Entrepreneur.  Owner of the internationally famed Ciro’s,  Hollywood’s trendiest nightclub of the 1940s and 50s.  Born in Brooklyn,  he dropped out of Columbia University’s Law School to become a speakeasy manager and in the 1930s was a publicity man for stage producer Earl Carroll (the “Vanities” revues).  He claimed to have coined the motto for Carroll’s Broadway and Hollywood theatres,  “Through these portals pass the most beautiful girls in the world”.  In 1942 Hover acquired Ciro’s,  a failing nightclub on the Sunset Strip near Beverly Hills,  and turned it around by spending big bucks to lure the hottest acts to its stage.  Among those who headlined there were Frank Sinatra,  Nat King Cole,  Marlene Dietrich,  Billie Holliday,  Lena Horne,  Martin and Lewis,   Edith Piaf,  Sammy Davis,  Jr.,  and Mae West.  Everyone who was anyone in Tinseltown went.  It was where Davis staged his triumphant comeback after his near-fatal 1954 car crash.  Some acts were too hot:  stripper Lili St. Cyr’s routine caused a riot and was shut down for lewdness.  Such incidents were par for the course at Ciro’s.  Fights broke out there so often that Hover facetiously considered replacing the dance floor with a boxing ring,  and he finally had to impose a three-brawl-per-customer limit.  To help defray the costs of running the place (including a $125,000 annual publicity budget) Hover branched out into catering and selling club-related accessories.  “I’ve found that people will buy anything with the Ciro’s name on it”,  he said.  That was no longer true by 1957,  when competition from Las Vegas,  lawsuits,  and tax problems forced Hover to close the venue.  He declared bankruptcy in 1959 and spent the rest of his life in obscurity.  Since 1976 the former Ciro’s building has been home to The Comedy Store,  itself a legend in the entertainment business. (bio by: Bobb Edwards)  Family links:  Spouse:  Yvonne J. Bearrows Schwartz (1932 – 2009)*  Children:  Ellen Jane Hover (1953 – 1977)*  Loring Ian Hover (1955 – 2001)* *Calculated relationship