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I'm reading a biography of gangster Bugsy Siegel, and one of the first things I learned was why he hated the nickname "Bugsy." I just thought it was a meaningless name, like Biff. But - although I know quite a bit of historical slang - I didn't know that it was a synonym for crazy. As in "crazy as a bedbug." He acquired it due to his hot temper.
Fun reading. Sadly, it shows how little regard Warren Beatty's movie had for facts.
I'm reading a biography of gangster Bugsy Siegel, and one of the first things I learned was why he hated the nickname "Bugsy." I just thought it was a meaningless name, like Biff. But - although I know quite a bit of historical slang - I didn't know that it was a synonym for crazy. As in "crazy as a bedbug." He acquired it due to his hot temper.
Fun reading. Sadly, it shows how little regard Warren Beatty's movie had for facts.
I'm sure the movie got a lot of things wrong.
What it got right was that Siegel got the mob to finance his plans to build the first real casino, The Flamingo, in Las Vegas. It would result in Siegel's murder. Siegel was ahead of his time and was able to see that people would drive up from Los Angeles to gamble and see entertainment. So, he sold the mob on giving him a $1 million to build the Flamingo. The first thing that went wrong was he picked a time in 1940's when the building trades were overwhelmed with construction projects and there were shortages of building materials. He immediately experienced cost overruns. Soon, he was back asking his mobster friends for additional loans. They went along and gave him more money. Than rumors began that Siegel and his girlfriend, Virginia Hill, were skimming money for themselves from the loans. This was not received well by the mob bosses. The leaders held a meeting in Havana, Cuba which was not a communist country at that time. They decided Siegel would be allowed to complete his casino. If he could make it run profitably from the beginning they would let him repay his loans over time and continue as manager. If the casino flopped, they would have a hitman take care of Siegel. The casino opened and did poorly in the beginning. Siegel was subsequently murdered in his home by a hitman with a rifle in his home in Bel Air, California.
I get the feeling that it's not a matter of Beatty getting things wrong - more that he cherry-picked a few things and then spun things to make him look good. As I recall, there isn't a single scene in the movie that shows what a frightening temper he had.
But at the same time, it didn't really show how charming and well-liked he was in Hollywood. He wanted to make a play for Jean Harlow, who wasn't interested, and when he tried to get Jimmy Stewart to make his case, it turned out that Stewart was apparently the only one who hated Bugsy and made it very plain.
Trivia - inspiration for the character Moe Greene in The Godfather (movie and novel).
Moe Greene's death, shot in the eye, is now known in the underworld as "The Moe Greene Special" and is related to how Siegal met his death - shot in the head but the pressure of the shot blew out his left eye out of it's socket.
Trivia - inspiration for the character Moe Greene in The Godfather (movie and novel). Moe Greene's death, shot in the eye, is now known in the underworld as "The Moe Greene Special" and is related to how Siegal met his death - shot in the head but the pressure of the shot blew out his left eye out of it's socket.
Yup, it's in a book - but it's odd that out of all possible trivia, you choose that gruesome item.
A far more fun Hollywood connection is that Bugsy was unsuccessfully pursuing Jean Harlow, who wasn't interested. Bugsy tried enlist Jimmy Stewart's help, but Stewart was just about the only Hollywood figure who openly despised Bugsy, and told him to buzz off, in no uncertain terms.
Siegel wanted to bed her and approached Jimmy Stewart, who had previously had a fling with her.
‘Jean’s a good friend of yours,’ Siegel told the actor. ‘How about you tell her to go out with me.’ To which Stewart pluckily responded, ‘You go to hell.’ https://celebritywshow.com/celebriti...lywood-adored/
I did the "Haunted Las Vegas" tour about ten years ago. Bugsy's ghost supposedly is seen in the courtyard from time to time at 3 or 4 a.m.
In more verifiable history, Bugsy had access from his apartment in the hotel to an underground garage with an exit some distance away in case he ever needed to escape quickly.
I'm reading a biography of gangster Bugsy Siegel, and one of the first things I learned was why he hated the nickname "Bugsy." I just thought it was a meaningless name, like Biff. But - although I know quite a bit of historical slang - I didn't know that it was a synonym for crazy. As in "crazy as a bedbug." He acquired it due to his hot temper.
Fun reading. Sadly, it shows how little regard Warren Beatty's movie had for facts.
Biographical dramas always prioritize ticket sales over historical accuracy. They are not mean to be documentaries. Otherwise, we'd call them documentaries.
This wouldn't be a problem, except for people who think that such films are sources of historical information. But that's on them, not the filmmakers.
I'm reading a biography of gangster Bugsy Siegel, and one of the first things I learned was why he hated the nickname "Bugsy." I just thought it was a meaningless name, like Biff. But - although I know quite a bit of historical slang - I didn't know that it was a synonym for crazy. As in "crazy as a bedbug." He acquired it due to his hot temper.
Fun reading. Sadly, it shows how little regard Warren Beatty's movie had for facts.
I bet you wouldn't have called him "Bugsy" to his face though
I'm reading a biography of gangster Bugsy Siegel, and one of the first things I learned was why he hated the nickname "Bugsy." I just thought it was a meaningless name, like Biff. But - although I know quite a bit of historical slang - I didn't know that it was a synonym for crazy. As in "crazy as a bedbug." He acquired it due to his hot temper.
Fun reading. Sadly, it shows how little regard Warren Beatty's movie had for facts.
Many mobster nicknames were very meaningful, like "Ice Pick Willie," "Mad Dog," "The Grim Reaper," "The Butcher," and "Whack-Whack." I don't think that "The Wizard of Odds" or "Sam Sings in the Night" quite balanced the scales.
I read Mickey Cohen's autobiography, in which he was very reticent about Siegel's murder. After all, he was Siegel's friend and enforcer, and ran things in LA while Siegel was starting The Golden Nugget News Service in LV. But he did admit to enjoying his new responsibilities once Siegel was out of the picture.
Why was Siegel gunned down? For starters:
Although the Flamingo was financed with bank loans, money from his partner, Wilkerson, money from friends like George Raft, $100K from Meyer Lansky, $200K from Howard Hughes, and $195K of Siegel's own money, Benny still had to ask the mob for money to complete the construction - originally borrowing $300K and topping out at about $6 million. The grand opening was a disaster, and perhaps the mob bosses thought that they would have a better chance of getting a return on their investment with Siegel out of the picture.
Siegel and Tony Cornero* operated a fleet of floating casinos and they refused to hand over part of the profits to Jack Dragna, head of the LA syndicate.
Siegel owed the Outfit $25K in connection with the wire service that he and Tony Cornero* fronted for the mob. After the mob took control of the Continental Wire Service, and Siegel's Trans-America News Service was no longer needed, Siegel not only refused to shut it down, but he demanded $2 million in return.
Moe Dalitz, bootlegger, casino operator, and one of Virginia Hill's early paramours, warned Siegel about his rough treatment of Hill, yet Siegel continued to beat her until it was so bad that she left for Europe to recover and perhaps get plastic surgery.
There may be other theories mentioned in Benny's bio that I'm not aware of.
* Tony Cornero had the original vision of a carpeted casino away from the downtown LV sawdust joints. He built the Meadows in 1931, but it closed in a couple of years. In 1954 he began construction on the Stardust but died before it was completed.
I get the feeling that it's not a matter of Beatty getting things wrong - more that he cherry-picked a few things and then spun things to make him look good. As I recall, there isn't a single scene in the movie that shows what a frightening temper he had.
But at the same time, it didn't really show how charming and well-liked he was in Hollywood. He wanted to make a play for Jean Harlow, who wasn't interested, and when he tried to get Jimmy Stewart to make his case, it turned out that Stewart was apparently the only one who hated Bugsy and made it very plain.
Most movies do not ever have the same details as the book.
I rarely can read the book once I've seen a movie but one most recently ended up with the weirdest connections in the world. The writer and I talk.
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