I have always had a great affection for Galveston.  Many of my Italian family emigrated there from Italy via New Orleans to get to Galveston.  The city - one of the most advanced and important port cities in America at that time- was a shining beacon to many ethnic cultures.  My father  was a BOI - “born on island” - which is a major distinction for locals.  My grandfather had terrible asthma - the kind you have every day of your life.  Consequently, they (my grandfather, grandmother, my father and his sister Ursula relocated to San Antonio around 1925 because the ocean air and humidity made his condition worse.  That’s where I was born on July 4th, 1948. 

Every summer, we would drive to Galveston to see our relatives.  That was our big vacation.  it is also where my infinite passion for the ocean became a lifelong presence in my persona.  The Gulf of Mexico took the life of my  great grandfather who was killed in the Great Storm of 1900 along with over 6000 others in what is - to this day - the largest natural disaster in American history.  As a kid, going to Galveston was like going to heaven on earth.  I couldn’t wait to get there to see my cousins and my family.  I had become hooked on the beautiful, fat, sumptuous shrimp and blue crab much diminished by over fishing these days.

There were three main families in my lineage - the Riccobonos, the Bernardonis and the DePasquales.  Sounds like an Italian law firm!  The Riccobonos consisted of four girls Jenny, Josephine and Netty (my grandmother), Mary and two boys-  Johnny and Mitchell.  Johnny Riccobono was beloved in Galveston.  He was the best dressed man in the city largely due to his nature and the fact that he sold Hollywood suits at Levy’s - the Macy’s of Galveston.  People would come from all over Texas and out of state to buy suits from him.  The Maceo family let it be known that they were to spend their money on the island in all cases and with Johnny in particular when it came to dress clothing.  Jenny had a white shock of hair on her head.  She always looked like she had just seen an apparition - awe and wonder.  Josephine was Oleander Queen in her youth which was like being Miss Galveston.  Netty was the 90 pound Bermuda Triangle and a whirling dervish.  God help the groceyrman who over charged her a nickel on a tomato. Mary was the most colorful of the girls.  She had Joan Crawford eyebrows which would move up and down in sync with whatever she was saying.  Mary worked for the Maceos and later at Levy’s. 

But that’s not the actual story of what initially shaped my interest in entertainment.

My mother and father would always steal a night away with his first cousin, Vincent DePasquale and his wife to go to the Balinese Ballroom for dinner, dancing and light casino gambling.  The Balinese room took on mythic proportions.  I heard all these things but I could never go there being a kid.  The Balinese - originally called the Sui Ren which opened around 1927- had a distinctive Polynesian flair.  It was owned and managed by the Maceo family which had a lock on illegal casino gambling on the island and in nearby Dickinson and Kemah.  Slot machines were in grocery stores, laundries - well, most everywhere, right out in broad daylight.  Sam and Rose Maceo - who were immigrants from Italy - plied their profession as barbers in their youth.  They were tapped to move rum around the city to various bars during Prohibition.  Let’s just say the money was better than barbering.  Later, boats from Cuba would come in near the beach where the locals - under the Maceos’ direction - would float wood containers of rum to various clubs.

The Maceos also owned and operated the Turf Athletic Club and the Hollywood Dinner Club.  They had the reputation of running the finest restaurants anywhere.  Houstonians of money were a constant fixture together with the classiest people in America.  But the Balinese was the only venue which actually operated casino style gambling right under the noses of state officials for roughly 30 years.

The Balinese was built on a very long pier from shore out in to the ocean.  You would enter where you had better have a connection with the Maceos.  My Uncle Johnny was a great friend of Sam and Rose which was my parents gold card.  Then, there was a long hallway ultimately leading to the main dining room.  There is still - to this day - a stage with four metal palm trees flanking the performing area.  The wainscoting is all rattan.  All the greatest musical stars that routinely toured the country via trains played there including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Phil Harris (Bing Crosby’s best friiend), the famous big bands as well as the Marx Brothers.  Still further out towards the ocean is where the small casino operated - craps, roulette and poker.  Now, my father and his cousin were not gamblers per se.  My father would hang himself by his shoelaces if he lost $20.  Still, they loved it and it was the most highly anticipated event of the year for them.  I, unfortunately, stayed with my Aunt Jenny in the famous “no touch anything house”.  Children were like aliens.  I know they loved us though.

In 1957, the Mayor of Galveston had it with the Attorney General of Texas Wil Wilson.  Wil had run on a platform of stopping gambling in Dallas and then Galveston.  Wil was a mission to take Galveston by the neck to shut it down.  Periodically, the Balinese would get raided by Texas Rangers.  However, by the time they hit the front door, the doormen buzzed the pit boss in the casino area and they closed up the games.  I have heard exotic stories of how they disappeared the tables and so on.  I don’t know if that is true.  However, I don’t think they were ever closed down until 1957.  I’m sure people were paid to look the other way.  Also, the Balinese was nationally famous and brought a lot of business to Texas.

The Mayor of Galveston went on television in 1957 and basically said, “Galveston is our country and we will do what we damn well please”.  It wasn’t long after that Wil Wilson lowered the boom on the Balinese and all gambling in Galveston.  The stunning wood slot machines were dumped in the bay.  However, being wood, they floated.  Locals scrambled to capture many which are still, to this day, in peoples homes, garages and God knows where else.  Crap tables, roulette wheels, custom poker chips and more were spirited away by employees and dealers.  I bought 250 “BR” chips myself from an old croupier named Angelo Montelbano who operated Angelo’s Restaurant at the edge of the Houston ship channel (the demise of Galveston as a major port).

Dick Fertita and his family were an integral part of the Maceo operation.  The Fertitas went on to create the legendary Landry’s restaurant chain, purchasing the San Luis Hotel and many other successful operations.  George Mitchell - the wealthy oil man in Houston - was a kid growing up in Galveston.  He invested millions over the last couple of decades to restore and rejuvenate the Strand and numerous Victorian homes throughout the city.  I remember he once told me that Galveston was like a mini version of the “League of Nations” - now the United Nations - due to all the various ethnic cultures in the city.

I began researching and developing a film treatment about this topic entitled “Hurricane Alley” which will feature personas based on the actual reality set in the 1950’s Galveston era.  You can’t make up charachters and stories that good.  Damon Runyon could have had a field day with Galveston in its heyday.

Stay tuned for more.

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