Bill Miller (impresario)

Miller was born to a Jewish{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/storyreportersjo0000mill|url-access=registration|title=The Story: A Reporter's Journey|author=Judith Miller|author-link=Judith Miller|publisher=Simon & Schuster|date=2016|quote=Bill Miller, Jewish and Russian-born, was one of those larger-than-life, self-made Americans. |pages=[https://archive.org/details/storyreportersjo0000mill/page/30 30]|isbn=9781476716022|accessdate=2019-02-02}} family in Pinsk, Russia, in 1904, the son of Lena and David Miller.{{Cite web|last=Kelley|first = Tina|author-link= |title=Bill Miller, 98, an Impresario In the Golden Age of Las Vegas |work=New York Times|date=December 12, 2002 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/12/arts/bill-miller-98-an-impresario-in-the-golden-age-of-las-vegas.html |accessdate=}}{{Cite web|last=Evanslas |first=K.J. |author-link= |title= Bill Miller |publisher=Las Vegas Review-Journal|date=February 7, 1999 |url= https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bill-miller/ |accessdate=}} He did not know his family's original surname. The family immigrated to the United States when William was a year old, first settling in Brooklyn, New York, and then Jersey City, New Jersey. His father worked as a building tradesman, and he had one sister, Mollie Miller Vine.

Miller dropped out of high school after two years to pursue a career as a vaudeville dancer as part of the duo

Miller and Peterson. He danced professionally until he was 30, after which he worked as a vaudeville agent. He became an entrepreneur operating the original Luna Park in Coney Island.{{cite magazine|title=Riviera, At Top of Coin-Making Career, Fades Away, Victim of New Highway|magazine=Variety|date=October 7, 1953|page=2|url=https://archive.org/stream/variety192-1953-10#page/n1/mode/1up|accessdate=October 12, 2019|via=Archive.org}} In 1945, he purchased the Riviera, a nightclub overlooking the Hudson River in Fort Lee, New Jersey, which had closed during World War II, and renamed it Bill Miller's Riviera. He booked many of the top acts at the time including Tony Martin, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, Mae West, and Tito Puente.{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/media/features/9226/|title=The Source of the Trouble|last=Foer|first=Franklin|website=NYMag.com|access-date=2016-12-01}} In 1953, the Riveria was shuttered to make way for the Palisades Parkway.

Also in 1953, Miller purchased a 10% interest in the Sahara hotel and casino and moved to Las Vegas at the invitation of Milton Prell (who had founded the Sahara in 1952), becoming its entertainment director. Starting afresh, as many of his former acts had already been taken to Las Vegas by former Copacabana Club employee, Jack Entratter, he hired Ray Bolger, Donald O'Conner, and Marlene Dietrich. He also pioneered the Las Vegas lounge show concept, booking Louis Prima, Keely Smith, and Sam Butera.

In 1955, Miller left the Sahara and bought an interest in the new Dunes hotel and casino, where he again worked as the entertainment director. At the Dunes, he developed the first of the big Las Vegas production "feathershows", named Smart Affairs, and later developed burlesque shows Lido de Paris and the Folies Bergere with his former producer in New Jersey, Donn Arden. Miller operated a hotel in the Dutch West Indies, before returning to Las Vegas where he served as the entertainment director of the Flamingo (founded by Bugsy Siegel{{Cite web |title=The Flamingo Las Vegas: Bugsy Siegel’s Last Haunt |url=https://vegasghosts.com/flamingo-las-vegas/}} and purchased in 1967 by Kirk Kerkorian), where he helped to launch the career of Sonny and Cher with Phil Spector. In 1969, Miller worked at Kerkorian's new hotel, The International, where he booked Barbra Streisand and revived the career of Elvis Presley. The International became the world's largest resort hotel during his tenure. Miller retired in the 1970s.

Miller died on December 9, 2002, in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 98.

Miller married four times.{{Cite web|last= McLellan |first= Dennis |author-link= |title= Bill Miller, 98; Vegas Hotels Entertainment Director, Club Owner |work=Los Angeles Times|date=December 15, 2002 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2002-dec-15-me-miller15-story.html |access-date=}} He was survived by his fourth wife, Denise B. Miller. He had three children, record producer and musician Jimmy Miller (who predeceased him in the 1990s and was previously married to Australian television personality, actress and singer Kerri-Anne Wright), reporter Judith Miller of The New York Times (married to editor Jason Epstein), and Susan Miller; and a stepson, Jerry Johnson.{{Cite web|last=Berkowitz |first=Peter |author-link= |title=Judith Miller's "Story": Setting the Record Straight |publisher=Real Clear Politics|date= April 8, 2015 |url=https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2015/04/08/judith_millers_story_setting_the_record_straight_126181.html |accessdate=}}

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• {{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48968442/theres-always-a-local-angle/ |title=There's Always a Local Angle |first=Ed |last=Reardon |newspaper=Herald News |location=Passaic, New Jersey |page=10 |date=August 16, 1948 |accessdate=April 18, 2020 |via=newspapers.com}}

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Category:1904 births

Category:2002 deaths

Category:American impresarios

Category:People from Pinsk

Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent

Category:20th-century American Jews

Category:21st-century American Jews

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States