Download or read book Fabulous Las Vegas in the 50s written by Fred E. Basten and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fabulous Las Vegas is a visual tour of the most,important decade in the history of America's most,hedonistic town. Forget today's gigantic resort,hotels for just a moment and look back to the,formative years, when hotels were low and,sprawling, when every entertainer who hit the big,time hit Vegas, when every American wanted to,escape the postwar doldrums and luxuriate in some,real-life make-believe. This is the Vegas that,was; the precursor to the Vegas that now is - one,of the strangest places on Earth.
Download or read book Becoming America s Playground written by Larry D. Gragg and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2019-08-29 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1950 Las Vegas saw a million tourists. In 1960 it attracted ten million. The city entered the fifties as a regional destination where prosperous postwar Americans could enjoy vices largely forbidden elsewhere, and it emerged in the sixties as a national hotspot, the glitzy resort city that lights up the American West today. Becoming America’s Playground chronicles the vice and the toil that gave Las Vegas its worldwide reputation in those transformative years. Las Vegas’s rise was no happy accident. After World War II, vacationing Americans traveled the country in record numbers, making tourism a top industry in such states as California and Florida. The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce saw its chance and developed a plan to capitalize on the town’s burgeoning reputation for leisure. Las Vegas pinned its hopes for the future on Americans’ need for escape. Transforming a vice city financed largely by the mob into a family vacation spot was not easy. Hotel and casino publicists closely monitored media representations of the city and took every opportunity to stage images of good, clean fun for the public—posing even the atomic bomb tests conducted just miles away as an attraction. The racism and sexism common in the rest of the nation in the era prevailed in Las Vegas too. The wild success of Frank Sinatra’s Rat Pack performances at the Sands Hotel in 1960 demonstrated the city’s slow progress toward equality. Women couldn’t work as dealers in Las Vegas until the 1970s, yet they found more opportunities for well-paying jobs there than many American women could find elsewhere. Gragg shows how a place like the Las Vegas Strip—with its glitz and vast wealth and its wildly public consumption of vice—rose to prominence in the 1950s, a decade of Cold War anxiety and civil rights conflict. Becoming America’s Playground brings this pivotal decade in Las Vegas into sharp focus for the first time.
Download or read book The Fabulous Fifties 50 s written by James F. Foster and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2022-05-04 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever wondered why the 1950s is dubbed as the Fabulous Fifties? Well, The Fabulous Fifties will lay out the best of its years to reinforce the magnificence of their reign. James Foster talks about fifties fashion, trends, lifestyle, and how the people lived their daily lives, but not only on that, the book also comprehensively tackles the finest of fifties music. The music in the 1950s played a big part in the lives of the people, and the book highlights the remarkable music made at this time. Several music personalities as well as their respective songs that made it to the Billboard charts are included and discussed thoroughly. The diversity in music that created harmony in the lives of the people will forever be etched in eternity. The fifties will always be an epitome of grandeur, so be serenaded and read in awe as you relive the beauty of the fifties in The Fabulous Fifties.
Download or read book Fabulous Las Vegas written by and published by Beautiful America Publishing Co.. This book was released on 2006 with total page 92 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Combine outstanding photographer Larry Hanna and Vegas Writer Jackie Brett for theperfect book on Las Vegas. Enjoytheir complet coverage of the glitz, glamour and gorgeous geography of the city that never sleeps.
Download or read book Haunted Las Vegas written by Paul W. Papa and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2012-08-07 with total page 259 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Famous phantoms, strange occurrences, unique places, and the ghoulish faces of Sin City What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas . . . including the ghosts, unexplained phenomena, and other spooky happenings. The strip is much more than bright lights, gambling, wild shows, and quick marriage ceremonies. Haunted Las Vegas reveals the true mysteries of Sin City and brings the old legends to life in a chilling way. The Flamingo: Listed as one of the ten most haunted sites in America by the Wall Street Journal, the Flamingo Hotel is home to the ghost of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. A known gangster, Bugsy is often called the man who invented Las Vegas. Even though he was killed in Hollywood, his ghost reportedly lives at the Flamingo. The Demon Swing: In the dead of the night, many people reportedly see smoke or mist surrounding Fox Ridge Park, home of the boy ghost on the demon swing. It is unknown how his ghost ended up in the park, but beware of this unfriendly boy—he is known to push people off the swings.
Download or read book It Happened in Las Vegas written by Paul W. Papa and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fascinating collection of thirty compelling stories about events that shaped Sin City, It Happened in Las Vegas describes everything from a nineteenth-century land deal that almost created two competing cities to the torrential rainstorm that flooded downtown Vegas with three inches of water.
Download or read book Fly on the Wall written by Dick Odessky and published by . This book was released on 2000-06 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine what it must have been like to be in Las Vegas during its most glamorous and eventful years: the 1950s, when you could rub elbows with powerful politicians, famous entertainers, and notorious gangsters; the 1960s, when Howard Hughes' corporate invasion changed casinos forever; and the 1970s, which were immortalized by the movie Casino. Back then, "the boys" ran the town, dinner shows were a dollar, and vacant lots on what is now the Strip sold for $5 an acre. Tallulah played baccarat, Shecky shot dice, and Frank dealt blackjack. Fly on the Wall chronicles those times, as well as the men and women who shaped them. Benny Binion, Moe Dalitz, Dorothy Entratter, Wilbur Clark, Abe Schiller, Nick Dandolos, Ralph Lamb, the Copa Girls, Jackie Gaughan, Jerry Zarowitz, Artemus Ham, Barbara Greenspun, Marlene Dietrich, Bob Brown, and Eugene Murphy, to name a few. As a reporter for two of the city's most respected newspapers and a publicist for two of the city's most infamous casinos, Dick Odessky was in the thick of it--the proverbial fly on the wall. His recollections of Las Vegas' good old bad old days put you in the thick of it, too.
Download or read book That Old Black Magic written by Tom Clavin and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Both a love story and a tribute to the entertainment mecca, this exploration shines a spotlight on one of the hottest acts in Las Vegas in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The illuminating depiction showcases the unlikely duo--a grizzled, veteran trumpeter and vocalist molded by Louis Armstrong and a meek singer in the church choir--who went on to invent "The Wildest." Bringing together broad comedy and finger-snapping, foot-stomping music that included early forays into rock and roll, Prima and Smith's act became wildly popular and attracted all kinds of star-studded attention. In addition to chronicling their relationships with Ed Sullivan, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, and other well-known entertainers of the day--and their performance of "That Old Black Magic" at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration--the narrative also examines the couple's ongoing influence in the entertainment world. Running concurrent with their personal tale is their role in transforming Las Vegas from a small resort town in the desert to a booming city where the biggest stars were paid tons of money to become even bigger stars on stage and television.
Download or read book My Friend Nick the Greek written by Elaine Campbell and published by WingSpan Press. This book was released on 2010-07 with total page 102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NICK THE GREEK was both myth and legend in his time, a greater than life figure without whom Las Vegas in the '50s would not have been the same. His presence on the scene enhanced an entire city. The only memoir ever written about Nick (Dandolos) the Greek, and the only book written by a woman and someone who knew him, Nick is introduced as the "person" he was, apart from his gambling feats: what he was really like, how he acted, thought and felt, and the philosophy by which he lived his unique and one of a kind life.
Download or read book Time Out Las Vegas written by Editors of Time Out and published by Time Out Guides. This book was released on 2012-07-13 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Time Out Las Vegas is the only crib sheet travelers need to the world's most outlandish city. Whether going for a short or extended visit, this guide is an invaluable companion through the neon maze that awaits in Las Vegas. With the lowdown on all the hotels and casinos, money-saving tips, extensive restaurant reviews, hints on the hottest nightlife, and a full guide to gambling, it leaves nothing to chance. This seventh edition proves that there is more to Sin City than just sequins and slots — the dramatic expansion in hotel accommodations, fine dining, and shopping is attracting tourists from every economic strata, not just those with gambling as their sole agenda. The guide contains a detailed explanation of what games are available in the casinos, as well as tips on how to play them. There is also a chapter on suggested side trips to Hoover Dam, as well as other sights in Nevada and Arizona.
Download or read book Phenom The Making of Bryce Harper written by Rob Miech and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The remarkable story of Bryce Harper's unforgettable ride from Morse Stadium to the top of the baseball draft" (Jayson Stark, ESPN.com) updated from the hardcover edition (The Last Natural) to include his Rookie of the Year season Before he famously became a Major League All-Star as a teenager, Harper already had dominated high school competition like Mickey Mantle on the playground and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, which dubbed him the "most exciting prodigy since LeBron James." Seeking greater tests as a hitter, the precocious star got his GED after his sophomore year and enrolled at the College of Southern Nevada, where he would face future pro pitchers in a difficult wooden-bat league. Sportswriter Rob Miech was "embedded" with the team--in the dugout and locker room and on team buses and in motel rooms--to provide a warts-and-all account of a boy among men playing like a man among boys. Amid fascinating personal stories including the dynamics between a veteran coach and Harper's overprotective father, the jealousies of teammates and opponents, and the sudden descent of press armies on a tiny college field, the author chronicles a season-long experiment that culminates in Harper leading the Coyotes to the Junior College World Series and signing a $9.9 million contract negotiated by notorious agent Scott Boras. Sporting a fresh cover and a bonus chapter that covers Harper's award-winning rookie season with the Washington Nationals, this expanded edition of Phenom (originally published as The Last Natural) gives fans an all-access pass to baseball's newest rising star.
Download or read book Elvis in Vegas written by Richard Zoglin and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Outstanding pop-culture history.” —Newsday The “smart and zippy account” (The Wall Street Journal) of how Las Vegas saved Elvis and Elvis saved Las Vegas in the greatest musical comeback of all time. Elvis’s 1969 opening night in Vegas was his first time back on a live stage in more than eight years. His career had gone sour—bad movies, mediocre pop songs that no longer made the charts—and he’d been dismissed by most critics as over-the-hill. But in Vegas he played the biggest showroom in the biggest hotel in the city, drawing more people for his four-week engagement than any other show in Vegas history. His performance got rave reviews; “Suspicious Minds,” the song he introduced there, gave him his first number-one hit in seven years; and Elvis became Vegas’s biggest star. Over the next seven years, he performed more than 600 shows there, and sold out every one. Las Vegas was changed, too. By the end of the ‘60s, Vegas’ golden age—when the Rat Pack led a glittering array of stars who made it the nation’s premier live-entertainment center—was losing its luster. Elvis created a new kind of Vegas show: an over-the-top, rock-concert extravaganza. He set a new bar for Vegas performers, with the biggest salary, the biggest musical production, and the biggest promotion campaign the city had ever seen. He opened the door to a new generation of pop/rock artists and brought a new audience to Vegas—not the traditional well-heeled older gamblers, but a mass audience from Middle America that Vegas depends on for its success to this day. At once “a fascinating history of Vegas as gambling capital, celebrity playground, mob hangout, [and] entertainment Valhalla” (Rolling Stone) and the incredible “tale of how the King got his groove back” (Associated Press), Elvis in Vegas is a classic feel-good story for the ages.
Download or read book Diary scrapbook of Trip to Las Vegas Circa 1950 written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Las Vegas Golden Era written by Esper Esau and published by Bookbaby. This book was released on 2019-08-08 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people are not aware that Las Vegas got it's start as a major hub in the early 1930's as traffic west increased and the town began to grow. However, it wasn't until the early 1950's that Las Vegas began forming as a major gambling and entertainment mecca. Join the author's tales of working as a crew member moving up to leadership roles within major productions of the day in "Sin City". As he recounts the many celebrities who performed during Las Vegas' heyday, the productions worked on, issues encountered, and each star's preferences and quirks, the reader will be swept away within a Golden Era of show business and the activities of headliners during a time when Las Vegas was making a name for itself. From Howard Hughes' real estate to the Rat Pack, and on to major productions in the 1970's, each detail is a reflection of a city that never rests, and now it has evolved into today's glitzy entertainment and gambling capital.
Download or read book Motion Pictures From the Fabulous 1950 s written by Terry Rowan and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2015-12-22 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1950s marked a decade of great fads - Hula-Hoops, Davy Crockett coonskin caps, Roy Rogers or Gene Audrey guns or Cowboy boots, and poodle skirts. It gave us Elvis Presley and rock and roll, crew cuts and sideburns, argyle sweaters, saddle shoes and white bucks. College kids on panty raids and sock hops. In the corner of every sitting room, was a small but ever-expanding eye fixed on an opening world - Television set. Films of the 1950s were wide variety and the stuidios sought to put audiences back in the seats of the theaters.
Download or read book Cult Vegas written by Mike Weatherford and published by Huntington Press Inc. This book was released on 2001 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mike Weatherford resurrects the mystique of Vegas's Golden Age--the '60s of history and legend--bringing the hipster legacy to new Vegasphiles. Meet '50s and '60s lounge greats the Treniers, the Mary Kaye Trio, and Louis Prima and Keely Smith; comedy legends Joe E. Lewis, Shecky Greene, and Don Rickles; and Vegas babes Vampira, Lili St. Cyr, Ann-Margret, and Tempest Storm. Weatherford also covers nearly every offbeat movie ever made about Las Vegas, as well as Elvis and Frank's impact on the town. This gorgeous entertainment retrospective is packed with showroom esoterica, descriptions of near-forgotten corners of Vegas cult musicology, odd trivia, and unsung heroes of a bygone era. Cult Vegas chronicles the major moments--the camp, the extreme, the awful--in short, the magic of Las Vegas' half-century run as an entertainment mecca.
Download or read book Literary Las Vegas written by Mike Tronnes and published by Holt Paperbacks. This book was released on 1995-08-15 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Literary Las Vegas brings together the best writings from this neon outpost in the desert. Ranging from the hilarious to the tragic, these pieces provide what Nick Tosches calls a "Baedecker to the bizarre, a Virgil in shades, not only to the holy city but to the off-the-rack soul that we, one nation under Frankie's toup, so strangely and fatally share." Incisive, entertaining, and highly readable, Literary Las Vegas creates a unique anecdotal history about this one-of-a-kind place.
