When I was a missionary in The Caribbean in the early to mid 80's we had a senior couple that worked in the mission office in Barbados when I was an AP.
The guy worked for Howard Hughes for decades and was in his top inner circle of about 6 people. He had a pair of Rayban Wayfarers that he bought in the fifties and used to wear them when he worked for Howard. He sold them to me for 40 Barbados dollars and some grapefruit soda. I wore them for a while and one day they broke in two and fell off my face. I still have them though.
He wore toupee's and they were made by Bud Westmore, big hollywood makeup artist. They were so good you could not tell it was a rug.
He kept a picture of his wife in his wallet from when she was probably in her 20s.....she was a Jaredite....like unto a dish!
They were a really nice couple. They had a bunch of us RMs over to their house for dinner in Utah when I was at BYU in the late 80s.
When I was a student at the BY, I roomed with 2 brothers whose father was in the very top echelon in the Hughes Organization. I was witness to many strange and somewhat scary things. The brothers graduated and became executives at 2 different Hughes owned Casinos. I met all of the biggies in the organization, except Hughes himself. So many stories I could, but won’t tell. I’m still not sure who is taking notes.
You're spot on. Hughes was a sucker when he purposely hired mormons to manage casinos. He really believed that since they didn't drink or smoke, they were totally above board. No telling how many hundreds of millions they skimmed from his businesses.
I downloaded this book onto my Kindle. I haven't started reading it yet, but "Lo! And Behold!" it even includes a sort of "Three Witnesses" statement at the beginning saying, "[we] strongly testify to our dying breath". (I can't copy the quote - thank you Amazon...)
I knew Mormons with no connection to this who used the fact that Hughes chose Mormons was a little testimony. Proved how great the church is. Made me sick.
I was a missionary in London in the early 1970s. One Sunday in 1973 I ran into an older cousin at the Hyde Park Chapel who was an MD from SLC. He invited me to dinner at the Inn on the Park Hotel. Upon arriving at the hotel, he took me to the penthouse where a rather meaty body guard waived us through. I had read in the local papers that Howard Hughes' entourage was occupying the entire top floor of the hotel. I never asked. I didn't need to as I knew my cousin was a germ specialist. We later had dinner in the hotel restaurant with Howard Hughes' inner circle which consisted of a collection of rather down to earth salty characters. Hughes himself remained in seclusion in the penthouse.
Hughes tried to do a lot during his lifetime. He was actually pretty smart but all his brilliance couldn't save him from his developing madness. You have to feel for this guy.
Trivia Question:
If having your testimony validated by the preferences of a man suffering from mental illness is anything less than disconcerting ... you might be a mormon.