1820: Birthday of Susan B. Anthony
1869: Charges of Treason against Jefferson Davis are dropped, as are indictments against 37 other ex-Confederates, including Robert E. Lee.
1954:Ronald Reagan opens his stand-up act at the Las Vegas Ramona Room in the Hotel Last Frontier. According to CultVegas.com:
Ronald Reagan brought an act -- the contents of which have been recorded with even less care than Iran-Contra evidence -- to the Ramona Room of the Last Frontier in February 1954. A press release of the day anticipated what we would be asking today: "Each time a movie star is booked to appear ... tongues begin to waggle at both ends debating what 'This one' will do in a night club.As for what he did in fact do, the Las Vegas Sun offers this description (and has an old advert for the show):
"Advance information would indicate that Ronald Reagan... has no intentions of walking onstage unprepared." With that issue settled, it went on to make note, "Although Reagan declines to discuss it, he has long been one of Hollywood's most vigorous public minded citizens. He has played more than 500 benefits for good causes, fought Communism from the day he detected it and served three years as president of the Screen Actors Guild."
Ronald Reagan fared much better as president of the United States in the 1980s than he did as an entertainer in Las Vegas in the 1950s at what was then called the Hotel Last Frontier, when Reagan performed a one-time only engagement. Reagan hosted, told stories, performed with a singing group called the Continentals and even performed with trained chimpanzees. The Blackburn Twins and Evelyn Ward and the Honey Brothers completed the bill. The Ramona Room Orchestra was led by the late Garwood Van who had Las Vegas' best record store before he retired in the 1980s. The Last Frontier was the first of three Frontiers at that site.1977: Sid Vicious replaces Glen Matlock as bass guitarist of the Sex Pistols. Unlike Reagan's chimps, Sid would prove completely untrainable.
