Every bit helps: 
– CBS Radio – Radio Beat: The Gamblers – January 31, 1954 – David Goldin Collection –
We’re a nation of addicts. Food, drugs, booze, sex, shopping, money – we go from one addiction to another, playing a life-long game of whack-em-all. Each time one addiction gets under control, another one pops up
Although America has always been addicted to the promise of easy, effortless money, the 1950s were particularly active as addictions go. Perhaps it was because Las Vegas had grown and become such a huge attraction, attracting millions of Americans every year, all with the lure of making dreams of riches come true overnight.
Still, gambling was prevalent all over the country – from big cities to block long villages, the presence of a crap table or slot machine and the person who knew where “the action” was, were never far away.
But with gambling also came crime – and organized crime was just about everywhere in America during the 1950s. And organized crime, like organized Communists became the focal point of activity on Capitol Hill, with investigations and hearings and endless grillings of witnesses before live TV and Radio convinced us America was in danger of gambling its life away.
This one-hour documentary, part of the CBS Radio Series Radio Beat, takes a look at America’s obsession with gambling; the things it does to us as people, the damage it creates, the wreckage it leaves and the lives it takes in the process.
Narrated by Don Hollenbeck (whose cool and icy detachment is pretty damned perfect for the subject matter) and broadcast by CBS Radio on January 31, 1954, The Gamblers is a steely-eyed glimpse at life in America during a time of great anxiety and fear of tomorrow.
Further evidence we’ve always been just a little crazy. We’re humans after all.
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