History on Amazon. https://a.co/d/8STN5e5 You can learn more about William and his other books on his website at https://williamrempel.com/. Kirk Kerkorian's expert action steps: Take care of your health. Take care of your reputation. Hire the best people and let them manage things while you oversee the bigger picture. Competition makes us all better and that's what makes us all a fortune. Don't worry about the small stuff. Think big. Visit eCircleAcademy.com and book a success call with Nicky to take your practice to the next level.

On this episode, we travel back to 1984, and the days when a "young adult" novel included lots of drugs and partying and absolutely no sparkly vampires or dystopian warrior girls. We're talking about Jay McInerney's groundbreaking novel, Bright Lights, Big City, and its 1988 film version starring Michael J. Fox and Keifer Sutherland. ----more---- Hello, and welcome to The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. The original 1984 front cover for Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City If you were a young adult in the late 1980s, there's a very good chance that you started reading more adult-y books thanks to an imprint called Vintage Contemporaries. Quality books at an affordable paperback price point, with their uniform and intrinsically 80s designed covers, bold cover and spine fonts, and mix of first-time writers and cult authors who never quite broke through to the mainstream, the Vintage Contemporary series would be an immediate hit when it was first launched in September 1984. The first set of releases would include such novels as Raymond Carver's Cathedral and Thomas McGuane's The Bushwhacked Piano, but the one that would set the bar for the entire series was the first novel by a twenty-nine year old former fact checker at the New Yorker magazine. The writer was Jay McInerney, and his novel was Bright Lights, Big City. The original 1984 front cover for Raymond Carver's Cathedral Bright Lights, Big City would set a template for twenty something writers in the 1980s. A protagonist not unlike the writer themselves, with a not-so-secret drug addiction, and often written in the second person, You, which was not a usual literary choice at the time. The nameless protagonist, You, is a divorced twenty-four year old wannabe writer who works as fact-checker at a major upscale magazine in New York City, for which he once dreamed of writing for. You is recently divorced from Amanda, an aspiring model he had met while going to school in Kansas City. You would move to New York City earlier in the year with her when her modeling career was starting to talk off. While in Paris for Fashion Week, Amanda called You to inform him their marriage was over, and that she was leaving him for another man. You continues to hope Amanda will return to him, and when it's clear she won't, he not only becomes obsessed with everything about her that left in their apartment, he begins to slide into reckless abandon at the clubs they used to frequent, and becoming heavily addicted to cocaine, which then affects his performance at work. A chance encounter with Amanda at an event in the city leads You to a public humiliation, which makes him starts to realize that his behavior is not because his wife left him, but a manifestation of the grief he still feels over his mother's passing the previous year. You had gotten married to a woman he hardly knew because he wanted to make his mother happy before she died, and he was still unconsciously grieving when his wife's leaving him triggered his downward spiral. Bright Lights, Big City was an immediate hit, one of the few paperback-only books to ever hit the New York Times best-seller chart. Within two years, the novel had sold more than 300,000 copies, and spawned a tidal wave of like-minded twentysomething writers becoming published. Bret Easton Ellis might have been able to get his first novel Less Than Zero published somewhere down the line, but it was McInerney's success that would cause Simon and Schuster to try and duplicate Vintage's success, which they would. Same with Tana Janowitz, whose 1986 novel Slaves of New York was picked up by Crown Publishers looking to replicate the success of McInerney and Ellis, despite her previous novel, 1981's American Dad, being completely ignored by the book buying public at that time. While the book took moments from his life, it wasn't necessarily autobiographical. For example, McInerney had been married to a fashion model in the early 1980s, but they would meet while he attended Syracuse University in the late 1970s. And yes, McInerney would do a lot of blow during his divorce from his wife, and yes, he would get fired from The New Yorker because of the effects of his drug addiction. Yes, he was partying pretty hard during the times that preceded the writing of his first novel. And yes, he would meet a young woman who would kinda rescue him and get him on the right path.  But there were a number of details about McInerney's life that were not used for the book. Like how the author studied writing with none other than Raymond Carver while studying creative writing at Syracuse, or how his family connections would allow him to submit blind stories to someone like George Plimpton at the Paris Review, and not only get the story read but published. And, naturally, any literary success was going to become a movie at some point. For Bright Lights, it would happen almost as soon as the novel was published. Robert Lawrence, a vice president at Columbia Pictures in his early thirties, had read the book nearly cover to cover in a single sitting, and envisioned a film that could be “The Graduate” of his generation, with maybe a bit of “Lost Weekend” thrown in. But the older executives at the studio balked at the idea, which they felt would be subversive and unconventional. They would, however, buy in when Lawrence was able to get mega-producer Jerry Weintraub to be a producer on the film, who in turn was able to get Joel Schumacher, who had just finished filming St. Elmo's Fire for the studio, to direct, and get Tom Cruise, who was still two years away from Top Gun and megastardom, to play the main character. McInerney was hired to write the script, and he and Schumacher and Cruise would even go on club crawls in New York City to help inform all of the atmosphere they were trying to capture with the film. In 1985, Weintraub would be hired by United Artists to become their new chief executive, and Bright Lights would be one of the properties he would be allowed to take with him to his new home. But since he was now an executive, Weintraub would need to hire a new producer to take the reigns on the picture. Enter Sydney Pollack. By 1985, Sydney Pollack was one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. With films like They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Jeremiah Johnson, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman and Tootsie under his belt, Pollock could get a film made, and get it seen by audiences. At least, as a director. At this point in his career, he had only ever produced one movie, Alan Rudolph's 1984 musical drama Songwriter, which despite being based on the life of Willie Nelson, and starring Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Rip Torn, barely grossed a tenth of its $8m budget. And Pollock at that moment was busy putting the finishing touches on his newest film, an African-based drama featuring Meryl Streep and longtime Pollock collaborator Robert Redford. That film, Out of Africa, would win seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, in March 1986, which would keep Pollock and his producing partner Mark Rosenberg's attention away from Bright Lights for several months. Once the hype on Out of Africa died down, Pollock and Rosenberg got to work getting Bright Lights, Big City made. Starting with hiring a new screenwriter, a new director, and a new leading actor. McInerney, Schumacher and Cruise had gotten tired of waiting. Ironically, Cruise would call on Pollock to direct another movie he was waiting to make, also based at United Artists, that he was going to star in alongside Dustin Hoffman. That movie, of course, is Rain Man, and we'll dive into that movie another time. Also ironically, Weintraub would not last long as the CEO of United Artists. Just five months after becoming the head of the studio, Weintraub would tire of the antics of Kirk Kerkorian, the owner of United Artists and its sister company, MGM, and step down. Kerkorian would not let Weintraub take any of the properties he brought from Columbia to his new home, the eponymously named mini-major he'd form with backing from Columbia. With a new studio head in place, Pollock started to look for a new director. He would discover that director in Joyce Chopra, who, after twenty years of making documentaries, made her first dramatic narrative in 1985. Smooth Talk was an incredible coming of age drama, based on a story by Joyce Carol Oates, that would make a star out of then seventeen-year-old Laura Dern. UA would not only hire her to direct the film but hire her husband, Tom Cole, who brilliantly adapted the Oates story that was the basis for Smooth Talk, to co-write the screenplay with his wife. While Cole was working on the script, Chopra would have her agent send a copy of McInerney's book to Michael J. Fox. This wasn't just some random decision. Chopra knew she needed a star for this movie, and Fox's agent just happened to be Chopra's agent. That'd be two commissions for the agent if it came together, and a copy of the book was delivered to Fox's dressing room on the Family Ties soundstage that very day. Fox loved the book, and agreed to do the film. After Alex P. Keaton and Marty McFly and other characters he had played that highlighted his good looks and pleasant demeanor, he was ready to play a darker, more morally ambiguous character. Since the production was scheduled around Fox's summer hiatus from the hit TV show, he was in. For Pollock and United Artists, this was a major coup, landing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But the project was originally going to be Toronto standing in for New York City for less than $7m with a lesser known cast. Now, it was going to be a $15m with not only Michael J. Fox but also Keifer Sutherland, who was cast as Tad, the best friend of the formerly named You, who would now known as Jamie Conway, and would be shot on location in New York City. The film would also feature Phoebe Cates as Jamie's model ex-wife, William Hickey, Kelly Lynch. But there was a major catch. The production would only have ten weeks to shoot with Fox, as he was due back in Los Angeles to begin production on the sixth season of Family Ties.  He wasn't going to do that thing he did making a movie and a television show at the same time like he did with Back to the Future and Family Ties in 1984 and 1985. Ten weeks and not a day more. Production on the film would begin on April 13th, 1987, to get as much of the film shot while Fox was still finishing Family Ties in Los Angeles. He would be joining the production at the end of the month. But Fox never get the chance to shoot with Chopra. After three weeks of production, Chopra, her husband, and her cinematographer James Glennon, who had also shot Smooth Talk, were dismissed from the film. The suits at United Artists were not happy with the Fox-less footage that was coming out of New York, and were not happy with the direction of the film. Cole and Chopra had removed much of the nightlife and drug life storyline, and focused more on the development of Jamie as a writer. Apparently, no one at the studio had read the final draft of the script before shooting began. Cole, the screenwriter, says it was Pollock, the producer, who requested the changes, but in the end, it would be not the Oscar-winning filmmaker producing the movie that would be released but the trio of newer creatives. Second unit footage would continue to shoot around New York City while the studio looked for a new director. Ironically, days after Chopra was fired, the Directors Guild of America had announced that if they were not able to sign a new agreement with the Producers Guild before the end of the current contract on June 30th, the directors were going on strike. So now United Artists were really under the gun. After considering such filmmakers as Belgian director Ulu Grosbard, who had directed Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro in Falling in Love, and Australian director Bruce Beresford, whose films had included Breaker Morant and Tender Mercies, they would find their new director in James Bridges, whose filmography included such critical and financial success as The Paper Chase, The China Syndrome and Urban Cowboy, but had two bombs in a row in 1984's Mike's Murder and 1985's Perfect. He needed a hit, and this was the first solid directing offer in three years. He'd spend the weekend after his hiring doing some minor recasting, including bringing in John Houseman, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Paper Chase, as well as Swoosie Kurtz, Oscar-winning actors Jason Robards and Dianne Weist, and Tracy Pollan, Fox's co-star on Family Ties, who would shortly after the filming of Bright Lights become Mrs. Michael J. Fox, although in the film, she would be cast not as a love interest to her real-life boyfriend's character but as the wife of Keifer Sutherland's character. After a week of rewriting McInerney's original draft of the screenplay from the Schumacher days, principal photography re-commenced on the film. And since Bridges would be working with famed cinematographer Gordon Willis, who had shot three previous movies with Bridges as well as the first two Godfather movies and every Woody Allen movie from Annie Hall to The Purple Rose of Cairo, it was also decided that none of Chopra's footage would be used. Everything would start back on square one. And because of the impending Directors Guild strike, he'd have only thirty-six days, a tad over five weeks, to film everything. One of the lobby cards from the movie version of Bright Lights, Big City And they were able to get it all done, thanks to some ingenious measures. One location, the Palladium concert hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, would double as three different nightclubs, two discotheques and a dinner club. Instead of finding six different locations, which would loading cameras and lights from one location to another, moving hundreds of people as well, and then setting the lights and props again, over and over, all they would have to do is re-decorate the area to become the next thing they needed. Bridges would complete the film that day before the Directors Guild strike deadline, but the strike would never happen. But there would be some issue with the final writing credits. While Bridges had used McInerney's original screenplay as a jumping off point, the writer/director had really latched on to the mother's death as the emotional center of the movie. Bridges' own grandmother had passed away in 1986, and he found writing those scenes to be cathartic for his own unresolved issues. But despite the changes Bridges would make to the script, including adding such filmmaking tropes as flashbacks and voiceovers, and having the movie broken up into sections by the use of chapter titles being typed out on screen, the Writers Guild would give sole screenwriting credit to Jay McInerney. As post-production continued throughout the fall, the one topic no one involved in the production wanted to talk about or even acknowledge was the movie version of Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero that rival studio 20th Century Fox had been making in Los Angeles. It had a smaller budget, a lesser known filmmaker, a lesser known cast lead by Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz, and a budget half the size. If their film was a hit, that could be good for this one. And if their film wasn't a hit? Well, Bright Lights was the trendsetter. It was the one that sold more copies. The one that saw its author featured in more magazines and television news shows. How well did Less Than Zero do when it was released into theatres on November 6th, 1987? Well, you're just going to have to wait until next week's episode. Unless you're listening months or years after they were published, and are listening to episodes in reverse order. Then you already know how it did, but let's just say it wasn't a hit but it wasn't really a dud either. Bridges would spend nearly six months putting his film together, most of which he would find enjoyable, but he would have trouble deciding which of two endings he shot would be used. His preferred ending saw Jamie wandering through the streets of New York City early one morning, after a long night of partying that included a confrontation with his ex-wife, where he decides that was the day he was going to get his life back on track but not knowing what he was going to do, but the studio asked for an alternative ending, one that features Jamie one year in the future, putting the finishing touches on his first novel, which we see is titled… wait for it… Bright Lights, Big City, while his new girlfriend stands behind him giving her approval. After several audience test screenings, the studio would decide to let Bridges have his ending. United Artists would an April 1st, 1988 release date, and would spend months gearing up the publicity machine. Fox and Pollan were busy finishing the final episodes of that season's Family Ties, and weren't as widely available for the publicity circuit outside of those based in Los Angeles. The studio wasn't too worried, though. Michael J. Fox's last movie, The Secret of My Success, had been released in April 1987, and had grossed $67m without his doing a lot of publicity for that one, either. Opening on 1196 screens, the film would only manage to gross $5.13m, putting it in third place behind the previous week's #1 film, Biloxi Blues with Matthew Broderick, and the Tim Burton comedy Beetlejuice, which despite opening on nearly 200 fewer screens would gross nearly $3m more. But the reviews were not great. Decent. Respectful. But not great. The New York-based critics, like David Ansen of Newsweek and Janet Maslin of the Times, would be kinder than most other critics, maybe because they didn't want to be seen knocking a film shot in their backyard. But one person would actually would praise the film and Michael J. Fox as an actor was Roger Ebert. But it wouldn't save the film. In its second week, the film would fall to fifth place, with $3.09m worth of tickets sold, and it would drop all the way to tenth place in its third week with just under $1.9m in ticket sales. Week four would see it fall to 16th place with only $862k worth of ticket sales. After that, United Artists would stop reporting grosses. The $17m film had grossed just $16.1m. Bright Lights, Big City was a milestone book for me, in large part because it made me a reader. Before Bright Lights, I read occasionally, mainly John Irving, preferring to spend most of my free time voraciously consuming every movie I could. After Bright Lights, I picked up every Vintage Contemporary book I could get my hands on. One of the checklists of Vintage Contemporary books listed in the back of a Vintage Contemporary book. And one thing that really helped out was the literal checklist of other books available from that imprint in the back of each book. Without those distinct covers, I don't know if I would have discovered some of my favorite authors like Raymond Carver and Don DeLillo and Richard Ford and Richard Russo. Even after the Vintage Contemporary line shut down years later, I continued to read. I still read today, although not as much as I would prefer. I have a podcast to work on. I remember when the movie came out that I wasn't all that thrilled with it, and it would be nearly 35 years before I revisited it again, for this episode. I can't say it's the 80s as I remember it, because I had never been to New York City by that point in my life, I had never, and still never have, done anything like cocaine. And I had only ever had like two relationships that could be considered anything of substance, let alone marriage and a divorce. But I am certain it's an 80s that I'm glad I didn't know. Mainly because Jamie's 80s seemed rather boring and inconsequential. Fox does the best he can with the material, but he is not the right person for the role. As I watched it again, I couldn't help but wonder what if the roles were reversed. What if Keifer Sutherland played Jamie and Michael J. Fox played the friend? That might have been a more interesting movie, but Sutherland was not yet at that level of stardom. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week, when Episode 95, on the novel and movie version of Less Than Zero is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Bright Lights, Big City, both the book and the movie, as well as other titles in the Vintage Contemporary book series. The full cover, back and front, of Richard Ford's 1986 The Sportswriter, which would be the first of four novels about Frank Bascombe, a failed novelist who becomes a sportswriter. The second book in the series, 1995's Independence Day, would win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first of only two times the same book would win both awards the same year. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.  

On this episode, we travel back to 1984, and the days when a "young adult" novel included lots of drugs and partying and absolutely no sparkly vampires or dystopian warrior girls. We're talking about Jay McInerney's groundbreaking novel, Bright Lights, Big City, and its 1988 film version starring Michael J. Fox and Keifer Sutherland. ----more---- Hello, and welcome to The 80s Movies Podcast. I am your host, Edward Havens. Thank you for listening today. The original 1984 front cover for Jay McInerney's Bright Lights, Big City If you were a young adult in the late 1980s, there's a very good chance that you started reading more adult-y books thanks to an imprint called Vintage Contemporaries. Quality books at an affordable paperback price point, with their uniform and intrinsically 80s designed covers, bold cover and spine fonts, and mix of first-time writers and cult authors who never quite broke through to the mainstream, the Vintage Contemporary series would be an immediate hit when it was first launched in September 1984. The first set of releases would include such novels as Raymond Carver's Cathedral and Thomas McGuane's The Bushwhacked Piano, but the one that would set the bar for the entire series was the first novel by a twenty-nine year old former fact checker at the New Yorker magazine. The writer was Jay McInerney, and his novel was Bright Lights, Big City. The original 1984 front cover for Raymond Carver's Cathedral Bright Lights, Big City would set a template for twenty something writers in the 1980s. A protagonist not unlike the writer themselves, with a not-so-secret drug addiction, and often written in the second person, You, which was not a usual literary choice at the time. The nameless protagonist, You, is a divorced twenty-four year old wannabe writer who works as fact-checker at a major upscale magazine in New York City, for which he once dreamed of writing for. You is recently divorced from Amanda, an aspiring model he had met while going to school in Kansas City. You would move to New York City earlier in the year with her when her modeling career was starting to talk off. While in Paris for Fashion Week, Amanda called You to inform him their marriage was over, and that she was leaving him for another man. You continues to hope Amanda will return to him, and when it's clear she won't, he not only becomes obsessed with everything about her that left in their apartment, he begins to slide into reckless abandon at the clubs they used to frequent, and becoming heavily addicted to cocaine, which then affects his performance at work. A chance encounter with Amanda at an event in the city leads You to a public humiliation, which makes him starts to realize that his behavior is not because his wife left him, but a manifestation of the grief he still feels over his mother's passing the previous year. You had gotten married to a woman he hardly knew because he wanted to make his mother happy before she died, and he was still unconsciously grieving when his wife's leaving him triggered his downward spiral. Bright Lights, Big City was an immediate hit, one of the few paperback-only books to ever hit the New York Times best-seller chart. Within two years, the novel had sold more than 300,000 copies, and spawned a tidal wave of like-minded twentysomething writers becoming published. Bret Easton Ellis might have been able to get his first novel Less Than Zero published somewhere down the line, but it was McInerney's success that would cause Simon and Schuster to try and duplicate Vintage's success, which they would. Same with Tana Janowitz, whose 1986 novel Slaves of New York was picked up by Crown Publishers looking to replicate the success of McInerney and Ellis, despite her previous novel, 1981's American Dad, being completely ignored by the book buying public at that time. While the book took moments from his life, it wasn't necessarily autobiographical. For example, McInerney had been married to a fashion model in the early 1980s, but they would meet while he attended Syracuse University in the late 1970s. And yes, McInerney would do a lot of blow during his divorce from his wife, and yes, he would get fired from The New Yorker because of the effects of his drug addiction. Yes, he was partying pretty hard during the times that preceded the writing of his first novel. And yes, he would meet a young woman who would kinda rescue him and get him on the right path.  But there were a number of details about McInerney's life that were not used for the book. Like how the author studied writing with none other than Raymond Carver while studying creative writing at Syracuse, or how his family connections would allow him to submit blind stories to someone like George Plimpton at the Paris Review, and not only get the story read but published. And, naturally, any literary success was going to become a movie at some point. For Bright Lights, it would happen almost as soon as the novel was published. Robert Lawrence, a vice president at Columbia Pictures in his early thirties, had read the book nearly cover to cover in a single sitting, and envisioned a film that could be “The Graduate” of his generation, with maybe a bit of “Lost Weekend” thrown in. But the older executives at the studio balked at the idea, which they felt would be subversive and unconventional. They would, however, buy in when Lawrence was able to get mega-producer Jerry Weintraub to be a producer on the film, who in turn was able to get Joel Schumacher, who had just finished filming St. Elmo's Fire for the studio, to direct, and get Tom Cruise, who was still two years away from Top Gun and megastardom, to play the main character. McInerney was hired to write the script, and he and Schumacher and Cruise would even go on club crawls in New York City to help inform all of the atmosphere they were trying to capture with the film. In 1985, Weintraub would be hired by United Artists to become their new chief executive, and Bright Lights would be one of the properties he would be allowed to take with him to his new home. But since he was now an executive, Weintraub would need to hire a new producer to take the reigns on the picture. Enter Sydney Pollack. By 1985, Sydney Pollack was one of the biggest directors in Hollywood. With films like They Shoot Horses, Don't They?, Jeremiah Johnson, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman and Tootsie under his belt, Pollock could get a film made, and get it seen by audiences. At least, as a director. At this point in his career, he had only ever produced one movie, Alan Rudolph's 1984 musical drama Songwriter, which despite being based on the life of Willie Nelson, and starring Nelson, Kris Kristofferson and Rip Torn, barely grossed a tenth of its $8m budget. And Pollock at that moment was busy putting the finishing touches on his newest film, an African-based drama featuring Meryl Streep and longtime Pollock collaborator Robert Redford. That film, Out of Africa, would win seven Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director, in March 1986, which would keep Pollock and his producing partner Mark Rosenberg's attention away from Bright Lights for several months. Once the hype on Out of Africa died down, Pollock and Rosenberg got to work getting Bright Lights, Big City made. Starting with hiring a new screenwriter, a new director, and a new leading actor. McInerney, Schumacher and Cruise had gotten tired of waiting. Ironically, Cruise would call on Pollock to direct another movie he was waiting to make, also based at United Artists, that he was going to star in alongside Dustin Hoffman. That movie, of course, is Rain Man, and we'll dive into that movie another time. Also ironically, Weintraub would not last long as the CEO of United Artists. Just five months after becoming the head of the studio, Weintraub would tire of the antics of Kirk Kerkorian, the owner of United Artists and its sister company, MGM, and step down. Kerkorian would not let Weintraub take any of the properties he brought from Columbia to his new home, the eponymously named mini-major he'd form with backing from Columbia. With a new studio head in place, Pollock started to look for a new director. He would discover that director in Joyce Chopra, who, after twenty years of making documentaries, made her first dramatic narrative in 1985. Smooth Talk was an incredible coming of age drama, based on a story by Joyce Carol Oates, that would make a star out of then seventeen-year-old Laura Dern. UA would not only hire her to direct the film but hire her husband, Tom Cole, who brilliantly adapted the Oates story that was the basis for Smooth Talk, to co-write the screenplay with his wife. While Cole was working on the script, Chopra would have her agent send a copy of McInerney's book to Michael J. Fox. This wasn't just some random decision. Chopra knew she needed a star for this movie, and Fox's agent just happened to be Chopra's agent. That'd be two commissions for the agent if it came together, and a copy of the book was delivered to Fox's dressing room on the Family Ties soundstage that very day. Fox loved the book, and agreed to do the film. After Alex P. Keaton and Marty McFly and other characters he had played that highlighted his good looks and pleasant demeanor, he was ready to play a darker, more morally ambiguous character. Since the production was scheduled around Fox's summer hiatus from the hit TV show, he was in. For Pollock and United Artists, this was a major coup, landing one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But the project was originally going to be Toronto standing in for New York City for less than $7m with a lesser known cast. Now, it was going to be a $15m with not only Michael J. Fox but also Keifer Sutherland, who was cast as Tad, the best friend of the formerly named You, who would now known as Jamie Conway, and would be shot on location in New York City. The film would also feature Phoebe Cates as Jamie's model ex-wife, William Hickey, Kelly Lynch. But there was a major catch. The production would only have ten weeks to shoot with Fox, as he was due back in Los Angeles to begin production on the sixth season of Family Ties.  He wasn't going to do that thing he did making a movie and a television show at the same time like he did with Back to the Future and Family Ties in 1984 and 1985. Ten weeks and not a day more. Production on the film would begin on April 13th, 1987, to get as much of the film shot while Fox was still finishing Family Ties in Los Angeles. He would be joining the production at the end of the month. But Fox never get the chance to shoot with Chopra. After three weeks of production, Chopra, her husband, and her cinematographer James Glennon, who had also shot Smooth Talk, were dismissed from the film. The suits at United Artists were not happy with the Fox-less footage that was coming out of New York, and were not happy with the direction of the film. Cole and Chopra had removed much of the nightlife and drug life storyline, and focused more on the development of Jamie as a writer. Apparently, no one at the studio had read the final draft of the script before shooting began. Cole, the screenwriter, says it was Pollock, the producer, who requested the changes, but in the end, it would be not the Oscar-winning filmmaker producing the movie that would be released but the trio of newer creatives. Second unit footage would continue to shoot around New York City while the studio looked for a new director. Ironically, days after Chopra was fired, the Directors Guild of America had announced that if they were not able to sign a new agreement with the Producers Guild before the end of the current contract on June 30th, the directors were going on strike. So now United Artists were really under the gun. After considering such filmmakers as Belgian director Ulu Grosbard, who had directed Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro in Falling in Love, and Australian director Bruce Beresford, whose films had included Breaker Morant and Tender Mercies, they would find their new director in James Bridges, whose filmography included such critical and financial success as The Paper Chase, The China Syndrome and Urban Cowboy, but had two bombs in a row in 1984's Mike's Murder and 1985's Perfect. He needed a hit, and this was the first solid directing offer in three years. He'd spend the weekend after his hiring doing some minor recasting, including bringing in John Houseman, who won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his role in The Paper Chase, as well as Swoosie Kurtz, Oscar-winning actors Jason Robards and Dianne Weist, and Tracy Pollan, Fox's co-star on Family Ties, who would shortly after the filming of Bright Lights become Mrs. Michael J. Fox, although in the film, she would be cast not as a love interest to her real-life boyfriend's character but as the wife of Keifer Sutherland's character. After a week of rewriting McInerney's original draft of the screenplay from the Schumacher days, principal photography re-commenced on the film. And since Bridges would be working with famed cinematographer Gordon Willis, who had shot three previous movies with Bridges as well as the first two Godfather movies and every Woody Allen movie from Annie Hall to The Purple Rose of Cairo, it was also decided that none of Chopra's footage would be used. Everything would start back on square one. And because of the impending Directors Guild strike, he'd have only thirty-six days, a tad over five weeks, to film everything. One of the lobby cards from the movie version of Bright Lights, Big City And they were able to get it all done, thanks to some ingenious measures. One location, the Palladium concert hall on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, would double as three different nightclubs, two discotheques and a dinner club. Instead of finding six different locations, which would loading cameras and lights from one location to another, moving hundreds of people as well, and then setting the lights and props again, over and over, all they would have to do is re-decorate the area to become the next thing they needed. Bridges would complete the film that day before the Directors Guild strike deadline, but the strike would never happen. But there would be some issue with the final writing credits. While Bridges had used McInerney's original screenplay as a jumping off point, the writer/director had really latched on to the mother's death as the emotional center of the movie. Bridges' own grandmother had passed away in 1986, and he found writing those scenes to be cathartic for his own unresolved issues. But despite the changes Bridges would make to the script, including adding such filmmaking tropes as flashbacks and voiceovers, and having the movie broken up into sections by the use of chapter titles being typed out on screen, the Writers Guild would give sole screenwriting credit to Jay McInerney. As post-production continued throughout the fall, the one topic no one involved in the production wanted to talk about or even acknowledge was the movie version of Bret Easton Ellis's Less Than Zero that rival studio 20th Century Fox had been making in Los Angeles. It had a smaller budget, a lesser known filmmaker, a lesser known cast lead by Andrew McCarthy and Jami Gertz, and a budget half the size. If their film was a hit, that could be good for this one. And if their film wasn't a hit? Well, Bright Lights was the trendsetter. It was the one that sold more copies. The one that saw its author featured in more magazines and television news shows. How well did Less Than Zero do when it was released into theatres on November 6th, 1987? Well, you're just going to have to wait until next week's episode. Unless you're listening months or years after they were published, and are listening to episodes in reverse order. Then you already know how it did, but let's just say it wasn't a hit but it wasn't really a dud either. Bridges would spend nearly six months putting his film together, most of which he would find enjoyable, but he would have trouble deciding which of two endings he shot would be used. His preferred ending saw Jamie wandering through the streets of New York City early one morning, after a long night of partying that included a confrontation with his ex-wife, where he decides that was the day he was going to get his life back on track but not knowing what he was going to do, but the studio asked for an alternative ending, one that features Jamie one year in the future, putting the finishing touches on his first novel, which we see is titled… wait for it… Bright Lights, Big City, while his new girlfriend stands behind him giving her approval. After several audience test screenings, the studio would decide to let Bridges have his ending. United Artists would an April 1st, 1988 release date, and would spend months gearing up the publicity machine. Fox and Pollan were busy finishing the final episodes of that season's Family Ties, and weren't as widely available for the publicity circuit outside of those based in Los Angeles. The studio wasn't too worried, though. Michael J. Fox's last movie, The Secret of My Success, had been released in April 1987, and had grossed $67m without his doing a lot of publicity for that one, either. Opening on 1196 screens, the film would only manage to gross $5.13m, putting it in third place behind the previous week's #1 film, Biloxi Blues with Matthew Broderick, and the Tim Burton comedy Beetlejuice, which despite opening on nearly 200 fewer screens would gross nearly $3m more. But the reviews were not great. Decent. Respectful. But not great. The New York-based critics, like David Ansen of Newsweek and Janet Maslin of the Times, would be kinder than most other critics, maybe because they didn't want to be seen knocking a film shot in their backyard. But one person would actually would praise the film and Michael J. Fox as an actor was Roger Ebert. But it wouldn't save the film. In its second week, the film would fall to fifth place, with $3.09m worth of tickets sold, and it would drop all the way to tenth place in its third week with just under $1.9m in ticket sales. Week four would see it fall to 16th place with only $862k worth of ticket sales. After that, United Artists would stop reporting grosses. The $17m film had grossed just $16.1m. Bright Lights, Big City was a milestone book for me, in large part because it made me a reader. Before Bright Lights, I read occasionally, mainly John Irving, preferring to spend most of my free time voraciously consuming every movie I could. After Bright Lights, I picked up every Vintage Contemporary book I could get my hands on. One of the checklists of Vintage Contemporary books listed in the back of a Vintage Contemporary book. And one thing that really helped out was the literal checklist of other books available from that imprint in the back of each book. Without those distinct covers, I don't know if I would have discovered some of my favorite authors like Raymond Carver and Don DeLillo and Richard Ford and Richard Russo. Even after the Vintage Contemporary line shut down years later, I continued to read. I still read today, although not as much as I would prefer. I have a podcast to work on. I remember when the movie came out that I wasn't all that thrilled with it, and it would be nearly 35 years before I revisited it again, for this episode. I can't say it's the 80s as I remember it, because I had never been to New York City by that point in my life, I had never, and still never have, done anything like cocaine. And I had only ever had like two relationships that could be considered anything of substance, let alone marriage and a divorce. But I am certain it's an 80s that I'm glad I didn't know. Mainly because Jamie's 80s seemed rather boring and inconsequential. Fox does the best he can with the material, but he is not the right person for the role. As I watched it again, I couldn't help but wonder what if the roles were reversed. What if Keifer Sutherland played Jamie and Michael J. Fox played the friend? That might have been a more interesting movie, but Sutherland was not yet at that level of stardom. Thank you for joining us. We'll talk again next week, when Episode 95, on the novel and movie version of Less Than Zero is released. Remember to visit this episode's page on our website, The80sMoviePodcast.com, for extra materials about Bright Lights, Big City, both the book and the movie, as well as other titles in the Vintage Contemporary book series. The full cover, back and front, of Richard Ford's 1986 The Sportswriter, which would be the first of four novels about Frank Bascombe, a failed novelist who becomes a sportswriter. The second book in the series, 1995's Independence Day, would win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the first of only two times the same book would win both awards the same year. The 80s Movies Podcast has been researched, written, narrated and edited by Edward Havens for Idiosyncratic Entertainment. Thank you again. Good night.  

Episode 166Higher Ed AV PodcastLive from the Epiphan Video BoothNAB Show: April 24, 2022James KingAssistant Director of AV ServicesKirk Kerkorian School of Medicine at UNLV

“Life is a big craps game. I've got to tell you, it's all been fun.” This is a companion piece to my writeups of Kerkorian's story (part I, part II). Kirk Kerkorian was a self-made billionaire, aviator, entrepreneur, casino developer, and investor. It's one of my favorite rags-to-riches stories.

Kirk Kerkorian: Master of the Vegas Universe

The mob's longtime stranglehold on Las Vegas is weakening as the feds press down harder than ever. Just a few years ago, no one built anything on the Strip without gangster involvement. Now, as the late ‘80s unfold into the ‘90s, rising Vegas mega-developer Steve Wynn begins his rise to battle Kirk Kerkorian as the new kings of the Strip, and they don't need mob money or influence to do it.Wynn opens what will become the most financially successful casino resort in the world. And it's financed not by dark underworld funding, but by Wall Street as the corporate sector steps in to knock the mob from the world it created.Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/businesswars. Support us by supporting our sponsors! OurCrowd - You can learn more and get in early at OurCrowd.com/BW. The OurCrowd account is FREE!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Vegas is getting a bad rap in the press, thanks to the increasing spotlight on the mob's control. The legitimate powers in the halls of Nevada government need something—or someone--to spread a veneer of respectability over Sin City.That someone arrives. He's one of the most wealthy, powerful men on the planet. And he's also a loose cannon. As far as new governor Paul Laxalt is concerned, that's not a deal breaker.And rich developer Kirk Kerkorian has plans to build the biggest hotel on the planet. Plans that herald a new wave of building on the Vegas Strip. Listen to new episodes 1 week early and to all episodes ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App https://wondery.app.link/businesswars.Support us by supporting our sponsors!Masterworks - If you want to secure your spot, go to masterworks.io/bw.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

9 věcí, které nevíte o bondovce Zítřek nikdy neumírá: Proč se Anthony Hopkins vzdal role záporáka? Ve čtvrtek večer na COOL dorazí nadčasová bondovka Zítřek nikdy neumírá. Pierce Brosnan se v ní utká se zlým mediálním magnátem, který chce rozpoutat třetí světovou, jen aby jeho impérium mělo exkluzivně o čem psát. Příběh z dávných časů dodnes platí za, inu, překvapivě relevantní story, jejíž padouch je zlotřilým mixem Stevea Jobse a Billa Gatese. A o to paradoxnější je, že se bondovka Zítřek nikdy neumírá rodila za tuze velkých bolestí... 09) Po úspěchu Zlatého oka bylo zcela jisté, že vznikne i následující brosnanovská bondovka, tlak na vznik filmu ale přišel z nečekaného směru – nový majitel studia MGM, miliardář Kirk Kerkorian, si totiž usmyslel, že by měl další obří film studia vyjít před novou emisí akcií. Filmaři sami se nad tímto limitem ošívali, protože jim bylo jasné, že by výsledek mohl promhat pověst série právě po Zlatém oku. 08) Zároveň šlo o první bondovku, která se natáčela po smrti otce zakladatele všech bondovek, Alberta R. Broccoliho. I to se podepsalo na nejistotě, která se svazovala s natáčením filmu. A aby toho nebylo málo... 07) ... režisér Martin Campbell, který natočil právě Zlaté oko, odmítl nabídku na jeho “pokračování”. Dle svých slov se nechtěl vyprofilovat jako rejža, co natočil dvě bondovky po sobě. Vzpomeneme-li si na Spectre, možná nešlo o špatné uvažování! 06) Filmaři si také dlouho nebyli jistí, jaký příběh bude zvolen. Slavný spisovatel Donald Westlake v roce 1995 přišel se dvěma náměty, které se motaly kolem předání Hongkongu z rukou Britů do náruče Číny. V každém ze scénářů totiž záporák chtěl Hongkong zničit před plánovaným předáním v roce 1997! V MGM se ovšem následně podívali na kalendář a zjistili, že by na předání došlo pár měsíců před premiérou filmu, takže se nápad hodil do koše. 05) Jak později filmaři uvedli, během prvního natáčecího dne tak neměli scénář filmu zdaleka ještě hotový. Brosnan sám řekl, že měli “scénář funkční jen v některých oblastech”. Méně gentlemansky se k filmu vyjádřil Anthony Hopkins (!), který měl tehdy hrát záporáka Eliota Carvera. Hopkins totiž kvůli chaosu projekt opustil tři dny potom, co na roli kývnul (!!), a filmaři tak k vymýšlení děje museli zároveň uprostřed natáčení přeobsadit de facto druhou hlavní roli. 04) Čínská stopa nakonec leccos vynahradila díky prolnutí filmu s elementy z hongkongské akce. K filmařům se přidala nejen Michelle Yeoh, ale také kaskadérský tým Jackieho Chana. Žádný ze západních kaskadérů totiž nechtěl s Michelle točit její scény, protože se na place rvala jako skutečná bojovnice, nikoliv jen jako herečka. 03) Michelle Yeoh si sama odehrála i všechny své kaskadérské kousky a mezi povedené historky z natáčení patří třeba ta, při které hecovala motorkáře, aby ve scéně honičky motorky s vrtulníkem jel co nejrychleji, “protože jí pak lépe vlají vlasy”, což prý umocňuje divácký pocit z nebezpečné rychlosti. 02) Traduje se, že veselici na place završil režisér Roger Spottiswoode, který rovněž v motorkové scéně řekl jak Brosnanovi, tak Yeoh, že ten druhý si sedne na sedadlo spolujezdce. Výsledná “rvačka” o přední sedačku tak vlastně vůbec není hraná... 01) Zřejmě nejukrióznějším dokladem toho, že měla bondovka Zítřek nikdy neumírá štěstí svým tvůrcům navzdory, je její jméno. Filmaři původně v originále zvolili název “Tomorrow Never Knows” (Zítřek nikdy neví) inspirovaný stejnojmenným songem Beatles. Zároveň ale vybrainstormovali i několik jeho variací, mezi nimi i “Tomorrow Never Lies” (Zítřek nikdy nelže). Při faxování dokumentu ke schválení hlavounům v MGM ale vypadla tiskací barva, a výsledkem byl nejen název “Tomorrow Never Dies” (Zítřek nikdy neumírá), ale i prozření, že tahle variace zní lépe než ty, které se reálně vymyslely. https://coolmagazin.iprima.cz/filmy/vsechno-co-nevite-o-zitrek-nikdy-neumira   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What I learned from reading The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. Subscribe to listen to the rest of this episode and unlock every full length episode.

What I learned from reading The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became The Greatest Deal Maker In Capitalist History by William C. Rempel. Subscribe to continue listening and gain access to all full episodes. 

Part 3 of the #THESTRIP series about the development history of the Las Vegas Strip. In this series, we talk about how these mega resorts got build and how visionary casinos developers shaped the skyline of Las Vegas and turned this small town in the Nevada desert to one of the best travel destinations in the world. Welcome to the fabulous Las Vegas! Part 1: Jay Sarno & Caesars Palace (EPISODE 16) Part 2: Kirk Kerkorian, The International Hotel, & MGM Grand (EPISODE 18) FOLLOW US: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/cre-media Instagram: https://instagram.com/cre_mediagroup Podcast Audience LinkedIn Group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13884501/ Please contact us here: https://www.cre-media.com/contact Disclaimer: This commercial real estate podcast is intended for commercial real estate professionals, institutions, and investors only. The presenter(s) is(are) expressing his/her (their) view(s) and opinion(s) regarding economic conditions, financing programs and features. The views expressed in this show are for informational and educational purposes only, and do not imply suitability. Each situation is unique, and prior to investing, all programs should be reviewed independently for suitability. Views and opinions expressed are those of the presenters only and do not reflect the views of their employers. The information is not intended as investment advice, is not a recommendation about investing, and the presenters and their companies are not acting as your fiduciary.

*Premium Content Preview Patreon.com/360Vegas Intensely private, Kerkorian’s legacy may not be as well known as Steve Wynn’s but is unarguably one of the most important in Vegas history.  Some will criticize MGM as the shinning example of the faceless corporate machine that has taken over the city but without the corporate evolution of the market, the expansion of gaming around the United States, and the world for that matter, would have never been possible.  Corporations removed the negative stigmatism the gambling industry had for eons and made it a viable, bordering on respectable business model, now regarded as just another form of entertainment.

If you want to listen to the full episode you’ll need to upgrade to the Misfit feed. You will get access to every full episode. These episodes are available nowhere else.As a bonus you will also get lifetime access to my notebook that contains key insights from over 285 podcasts and lectures on entrepreneurship.The Misfit Feed has no ads, no intro music, no interviews, no fluff. Just ideas from the greatest entrepreneurial minds in history. Upgrade now.

The Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International takes us back to a time he thought the world was coming to an end. He opens up about how he has navigated challenges: the financial crisis, a shooting from an MGM property and how daily phone calls from the founder of MGM, Kirk Kerkorian, taught him an invaluable lesson in leadership.

The Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International takes us back to a time he thought the world was coming to an end. He opens up about how he has navigated challenges: the financial crisis, a shooting from an MGM property and how daily phone calls from the founder of MGM, Kirk Kerkorian, taught him an invaluable lesson in leadership.

The Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International takes us back to a time he thought the world was coming to an end. He opens up about how he has navigated challenges: the financial crisis, a shooting from an MGM property and how daily phone calls from the founder of MGM, Kirk Kerkorian, taught him an invaluable lesson in leadership.

The Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International takes us back to a time he thought the world was coming to an end. He opens up about how he has navigated challenges: the financial crisis, a shooting from an MGM property and how daily phone calls from the founder of MGM, Kirk Kerkorian, taught him an invaluable lesson in leadership.

“The Gambler” is William Rempel's latest book. It covers the rags-to-riches tale of Armenian icon Kirk Kerkorian, a poor immigrant’s son who made and lost billions on bold business ventures. Kerkorian became one of the most instrumental figures in Las Vegas as MGM Resorts' founder and impresario. He also parlayed his shrewd business moves in the airline, auto and movie industries, and donated hundred of millions of dollars to Armenian causes.

Actor Roman Mitichyan co-stars opposite Jennifer Aniston as a chauffeur/bodyguard in Apple’s new series, The Morning Show premiering on Friday, November 1. He also played a comic balloon vendor opposite Jim Carrey in the Kidding series and can next be seen in starring opposite Stephen Lang in Rogue Warfare from Saban Films opening in theaters this weekend and stars opposite Bruce Willis and Michael Chiklis in Lionsgate 10 Miles Gone now in theaters. He is also Bruce Willis’ detective partner in the upcoming feature, Trauma Center . Roman was also featured opposite Keanu Reeves in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum. He’s particularly proud of his work opposite Christian Bale and Oscar Isaac in director Terry George’s The Promise, a 2016 feature about the Armenian genocide that was financed by Kirk Kerkorian, in which Roman played a freedom fighter battling the Ottoman Turks. He made his motion picture debut opposite Olivier Gruner and Lorenzo Lamas in director Jalal Merhi’s prison fighting drama, The Circuit 2: The Final Punch (2002). The following year, he made his TV debut in the Threat Matrix series. Roman’s additional feature credits include: Felon, Double Duty, Takers, Warrior, Deadline, Argo, Betrayal, Extraction, Crossroads, John Wick, Furious 7, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, War Dogs, Message from the King, Cross Wars, Fury of the Fist and the Golden Fleece, Escape Plan 2: Hades, Vice, Shadow Wolves, American Skin, Cross 3 and All-Star Weekend. His TV series credits include: Dexter, Numb3rs, The Shield, Without a Trace, 24, CSI: Miami, Sons of Anarchy, The Division, Criminal Minds, Chuck, Vegas, CSI: NY, Revolution, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Scandal, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Scorpion, Castle, Person of Interest, Fear the Walking Dead, The Blacklist: Redemption, NCIS, Seal Team, Blue Bloods, Hawaii Five-0, NCIS: Los Angeles, 9-1-1, and Medical Police.

“The Gambler” is William Rempel's latest book. It covers the rags-to-riches tale of Armenian icon Kirk Kerkorian, a poor immigrant’s son who made and lost billions on bold business ventures. Kerkorian became one of the most instrumental figures in Las Vegas as MGM Resorts' founder and impresario. He also parlayed his shrewd business moves in the airline, auto and movie industries, and donated hundred of millions of dollars to Armenian causes.

From deceased billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's child support battle, to Roman Polanski's travails with the government, to a knock down, drag out fight over Winnie-the-Pooh, Tanya talks to three power lawyers about how bad court can get and how they responded when the other side didn't play fairly. With Attorneys Paul Derby, Chad Hummel and Michael Trope.

From deceased billionaire Kirk Kerkorian's child support battle, to Roman Polanski's travails with the government, to a knock down, drag out fight over Winnie-the-Pooh, Tanya talks to three power lawyers about how bad court can get and how they responded when the other side didn't play fairly. With Attorneys Paul Derby, Chad Hummel and Michael Trope. via Knit

In this episode of the Hotel Design Podcast we welcome design industry icon Paul Steelman. He’s been involved in some of the most influential casino resort and hotel projects around the globe. His company Steelman Partners, has been closely tied to the leaders of the casino resort business such as Steve Wynn, Sheldon Adelson and Kirk Kerkorian. Glenn and Paul touch on it all, from his start in a pre-gaming Atlantic City to a chance design the Golden Nugget and how that led to a seminal shift in what casinos would become. Paul talks about Steve Wynn being a visionary and how he got The Mirage launched with 1980s junk bonds with the help of the infamous Michael Milken and how the launch of this property changed everything about the Las Vegas casino resort scene. Plus, they talk about the pressure of creating what would become the model for the modern casino resort, what the Mirage design process was like and how much money the resort needed to make every day to survive. They even talk Siegfried and Roy the former Kokomo’s restaurant, which was a staple at Mirage. Steelman shares examples of why great design is essential and how it creates sense of place. Paul also reflects on the state of The Mirage today, and other stories from the early modern era in Las Vegas. Also, how Frank Sinatra and Steve Wynn’s relationship transformed the Golden Nugget both in Vegas and Atlantic City, how the Nugget the property reinvented east coast casino gaming. We even get an update on the current state of the city by the sea. The discussion moves onto the notion of creating an experience at “personal scale,” says Steelman and how that relates to properties and how that notion created design challenges at the original MGM Grand (now Bally’s), and how the casino forms the basis for a property’s energy and how other elements emanate from that energetic center. This conversation even examines the cruise ship like form of Showboat Atlantic City, Sol Kerzner and the creating of African casino resorts such as the famed Sun City. Also on tap, discussing designing casinos and resorts around the world from Dubai and Macau to Vietnam, South Africa and more. Here creating cultural relevance is critical and we learn about the process of how different cultures gamble differently and how that is reflected in design. After all, the American casino goer is very different than the prototypical player in Macau. In Macau, we hear about public casinos, VIP casinos and super VIP private casinos none of us will ever see. Plus, casino maverick Sheldon Adelson comes up as the conversation turns toward Venetian Macau.   Other famous names that pop up in the conversation include Bill Bennett and Stanley Ho, before the conversation turns toward developing ship-based casinos. Finally, Paul and Glenn discuss the current and future state of the casino resort experience including the importance of great design to creating social media moments, the incredible resurgence of downtown Las Vegas, and creating highly organized entertainment experiences. Paul and Glenn also discuss Steelman’s ownership in a slot machine company, and how that company is using technology in new ways to lure younger casino goers. They sum the conversation with Steelman’s reflections back on how he and others changed the design-scape of the casino gaming resort business.   Also, get your chance to receive a free book from Porcelanosa, which was launched in conjunction with the AIA (that’s the American Institute of Architects) who’s New York chapter run a program of architectural dialogues called Cocktails and Conversations. At these events, design world thought leaders present interviews on architecture’s place in the built environment, culture, master planning. They’re included in this book along with 50 great cocktail recipes, one in honor of each guest speaker. Interviews include titans such as Steven Holl, Charles Renfro, Daniel Libeskind, Deborah Berke, Todd Schliemann, Morris Adjmi, Michael Sorkin, the skyscrapers of William Pederen’s KPF that have changed forever the skylines of the world’s major cities and more. Send an email now for your chance to receive a complimentary copy:  info@hoteldesignpodcast.com Visit us at www.hoteldesignpodcast.com or email us at info@hoteldesignpodcast.com.  

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In this vapid and meandering installment of the Vital Vegas Podcast, we dive headlong into everything Vegas! Mostly, we rely on a fascinating interview with Christina Binkley, author of "Winner Takes All," a New York Times bestselling book about Steve Wynn, Gary Loveman and Kirk Kerkorian. How we got someone so cool to be on our show, we'll never know. There's also the usual dreck including Vegas news and a listicle we spent approximately four minutes on. Listen, anyway! Like you have anything better to do.  

061 | Sean Roach is the Sales Hunter Sean Roach has built an entrepreneurial empire helping businesses solve problems and realize their potential. Using his expertise in internet marketing and organizational turnaround, Sean provides practical advice on how both small and large businesses can expand their reach and reposition themselves after inevitable changes in business and technology. At the individual level, Sean urges people to take action and make their dreams a reality by giving them the tools to pursue what they want. His best-selling business book, Get Off Your Duff and Make Your Own Damn Cheese!, encourages readers to make success happen for themselves—just as he did! Have you ever wondered why some people absolutely LOVE going out and hunting for sales, and why some people prefer to hang back and wait for sales to come to you? This week’s guest, Sean Roach, has an answer for you! There are two different sales personalities that make some people love going out on the hunt for sales and others who like to hang back and wait for the sales. They’re typically referred to as sales Hunter and Sales Farmer, respectively. Sean Roach is someone who loves going out and searching for the sale. He has narrowed his niche so much, that it becomes easy to search out the people who he can effectively service. Sean believes that the longer you’re in the sales industry, the more likely you are to become a Hunter, but if you’re a Farmer, all is not lost. In this episode, Sean shares how to take advantage of not only being a sales Hunter, but a Sales Farmer, as well. Stop trying to change your sales personality! Accept who you are and then watch the sales start to roll in. If you’re ready to start selling in a way that matches your personality, then this episode of Success Unfiltered is a MUST LISTEN! Enjoy, and thank you for listening and tuning into Success Unfiltered! To share your thoughts: Email The Pitch Queen @ hello@thepitchqueen.com Ask a question over at www.ThePitchQueen.com Share Success Unfiltered on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, & LinkedIn To help the show out: Please leave an honest review on iTunes. Your ratings and reviews really help and I read each one. Subscribe to the show on iTunes. Special thanks goes out to Sean Roach for taking the time to chat with Michelle. Be sure to join us next week for our next new episode! P.S. Good Help Is Hard To Find...But NOT Impossible! If you’re a solopreneur who is ready to start building a team but you’re afraid of letting go of control, I’ve got you covered! Find the RIGHT people to treat your business like it’s their own. Check out my FREE guide “Building Your All-Star Team: A Guide To Hiring The RIGHT People To Skyrocket Your Business” and find the RIGHT person to help take your business to new places! Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode: Michelle introduces Sean Roach. Sean shares a quick introduction of himself. At the age of 36, Sean was diagnosed with Dyslexia and has overcome it with success. Sean was placed in special classes because of his Dyslexia but at the same time was giving Rotary speeches and was an excellent swimmer too. Right out of college, Sean began working with a mortgage company where the guy who was to be his mentor was not ever attentive, so Sean kept hearing NO after NO. Sean shares what kept him going while hearing all these NO’s. Sean’s experience with real estate went from working with a mortgage company, to getting into home buyer training and would bring leads in. To then starting his own real estate division and brought in his own real estate agents. Are you familiar with the term “why kid?” Sean shares his definition. Sean was pummeled with NO’s before his first YES when he was in the mortgage industry. He shares a story of how some real estate agents were using him for free Starbucks! When Lyn, a realtor, gave Sean his first loan, he had an uphill battle because VA loans were gone and the guy he was working with didn’t have any credit. With his perseverance, Sean was able to get the loan through. He shares the full story in this episode! There are two types of salespeople in the world, Hunters and Farmers - Sean explains both. Sean’s college thesis helped him to realize that niching down was the most important thing to do in sales and in business. As an intern, Sean went with the MGM community to Japan to try and convince them to allow Kirk Kerkorian to purchase their land. Sean tells the FULL story, and it’s one you don’t want to miss. “Go after the people who want to hear what you have to say, and stop caring what others think.” ~ Sean Roach Sean shares what he would tell his younger self. Connect with Sean Roach: Sean’s Website Sean’s Book Facebook Twitter LinkedIn YouTube P.S. Good Help Is Hard To Find...But NOT Impossible! If you’re a solopreneur who is ready to start building a team but you’re afraid of letting go of control, I’ve got you covered! Find the RIGHT people to treat your business like it’s their own. Check out my FREE guide “Building Your All-Star Team: A Guide To Hiring The RIGHT People To Skyrocket Your Business” and find the RIGHT person to help take your business to new places! Music produced by Deejay-O  www.iamdeejayo.com  

Think about what we value today. What we give rewards for as a society? Now imagine, if you can, a business tycoon who is modest and filled with generosity. Who could gamble a million dollars on one roll of the dice, but whose story is a true Horatio Alger, rags to riches story. A man whose word is his bond. Who eschews self promotion, yet operated in Las Vegas and Hollywood. A man who saw the importance ot the larger world, and helping others in it, while still appreciating all that is American. A man who knew how to fly, but never flew too close to the sun This is, in part, the story of Kirk Kerkorian. It's a story told by William Rempel, in The Gambler: How Penniless Dropout Kirk Kerkorian Became the Greatest Deal Maker in Capitalist History. My conversation with William Rempel:

This time on the show: – Kirk Kerkorian dies – Loveman out – SLS poop + SLS poop finances – Bellagio + Apple Watch – Alon Las Vegas – Booze Fuels Vegas – Trump for President – Macau & Wynn … Continue reading →

Chinamaniac and Drexel co-host. Brandon finds himself evacuated from Caesars and later food-poisoned. Druff's prediction of "my nightmare" at WSOP $3k Limit event comes true. Drexel breaks PFA WSOP curse by cashing $1500 HORSE event. Dutch company claims it makes marked WSOP cards, Ty Stewart disputes. There are loud complaints about Modiano WSOP playing cards. Global Poker Index tried to stiff three players out of Main Event seats they won. Phil Hellmuth wins 14th bracelet, Drexel fouls him on the basketball court. Newly out lesbian Vanessa Rousso to appear on CBS' Big Brother TV show. Daniel Negreanu tells Druff that Bryan Micon's troubles are "karma". There is a new scripted poker drama coming soon. bigdogpckt5s (Casey Jarzabek) banned from Twitch for "accidentally" watching porn. David "Viffer" Peat is engaged to a surprisingly pretty girl. Las Vegas pioneer Kirk Kerkorian dies, we talk about old Vegas stories & Kirk's impact. Erick Lindgren files for 2nd bankruptcy. Pokerstars breaks up massive PLO bot/collusion ring, but only after 18 million hands. Pokerstars likely to change third-party-software policy. We lament the heartbreak of lack of plugs at hotels, ignored Do-Not-Disturb signs, and non-fitted sheets on the bed. Forum Wars calls in to talk about his visit to Vegas.

Chinamaniac and Drexel co-host. Brandon finds himself evacuated from Caesars and later food-poisoned. Druff's prediction of "my nightmare" at WSOP $3k Limit event comes true. Drexel breaks PFA WSOP curse by cashing $1500 HORSE event. Dutch company claims it makes marked WSOP cards, Ty Stewart disputes. There are loud complaints about Modiano WSOP playing cards. Global Poker Index tried to stiff three players out of Main Event seats they won. Phil Hellmuth wins 14th bracelet, Drexel fouls him on the basketball court. Newly out lesbian Vanessa Rousso to appear on CBS' Big Brother TV show. Daniel Negreanu tells Druff that Bryan Micon's troubles are "karma". There is a new scripted poker drama coming soon. bigdogpckt5s (Casey Jarzabek) banned from Twitch for "accidentally" watching porn. David "Viffer" Peat is engaged to a surprisingly pretty girl. Las Vegas pioneer Kirk Kerkorian dies, we talk about old Vegas stories & Kirk's impact. Erick Lindgren files for 2nd bankruptcy. Pokerstars breaks up massive PLO bot/collusion ring, but only after 18 million hands. Pokerstars likely to change third-party-software policy. We lament the heartbreak of lack of plugs at hotels, ignored Do-Not-Disturb signs, and non-fitted sheets on the bed. Forum Wars calls in to talk about his visit to Vegas.

This week the girls review another book about Las Vegas called Winner Takes All, Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, Gary Loveman, And The Race To Own Las Vegas by Christina Binkley a Wall Street Journal writer who has covered Las Vegas for ten years.

On July 7 General Motors' board of directors voted to study the pros and cons of entering into a three-way alliance with automakers Nissan and Renault. The alliance was proposed by GM shareholder Kirk Kerkorian who sees it as a way to revive the struggling company and expedite the restructuring taking place under GM's current chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. Another central figure in this drama is Carlos Ghosn CEO of Nissan and Renault who is credited with turning around Nissan and who is seen by Kerkorian and others as holding the keys to GM's future. What would a three-way alliance mean for GM and for the auto industry in general? See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.