"Cloud Nine" & "New Frontier"

[Bapopik at AOL.COM]

The phrase "new frontier" was in the air in early 1960.
--William Safire, SAFIRE'S NEW POLITICAL DICTIONARY, pg. 492.

Space--the final frontier.
--Priceline.com spokesman.


    A later "cloud nine" in Playboy may turn out to be the earliest one yet.
>From PLAYBOY, March 1960, "Las Vegas," pg. 72, col. 2:

     In 1955 the owners decided that the Old West was not here to stay and
built the futuristic New Frontier, something right out of Flash Gordon just a
couple of hundred feet down the road.
    (...)(col. 3--ed.) The New Frontier's impressario is Bill Miller, creator
of Coney Island's Luna Park and New York's late Riviera.  He is now firmly
settled in what he calls "the present entertainment capital of the world."
   (...)  The New Frontier lounge is called Cloud Nine and Mr. Billy Eckstine
works here, as do the Dukes of Dixieland, Frances Faye and T. C. Jones, the
female impersonator.

     Ah!  Was that New Frontier "Cloud Nine" there in 1955?
    The Playboy article features The Clan (the Rat Pack) and also has:

Pg. 76, col. 1--Twin Lakes gets a bunch of girls down for "the cure"
(divorce)...  (Not in RHHDAS--ed.)
Pg. 76, col. 3--These are "grind joints."  Here the addicts gather and the
nickels, dimes and quarters grind their way into the owners' pockets.  (See
RHHDAS entry--ed.)

     Life magazine did a story on Las Vegas in its 20 June 1955 issue.  The
New Frontier is there in its town drawing on page 26, which also has this in
column one:

GLOSSARY OF GAMBLERS' JARGON

HOUSE: Management of gambling club
APRON-MAN: A croupier
BOX MAN: Employee who checks on crap table payoffs
CLIPPING: Cheating
CRIMPING: Marking cards by bending
SOFT PLAY: Stupid betting
CREEP: Loudmouthed gambler
STIFF: Winner who doesn't tip
GARLIC: A "stiff"
GEORGE: Opposite of "stiff"
CLAIM AGENT: Player who picks up others' bets
HIGH ROLLER: Big bettor
JAZZY CHASS: Winner trying to get richer
PIGEON: Loser taking bigger chances