Monday, April 26, 2004 | 8:24 a.m.
The Nevada State Museum and Historical Society chose an odd theme for its new exhibit , "Cool Stuff From the Back Room."
There is no theme.
At least, certainly not in the traditional sense, said Tom Dyer, curator of events for the museum.
"A lot of times things need a context, like if we were to put something in a permanent gallery telling a larger story and there are certain artifacts that are in the collection that help bolster the point," he said. "We decided to put artifacts on exhibit that don't necessarily fit together."
For example, an Al Capone pocket watch the mobster gave as a token of friendship to Las Vegas nightclub owner Frank Detra, with a large display housing cowboy actor Rex Bell's silver saddle close by.
Or various 1950s memorabilia from vanished casinos, such as the Dunes, Flamingo, Silver Slipper and Royal Nevada, as well as a century-old diving helmet.
Throw in a Sega Mad Magazine slot machine from 1962; an astronaut costume from rotund comedian Nancy Austin, which she wore on a "Carol Burnett Show" episode in 1969; the city's first Soap Box Derby winner from 1958; and an Oscar Goodman bobblehead doll distributed at a Las Vegas 51s game in August 2002 and ... well, you get the idea.
"Most of the exhibits I've ever worked on had a theme, like Las Vegas during World War II or musical instruments," said Dave Millman, curator of history and collections at the Nevada State Museum and Historical Society.
"But this exhibit didn't have a theme. It is just things we thought were cool that people didn't have a chance to see and we thought that people would enjoy seeing."
Millman said he also made sure to include enough variety in the exhibit to offer a broad appeal.
"Some clothing ... mineral specimens ... photographs. I even tried to go with a little humor with the bobblehead doll of the mayor," he said. "I tried to pick something that everybody could relate to.
"I also tried to pick things that were of a real interest (locally). A lot of people go to the Judy Bayley Theatre (at University of Nevada, Las Vegas), but have no idea who Judy Bayley was."
For the record, Bayley was the city's first female owner of a major Strip resort. The exhibit features a fur coat and a hot-pink formal dress covered by paillettes and rhinestones weighing 7 pounds and worn by Bayley, who, the museum notes, "loved to make an 'entrance' in this type of gown."
While "Cool Stuff" is a wide-ranging collection from the museum's archives, there were many artifacts left out because of limited space.
The hall housing the exhibit isn't much -- about 600 square feet. Meanwhile, the museum's other space is in use by permanent exhibits and the "Neon Unplugged" show, which concludes at the end of June.
"If there was any challenge at all (in putting the exhibit together), we had limited space," Millman said. "I would have liked to put some toys that children would have seen, put out more photographs showing more of the development of the city, more clothing, more railroad materials ... but space precluded that.
"I think the key is to show representative examples of the major themes and letting the artifacts speak for themselves."
Other "cool" artifacts on display:
A light-blue dice lamp and nude woman metallic statue ashtray from the Pair-O-Dice nightclub and resort.
Various newspapers throughout Las Vegas history, including a Nov. 2, 1864, New York Times cover story announcing Nevada's statehood, as well as the first mention of Las Vegas in print, the John C. Fremont report to Congress in 1845: "We encamped at a camping ground called las vegas -- a term which the Spaniards use to signify fertile or marshy plains."
Hand-drawn maps of the turn-of-the-20th-century Las Vegas, as well as a miniature model of the city's red-light district early in the 1900s.
"Best by a Damsite" Coke bottle distributed from 1936 to 1941 to cash in on the newly completed Hoover Dam.
Score sheet and program from the New York Giants exhibition game against the Cleveland Indians at Cashman field in 1954.
Sanitation kit for a fallout bomb shelter -- featuring toilet paper, gloves, a toilet seat and a water-dispensing siphon-spout -- from the Sands.
Work on the "Cool Things" exhibit began in September, and it took several months for all of the displays to be built by museum personnel.
"Cool Things From the Back Room" runs through January, when it will be taken down to make way for the museum's celebration of Las Vegas' centennial anniversary.
In the meantime, Millman and others at the museum said they hope anyone who sees the exhibit of either rarely or never-before-seen artifacts will be motivated to look for pieces of Las Vegas history of their own.
"We wanted to get people to think, 'Well, I've got stuff like that, maybe I should donate it,' " Millman said. "Hopefully, they'll get it out of their spare rooms and donate it to the museum."
"Just call us and come by and we'll do the rest," he added. "It's a simple process. It's also a tax write-off as well as the reward of contributing to the greater community."
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