Coin Slot Magazine - #069 - 1980 - November [International Arcade Museum]
Gambling Ships
In The Movies
BY STEPHEN P. ALPERT
Incidental to my research of the gambling ships off
southern California back in the 1920s to 1940s, I kept a
look out for old movies related to the gambling ships,
hopefully to get a more vivid picture of what they were like,
or maybe even see actual scenes of the ships.
The first movie I learned about that had to do with
gambling ships is the 1943 film "Mr. Lucky" starring Cary
Grant. I heard from an historian who researched Califor
nia's gambling ships and especially the career of Tony
Cornero (including obtaining a copy of the entire FBI file
casino looks authentic. The S.S. CASINO could have been
used, as the life saver floats read "Casino." But all far shots
of the entire ship with its huge "Casino Del Mar" name in
lightbulbs are of a small model in a water tank.
I am not sure if the casino scenes were actually filmed on
board a real gambling ship. The large number of gaming
tables (blackjack, roulette, chuck-a-luck, big wheels, etc.)
is impressive and there's also a bar, dancefloor, and tables.
And there are no drapes on the walls! It seems that
whenever Hollywood fakes a casino, drapery is almost
always used to cover about half or more of the walls, or as
on Tony Cornero) that "Mr. Lucky" was based on Tony
the backdrops. Almost without exception, it seems to be a
Comero's life story. When I finally saw the film on TV, it
standard operating procedure. Check it out for yourself
whenever you see a casino scene in a movie or TV show.
And usually the less convincing the casino set, the more
prominent the drapes.
However, in this movie the casino has a suspiciously
small number of slot machines present. Two uprights and
a bell machine on a stand are near each other in one area,
and a DEWEY upright is near the bar. That's all there is.
The three adjacent machines are being played by
customers, or so it seems. Usually on fake casino sets the
was nothing of the sort.
Cary Grant operates a gambling ship (never seen) that
cruises from New York City to the Caribbean. All the
action takes place in New York City where Grant meets a
girl
working
for
an organization
raising
money and
supplies for the war effort. He volunteers
his help,
convinces them to sponsor a gambling party event (with
equipment loaned from his ship), and plans to skim off
about 98% of the take by using cash boxes with false
bottoms. At the finale he has a change of heart.
Nothing at all in this film relates to Tony Cornero or his
career. This film is probably the basis for the old "Mr.
Lucky" TV series, which I've never seen. The film "Mr.
Lucky" reportedly was rertiade in 1950 under the name
"Gambling House." This film is probably so obscure and
bad, that I have little hope of ever seeing it.
By far the best film concerning gambling ships is a 1933
picture appropriately titled "Gambling Ship," starring
none other than Cary Grant. By total surprise, I learned of
slots are just unworking props ignored by the customers,
who all crowd around the live action tables.
A Gambling ship plays an incidental role in the 1935 film
"Waterfront Lady." Some of the action takes place on a
gambling-night club "private yacht" (not named) off San
Pedro, Calif. The owner tells young Jack Albertson that
he's going to be a partner in the enterprise. Minutes later
the owner accidentally shoots a rival in his office in self
defense; at the same time police are raiding the ship and
hear the shot. Jack takes the gun and jumps overbaord,
this film last March by seeing it listed in TV Guide at 2:30
because he knows that the cops, who've been trying to put
AM, with the description "Cary Grant in a predictable but
entertaining action yarn about gangsters running gambl
ing ships off the coast of California."
In this drama-comedy Paramount picture, Cary Grant
away the owner for a long time, would never believe what
plays Ace Corbin, a Chicago mobster framed for murder
by rival Pete Manning. A jury acquits him and he abandons
everyone is innocent. Jack and Ann announce they are
his mob to go straight. On a train to Long Beach, Calif., he
shore dinners. The yacht owner is invited into the business
falls in love with the girlfriend of Joe Burke, the boss of the
Casino Del Mar gambling ship. The ship is going under
and he thinks it's a swell idea. Pretty sappy stuff.
financially due to the tactics of a rival ship (The Palace)
few scenes in the small casino show only a few gaming
actually happened. He hides out nearby on the waterfront,
falls in love with a neighbor (Ann Rutherford), and
eventually gets caught by the police, who suddenly realize
going to open a waterfront restaurant serving the best
An actual gambling ship was not used in the filming. The
run by Pete Manning and his gag. Corbin becomes half
tables (blackjack, chuck-a-luck) and a fleeting glimpse of
partner in The Casino and takes over Manning's water
an old upright slot machine partially visible behind the
taxis. Manning retaliates by fire-bombing The Casino. The
crowd of people (nobody's playing it, as usual). Hand
some leading man Jack Albertson is totally un
recognizable from his appearance in recent years ("Chico
om
m.c
next day Manning and Henchmen board The Casino,
m: useu
o
r
f
-m
ed
of the ship.
oad .arcade
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n
It appears
the film
w contains footage actually filmed
Dow that //w
w and
at a water taxi : dock
on one of the real gambling ships.
p
htt of people boarding the water taxis (a sign says
The scenes
fatally shoot Burke, and wound Corbin. A violent storm
washes Manning's gang overboard and wrecks what's left
the taxis leave every 15 minutes), exiting the taxis,
climbing up the stairs onto the deck, and entering the
© The International Arcade Museum
NOVEMBER, 1980
And The Man") if indeed it's the same actor.
Just this summer, gambling ship stories were revived in
the TV movie "Casino" starring Mike Connors as the
owner/operator of a gambling cruise ship to the Carib
bean. In a newspaper report Connors said he enjoyed the
Cary Grant-type role he played, and he hopes to get a TV
series based on the film.
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