Transcripts For CNNW Vegas 20240704

Narrator with nothing more than a few miners and railroad men trying to scratch out a living on this harsh, unyielding nevada desert. But even amid the hardship, there were glimmers of what this city would one day become. The ultimate place to work las vegas, nevada. Vegas has always marketed itself on its naughtiness. Of course, within legal constraints. Well, sometimes illegal. Man no one knows gambling better than organized crime. White eventually, vegas became the entertainment capital of the world. Say, as long as were all here together, why dont we have a drink . [ laughter ] anka the content of that town, what it has to offer you cant beat that. Dion every song would become a visual show. Every song would be like an adventure, like an experience. To be a headliner in las vegas, thats what i want to do. Luck, be a lady tonight luck, be a lady tonight tonight luck, if you ever were a lady to begin with luck, be a lady tonight luck, be a Ladyyyyyyyy Toniiiiiiiight Green whether youre driving into las vegas or youre flying into las vegas, you see it. It glows. Charles when i think about las vegas, first thing that come to my mind is in the 50s sammy davis, frank, and dean martin. I just loved it. It just seemed like a great playground. Back in the 70s, Elvis Banners and elvis spotlights. Dow schull las vegas, over each of its historical eras, is like a giant Experimental Laboratory for human desire. Zook but in the early 30s, las vegas was a very different town than it is today. Roberts the recent crash of the New York Stock Exchange lost millions of dollars. Yet it had the sanction of law. Life itself is but a gamble from the cradle to the grave, and in wideopen gambling, the man who places his money on the turn of a wheel at least has the satisfaction of knowing who gets his money. Mcbride las vegas was incredibly lucky. When the rest of the country was sinking away in the depression, las vegas was Bright Lights and fun. In 1931, here was a place where money was no object. You could make money really fast, you could lose it really fast. Las vegas became an escape from the depths of despair in those days. Schwartz after the country had been through world war i, theyd been through the boom of the 20s, and suddenly that goes away. In the 1930s, the United States is facing a real question of identity. And in vegas, they have a Triple Threat of positive factors that attract business and tourists. Number one, youve got hoover dam. [ explosion ] reporter build a dam in the wilderness, and the world will beat a path to it. Number two, you got the Quickie Divorce bill. Reporter when the explosion of a marriage leads to divorce, the next stop may be nevada, a place Long Associated with easy divorce. Schwartz and of course, number three, youve got legalized gambling, which makes nevada the only place in the United States where you can play casinostyle games legally. Geran without gambling, las vegas wouldve not been born. Gambling to las vegas is like water to the earth. Gambling put las vegas on the map. Mcbride the potential to build this city into a gambling mecca piqued the interest of the crime syndicates. So, the launch of the Gambling Industry in las vegas essentially was the launch of Mob Involvement in las vegas, too. Reporter smash gambling shouts new yorks mayor la guardia. Let the gangsters take notice that they have to keep away from new york from now on. In 1945, you saw the arrival of the new york mob, represented by meyer lansky and his associate, bugsy siegel. And they plowed their money into buying the el cortez hotel. And they used it almost like a training ground. Zook billy wilkerson, who was the publisher of the hollywood reporter, was already building the Flamingo Hotel. Ben siegel basically muscled Wilkerson Out of the picture and ended up finishing the flamingo with money from meyer lansky. Green when the flamingo opened in 1946, they had spent 6 million to build this hotel. And of that, there are stories that siegel stole a million. Zook benjamin siegels financiers lets just call them that were convinced he was pocketing the money. Schumacher june 20, 1947, siegel is assassinated in beverly hills, california. And not 15 minutes later, other people are at the flamingo, saying, were in charge, bugsys out. Were in. And the flamingo becomes one of the Iconic Hotels on the strip. And from then on, it was full speed ahead for the mob. Zoglin the Flamingo Hotel was the first hotel to really go after big, bigname entertainment. The mob people loved mixing with stars, and so they would shell out the money for them. You know, i walked out to the slot machine, and i put 11 in the slot. And what do you think came out . The manager. Haha zoglin they got Jimmy Durante to open the hotel. They had martin and lewis. They had the biggest entertainers in america. Geran the entertainment in the 50s in las vegas was centralized. Where, in la, you might have someone play one time, las vegas had them coming in back to back. You can see four people at one time, you know, in the same week. Newton the strategy for the hotel owners was if they had the biggest star who could fill that room, night after night, then, once that show was over, people would go gamble. Zoglin bigtime entertainers would make more money for the casino. That would mean you could pay more money for the best entertainers. So, it was a perfect business model. There was a pretty positive vibe in las vegas about the mob. They were people who cared about las vegas. Anka and they were very much involved in the community. It wasnt just the casinos. They were invested in the churches, schools, real estate. They made that a functioning, safe town. You could leave your doors open. I look back on it now, and i go, boy, were we lucky. We could walk around this town, and nobody would touch us. They really paid attention to cheating and everything. I remember being at the riviera one time when they pulled this guy off the blackjack table, took him in the back of the room, and they broke all his fingers. I dont think he ever cheated again. Schumacher in mob circles, las vegas became known as an open city. This is a place where there were no territories. You had new york and chicago and cleveland and kansas city, and all of these different syndicates had investments here. Everybody could win in las vegas. Green if you were outside nevada, you had to pay somebody off to operate. Here, its business. Las vegas was essentially the mobs atm. Hoover organized gambling is a vicious evil. It corrupts our youth and blights the lives of our adults. It becomes a springboard for other crimes embezzlement, robbery, and even murder. Give me a set of blue, george. Schwartz some people came to las vegas and were absolutely mortified by seeing gambling going on legitimately and openly. And they said, oh, my god. How can they allow this to happen . Then they found out just how much money you could make gambling. And suddenly, it didnt seem like that big a sin. Of course, the real money to be made in gambling is never on the gamblers side of the table. Its from the houses side. And by design, a lot of casinos back in the 50s and 60s were engineered so you could lose track of time and just be in your gambling zone. Ooh, im happy again. You never see clocks. You never see windows. Youre supposed to lose yourself. Thats the secret in it. Zook billy wilkerson, the original brains behind the flamingo he was an inveterate gambler. And he knew if you keep them at the table long enough, they might win a little, but ultimately, theyll lose more than they won. I had the time of my life. Man is this the first time youve gambled . Thats right this guy, i saw him lose 31,000. And he turned around, and he said, cant beat em tonight. I guess ill get a good nights sleep and try tomorrow. And i thought to myself, this guy just lost 30,000, and hes gonna go to bed. You know [chuckles] i would go to the top of the hotel and jump off. Schwartz the other thing about Vegas Casinos then is if you were gambling, you were pretty much guaranteed a drink whenever you were thirsty. Alcohol lowers inhibitions. So its actually pretty smart to give people free alcohol if you need them to gamble more. Announcer las vegas, nevada the entertainment and fun capital of the world, where the clock never stops and the doors never close. Vegas in the 50s was part of the postwar optimism and prosperity. We had come through world war ii, the middle class was booming, wages were rising, people could take vacations again. White las vegas becomes a city of the future. Its a city that is innovative. Its an adult disneyland that starts before walt disney gets started. Green the Tourist Population is certainly overwhelmingly white. Theyre middle class, and theyre coming from just about everywhere. Theyre coming from big cities. Theyre coming from small towns. Theyre being attracted at this point, in part, by efforts in las vegas to reach tourists. Announcer well, the primary purpose of the big casinos is gambling. And all the rest is no more than just setting the mood. But in the competition of the open marketplace, the big owners have entered into a new kind of sweepstake to determine who can pay the most money for the biggestname talent. Newton all of their advertisement was based on the entertainment. Thats how the casinos branded themselves. It was competitive, very competitive, in terms of performer against performer. Zoglin vegas hotels were very smart about marketing, particularly the sands. Green the sands opened in 1952. And the Ownership Group included Jack Entratter, who had been at the copacabana in new york. And las vegas already had bigname entertainers performing here. But entratter had more Entertainment Connections from the copa. Entratter sidney ill never forget that night i met Jack Entratter. He was tall and had prematurely gray hair and beautiful blue eyes. He just had a way of knowing real talent. And if you were booked at the sands, you could work 52 weeks a year. Everybody else would book you. Announcer and starring jerry lewis [ applause ] zoglin entratter brought a real new york glamour and sophistication and connections that vegas really hadnt quite seen before. He was close with Frank Sinatra and dean martin, and jerry lewis, Nat King Cole. And this great, big world will be divine, little girl when youre mine, all mine zoglin they were all at the sands, so the sands became known as the premier spot for topname entertainment. Announcer nowhere else in the world is there such a concentration of famous entertainers. Yes, indeed. Nighttime is always fun time in las vegas. White this didnt just happen. It was designed this way. Were bringing people here from all over the world, all over the country, with advertising. Thats what we do. [ laughs ] schwartz by 1955, las vegas really becomes the place where people in america went to party. They elope. They come out to get married. They come out to gamble. They come out to see shows. Where are you gonna get that . Heres why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your Devie Duckduckgo comes with a builtn engine like google, but its pi and doesnt spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. And theres no catch. Its fre. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. Join the millions of people taking back their privacy we have stepped up our camera speed to catch the picture of a great entertainer whose friends say it just kills him to sit still. Sammy davis jr. Is not just a star hes a meteor. Charles sammy davis is the best performer i saw live, and ive said it ever since i first saw him, to this day. You never wanted him to leave. You never wanted to walk off stage cause he was just so good. Binion sammy davis jr. Came here with the will mastin trio, which was his father and his uncle, and he was just a kid. This is my dad, sam davis sr. , and my uncle, will mastin. He could do so many things sing, do impressions, play drums. They used to label him as the greatest of them all. And away we go mckee being in the show every night and watching Sammy Perform was incredible. The energy level. He would go on for two and a half, three hours. It was all i could do to keep up with sammy back then, and i was half his age. [ applause ] geran one time, he went to the Movie Theater downtown. He had no idea there was a law that you have to sit in a certain area. And so, next you know, hes being slapped and dragged down the hallway and told, you need to go and be in your place. And that was something that he really never accepted. Sammy davis Always Rebelled against las vegas segregation. Announcer hey, hes smoking a white cigarette. [ laughter ] i tried smoking them brown ones and got arrested. You know how it is. White las vegas was the entertainment capital of the world. But African Americans who lived here and worked here could not enjoy that entertainment. Mckee i got to vegas, and i noticed that there were no black doormen, there were no black dealers. There were no black people in the casino, gambling. White the casinos in the 1940s employed African Americans only in the back of the house. They could not enter the front of the house. At the same time, were talking about Entertainment Starting in a great way here. People like Nat King Cole and pearl bailey and Johnny Mathis and the will mastin trio. They are coming here to entertain, but they cannot go into the front door of the casino. Trying to get an opportunity, trying to fight your way in, and hearing day after day, im sorry. We dont book colored acts. Sorry, colored people cant stay here, and it was just you know, you just become so mad that you just say, well, what is this . Charles racism was part of life in america. And vegas was the mississippi of the west back in those days. But thats the way it was. We didnt think anything about it. Wed just maneuver through it. You take it one day at a time, and you did what you could do. Back then, there were no black girls in any of the lines, Production Shows that i was in on the strip. And everyone that hired me for any show, i was always put the question, you know, you have such a beautiful color. What are you . Immediately, i knew. I could not say im black. I would come up with anything else other than black, because if i was black, i was out. I wasnt gonna get the job, period. I carried on this facade for a while, until i met sammy davis. Sammy knew that i was of mixed blood, and he protected me through a lot of the stuff that was happening. Hed say, dont ever do this. Dont ever leave the casino with someone, and dont you know, just simple little things. Vegas was changing and shifting, but still, it was very small and very slow. I was a queen to him whos gonna make me play now . Geran entertainers could play in major hotels, but you couldnt stay. The only black entertainer that was able to stay at that time was lena horne. And it was said that she was able to pass the paper bag test, where if youre darker than the paper bag then youre considered an undesirable to stay among whites. Too good shore certain performers who took a stand and caused the wheel to turn lena horne, who was. Yes. A tremendous draw in vegas, who literally, because she could not because was treated like a, you know like a. Her daughter went into the pool, and they drained it. She went swimming in the pool, and they drained the pool. White in 1955, we had the first integrated hotelcasino that could rival any of those on the Las Vegas Strip. And it was called the moulin rouge. Crowd alright white a lot of people think the moulin rouge was blackowned. It was not. It was owned by whites who knew that African Americans were earning money now and that they wanted to spend it. The moulin rouge was themed after the moulin rouge in paris, and you had some of the best entertainment that everybody wanted to enjoy, with the first line of black dancers. Geran we thought that, for the first time, maybe las vegas wants to become integrated, and it started to get a lot of attention all over the world. But it was only open for six months. That was very perplexing because everybody wanted to go there. Everybody went there after hours. All the entertainers went there. It was the place to be at night. White there are lots of reasons that people give why the moulin rouge closed. The authentic reason is probably that some of the subcontractors were not paid. In 1955, there was a downturn in the economy. So, it was not just the moulin rouge that was in trouble. The dunes was in trouble and the royal nevada. But other hotels on the Las Vegas Strip propped up the royal nevada and the dunes, allowing them to stay in business. No one helped the moulin rouge because the competition was just too keen. So, at this point we have progress, but we still have a long ways to go. Davis ive come to realize that if the people who hate, see, the bigots, gee, if they could concentrate a half of that time on discovering a cure for cancer, we would have had it discovered, you know, 20 years ago. But they spend and it becomes [panting] like this with them. And its this frightening the world over. Look, i dont want to add to that. Thats one group i do not want to belong to. Theres one thing that tops Two Of A Kind in our business, and that is one of a kind. A performer that is so unique and outstanding that theres no one else quite like him. We have such a star of such magnitude with us tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, the inimitable liberace. Mcbride there had been entertainers in las vegas since the 30s when they started building out on the strip. But liberace was a whole different kind of performer. Zoglin liberace began entertaining in vegas in the 1940s when he wasnt very well known. But in the early 50s, liberace had become a big tv star. [ applause ] thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you very much. Thank you for your wonderful welcome. I first came here when there were only two hotels on the famous Las Vegas Strip, and i feel like ive grown up with the town and im sort of a pioneer. Mcbride liberace opened the riviera in 1955. And in order to get him there, they paid that man 50,000 a week. And in the casinos, they made that money back, over and over. And what was good for one casino was good for all. It was one of the wisest moves that the mob ever made, in bringing biggerthanlife entertainment to las vegas. Liberace Entertainment Here In Vegas has always been of the glittery type. The tremendous electric signs and the glamour of the hotels and the costumes i wear and everything were more or less stimulated by that. [ applause ] arent you glad you came . [ laughter ] oh, lee . Oh, he was wonderful. Lee invented himself. Crystals and candelabras, and it was makebelieve, fun. Newton liberace took the las vegas image. He would drive cars on stage. He would have lighting that nobody else had. What he contributed to the town was enormous. Liberace was probably the first true showman, in the most extravagant and broadest sense of the word. He gave a show, and that set a standard for las vegas. Announcer variety, the Entertainment Industry magazine, calls liberace the numberone draw in las vegas. The man has become an institution. The public expects the ultimate liberace, the indulgence of the wildest dreams, and he gives it to them. Barbutti hed walk out in a fulllength mink coat. It had to be worth 60, 70 grand. Or hed ride out in a rollsroyce, wearing the mink coat. And hed walk up to the mic and say, i did not wear this not to be noticed. My clothes may look funny, but theyre making me the money little i remember liberace as a man with a great sense of humor. One time, i went into the makeup room, and he turned around and he said, oh, mr. Little, its just a thrill to see you. And he reached up and took his wig and pulled it off and then took a bow. [ laughs ] its been a wonderful evening being with all of you, and before i say good night, id like to sing one little song that i used to sing at the close of all my Television Shows back in the 1950s. Ill be seeing you [ applause ] in all the old familiar places that this heart of mine embraces all day through barbutti elvis was the biggest name in Show Business at that time, but theres people who dont know that elvis came here earlier and bombed. It was terrible. He didnt draw any people. Weatherford it was 1956. This was elvis big year. Hes just taking the country by storm. He couldnt be stopped, and during his meteoric rise, he comes to las vegas. Presley well, since my baby left me well, i found a new place to dwell well, its down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel where ill be schilling elvis loved vegas, but he was ahead of his time. The vegas audience was an older audience. They were not that familiar with elvis and early rock n roll. Zoglin he was packing audiences across the south and concerts all over, but in las vegas, This Rock N Roll kind of stuff was really alien to the traditional middleaged nightclub audience. Schumacher even the local critics savaged him. Like, what is this . This is not las vegas entertainment. Zoglin colonel parker, his manager, went over to see liberace who was playing up the street at the riviera, and he said, my kid, elvis, hes over at the frontier hotel. Hes not doing very well. It would really help if youd come by and give him some help. And liberace, being a very generous performer, did. He went over, saw his show, took some Publicity Shots with him, and he gave him one piece of advice. He said, elvis, your show needs more glitz. And when elvis was doing a concert a few months later, he was wearing a gold lame jacket, very similar to the one that liberace wore in las vegas. [ Camera Shutter Clicks ] elvis loved las vegas. He loved the nightlife. He loved seeing the other entertainers. You aint nothing but a hound dog, hound dog he saw a group called Freddie Bell And The Bellboys who were doing an old Big Mama Thornton song called hound dog. Well, now, you never caught a rabbit you aint no friend of mine zoglin Elvis Loved The Song and put it into his act, and so that became, of course, elvis signature hit. So, elvis got a lot out of las vegas. Well, you aint never caught a rabbit and you aint no Friend Of Mine Gillis i witnessed segregation without knowing it when i was working opposite ella fitzgerald. Ella says to me, will you take me over to see pearl bailey . Well, when you smiled at me i heard a melody it haunted me from the start okay. It meant nothing to me. I walked into the front door with ella. We walked into the casino, walked into the dining room. And afterwards, we walked through the front door again. Thats when ella turned to me and says, youre my friend for life. I says, i thought i was your friend for life. What do you mean by that . She says, you took me through the front door. I had no idea that i made history that night with her. Charles Nat King Cole was the guy given credit for actually being the first guy to integrate the showrooms. I cant forget the night i met you charles the story that ive heard is that Nat King Cole would come over and see the Lido De Paris show. And so, when they were here, he tried to come in and see them, and they told him he could sit on the side of the stage and watch. And so the lido people said, no show unless if Nat King Cole is not sitting front and center, were not gonna do a show. I have been. Asked by a lot of people why do i play to segregated audiences. But, you see, in my profession, im an entertainer, and i think in playing to all types of audiences and particularly being a negro performer when youre having white as well as colored audiences, youre helping a lot to bring people together. Schwartz before they desegregated in 1960, the Casino Owners said, well, im not prejudiced, but many of my customers are. And if we desegregate, itll be bad for business. The high rollers were from the south. People running casinos didnt want to upset them or force things on them. Charles the hotel people were afraid that the rest of the audience would walk out if they saw a black guy sitting in the front. The Almighty Dollar is what rules everything. But they loved Nat King Cole. People were there taking pictures, signing autographs. So, it was another one of those milestones where they broke that racial barrier. Mckee back then, there was a section of vegas where black people stayed and lived. Not in the hotels on the strip. The west side was the black Community Back in those days. Sammy davis had to stay in a persons house when he came here. Until sinatra and dean martin says, no. Why do You Idolize Sinatra so . I can only explain to you that if im with a group of white people and i walk into a place with them and someone says something somebody might say, come on, sam, lets leave. It might be me. Im usually the first guy that senses it and says, i dont wanna go in or lets leave. Frank wouldnt do this. Now, it might be the right, proper way is probably to get up and walk out, but frank says, no, we got to find out why this is. Yeah. And he pursues it. Mckee i dont doubt for one minute that Frank Sinatra helped dramatically to get sammy to be the first person to stay in the hotel. But if sammy wasnt who he was, the talent that he had, it wouldnt have happened. Sinatra when i found that ella and all of the black performers were living on the other side of the town, i began to make noise about it. I think a few other entertainers began to pick up on that, too, and they hollered. But i guess i was the biggest mouth in the town. White we began to see people fighting for civil rights. Yes, entertainers were part of that, in some cases. But i never want to hear anyone else say that Frank Sinatra integrated las vegas. It didnt just happen with that one act. The credit goes to the black community, who were here on the ground, agitating for integration and for better treatment every day. When integration takes place in 1960, dr. Mcmillan, president of the naacp, does something that no one else does. He says, if integration doesnt take place by march 25th, we are going to protest on the Las Vegas Strip on a saturday night. Las vegas does not want that kind of Television Coverage interfering with business. And integration takes place march 25, 1960. Now, that is just the integration of public accommodations. So, they can spend their money now, but they dont get the jobs yet. Geran even though the Gaming Industry said, were gonna end segregation, that doesnt mean the attitude disappeared. The same people were still here, so it took time to get people to understand that minorities are not the enemy in this town. Four, three, two, one Frank Sinatra had been a Big Vegas Entertainer since the early 50s. And in 1960, he was getting ready to shoot a movie called oceans eleven in las vegas. Day after tomorrow, gentlemen, well be in las vegas. He had enlisted a lot of his hollywood friends to appear in this caper film, and it was Jack Entratter at the sands who suggested some of the costars could come on stage with you at night when you do the show. You dirty rat. You get out of here hey, you step on my suedes one more time. Sure enough, five of them came on every night. Frank, dean martin, sammy davis jr. , joey bishop, and peter lawford. All of them in the film during the day, at night, going on stage at the sands hotel. Davis whoa, whoa, whoa whoa hey, what are you guys gonna try to do . Get in on our applause . We dont need you fellas. Just a minute, fellas. Youve been on for a long time now. Youll have to leave now. [ laughter, applause ] weatherford the rat pack was at the top of their game in las vegas. Separately, any of them could have packed that small showroom at the sands. But you put them all together, and it was an event. [ laughter ] anka they came at the right time, with the right stuff. Sinatra and the rat pack were very much representative of what was emerging in our culture the coolness, how you dressed, you know, the swagger. Their whole core, and what they were about, was perfect. It didnt get better than these guys. Schwartz the rat pack was so popular in vegas because they really spoke to that generation that had been through world war ii. At this point, theyre the people coming to vegas. They have the money, and this was a comforting voice. You may be my leader, but im gonna punch you right in your mouth. Every time i see you grin what happens . Im such a happy individual little they were just being silly on stage. And dean was such a great adlibber that he would throw lines out and everybody would just roar. They were just like a bunch of kids fooling around. Together if all the women in texas were as ugly as your mama, The Lone Ranger Gonna be alone for a long time. [ laughter ] reporter when sammy davis is present, the humor often turns on race. And theyre all pleased with the confidence they have in each others disdain for bigotry. We dont need this . Dont need that, sam. I thought it was separate but equal. [ laughter ] weatherford the humor, if you listen to the live tapes now, is very cringeworthy, especially the jokes directed at sammy. And you kind of forget that his very presence on that stage was groundbreaking in itself, that he was a peer of these guys. [ applause ] id like to thank the naacp for this wonderful trophy. [ laughter ] keep smiling, smokey, so Everybody Knows where you are. [ laughter ] davis how is it that youre free enough to talk the way youre talking and be an entertainer . Because the rationale is that if im black and an entertainer, i cant be too involved with black causes and survive in an industry controlled by white people. When i say this is a racist society in which we live in, Everybody Knows it is. That aint no that aint no big, Big Statement to make. But i then owe an obligation to my brothers and my sisters to let them know that it existed then, it still exists now, and ive been here for 40 years. White sammy davis jr. Wanted to be with Frank Sinatra and dean martin. They were the epitome of entertainment in that era, but it wasnt always the kind of entertainment that a mixed audience would have appreciated. It was appreciated by the audience that they performed for. And that was the White Las Vegas audience. Why dont you fill my heart with song let me sing forevermore because. Geran in las vegas, everything has to do with the tourists. So, you still have segregation existing, and it didnt make sense. Please be true geran but as the country started changing, las vegas would change, too. In other words i. Love you [ applause ] the las vegas showgirl was a unique specimen. Weatherford vegas probably hung onto its sexism longer than it should have. Schumacher The State Of Nevada was constantly vigilant about doing whatever it took to keep the feds out. Reporter for the mafia, las vegas is an open city. Zoglin elvis was the hottest thing in show biz. He changed rock n roll. Mckee your hearts pounding, and youre getting this build up. He was at the top of his game again