Lest It Be Forgotten After I Am Gone: The Extremes - 1
...Some very well known personalities gambled disgracefully, spending and losing their money uncontrollably, almost in tears when the Credit Controller refused to allow them any more credit. Others were overly lavish and extravagant when tipping the staff and some, perhaps wisely, just stood around with their friends watching others make fools of themselves in various ways...
Raymon Benedyk sees stars of film and tv and famous sportsmen while working in a casino
I was earning good money working for the casino for the first time in many years and, with my share of the tips that came to me, was content with my lot. Besides the Saudi princes and hangers on that frequented the place, I met and saw many well-known film, stage, television and sports personalities in my casino and was amazed how totally different some of them were away from their particular limelight. Some were like children, not knowing how to behave in public or conduct themselves decently, others were boorish and unpleasant, totally different from the sometimes delightful or brave character they portrayed on the screen or stage.
Some very well known personalities gambled disgracefully, spending and losing their money uncontrollably, almost in tears when the Credit Controller refused to allow them any more credit. Others were overly lavish and extravagant when tipping the staff and some, perhaps wisely, just stood around with their friends watching others make fools of themselves in various ways.
There were many little old ladies too, The Honourable this, or Lady that or Duchess of somewhere, who would arrive daily as the casino opened for its afternoon session, which would provide free tea and coffee and biscuits to the punters, to play for two shillings a spin of the roulette wheel just betting one chip at a time (in the days before decimal coinage), invariably claiming that they had put their chip on the winning number whatever it was, almost certainly knowing full well they had not. And of course at night there were the big players staking hundreds of pounds at a time on the turn of a card or the spin of the wheel, some with the most glamorous of women whom in a few cases were genuine friends, and others there for what they could get. It was a new world to me and I learned fast how to conduct myself.
In 1967 I fell ill with Hepatitis, not the dangerous type requiring hospitalisation thank goodness but bad enough to nearly knock me out at home. It was during this period, when I wasn't strong enough even to shave, that I allowed my beard to grow.
When I recovered, and tidied it up a bit, Elsa said that she liked it to the extent that she even bought me an electric beard trimmer. So for nearly 40 years, I have not shaved and now sport a luxuriant white growth, making me look and sometimes feel quite distinguished. Certainly I am instantly recognisable anywhere.
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If you wish to make a donation to the Elsa Benedyk Memorial Fund, set up by her friends and colleagues entirely without Raymon’s knowledge to provide funds to support the children's ward of the Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem to commemorate her life of work with children in her nursery schools, it would be most gratefully received. The amount that you give will not be revealed to Raymon. He is not a trustee of the fund. Your cheque, payable to the Fund, should be sent to the fund's Treasurer Mrs I Dokelman, 14 Charville Court, 30/32 Gayton Road, Harrow, Middx HA1 2HT.
