Chance of a Lifetime

In the middle of the 20th Century, Atlantic City was the place where anything goes, everybody went, and the rules did not apply. Under a glamorous, seductive exterior, gambling and prostitution flourished, and the city accommodated every tourist's wish.

Chance Of A Lifetime details the wild past of the resort island - and the world of entertainment that called it home - from an insider's perspective.

This is the story of that fantastic time by one who saw and heard it all firsthand. The author was married to Emil "Willie" D'Amato, manager of his brother's legendary 500 Club. In this intimate account of the city, the club, and the famous and infamous who passed through, Grace D'Amato shares a very personal view of the Queen of Resorts. The reader can almost imagine sitting in a booth at the old "Five" as Grace drops by to tell the storied history of this 20th century playground by the sea.

With 178 rare photos of celebrities, events, and Atlantic City's wild past from the author's 500 Club collection - on 96 gallery pages - we are privy to a remarkable portrait of a time and place that will never be seen again.

In its heyday, the decades between the 1920s and the 1960s, celebrities were created and politicians and businessmen were corrupted here. Atlantic City was an entertainment fantasyland in every respect, ballyhooed as the "Queen of Resorts" and "The World's Playground." What was unacceptable elsewhere, was not only acceptable but encouraged on the resort island. It's arguable whether the city's number one industry was tourism or graft. For those participating, it was the most fun place to be.

Atlantic City was a small town filled with big names and big money. And while the saga of this seaside resort includes real-life characters so colorful that one might be tempted to believe they were fictional creations, they were as real as the Boardwalk, salt water taffy, and Miss America.

First, political boss Enoch "Nucky" Johnson ran the town, tolerating almost every vice but with a benevolent, compassionate heart for residents during the Great Depression. An economy based on payoffs, rackets, bootlegging, illegal gambling and prostitution thrived. Later, Paul "Skinny" D'Amato ran the club that came to epitomize everything about Atlantic City. "The town was wide open," Skinny said in his later years, and everyone, including the police, knew it.

Skinny, who as a youngster had fifteen gambling joints, rose to prominence in the '40s. By the '50s, his 500 Club had become home to the biggest names in entertainment - including: Nat King Cole, Milton Berle, Patti Paige, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, Sophie Tucker, Vic Damone, Jackie Gleason, Danny Thomas, Liberace, the McGuire Sisters, Jimmy Durante, and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis - a combo conceived by Skinny. It was also the venue where a young Frank Sinatra - who became a grateful and life-long friend - got his second chance.

In a foreword by Atlantic City's noted historian, Vicki Gold Levi writes: "Skinny was the ultimate cool guy. He had so much charisma that he put most movie stars to shame. His companion cigarette constantly dangled nonchalantly from his lips, and his sleepy, watchful eyes always seemed full of fun and mischief. He was the epitome of swagger, and many a young upcoming male star, including Sinatra, tried to emulate his 'I don't ever sweat' style."

The rise of Las Vegas and jet travel marked Atlantic City's decline. More often, the stars shined, the neon was brighter, in the desert than by the seashore. Authorities clamped down, the nightclub acts faded, and the city fell into decline until it was rejuvenated with its old vice - gambling - this time sanctioned by law and controlled by corporate empires. And now that brazen, raucous earlier time is seen almost as quaint.