Narrator with nothing more than a few miners and railroad men trying to scratch out a living mess nothing more than a few minor railroad man tried to scratch out a living out this harsh on yielding a bat a desk. But even amid the hardship, there were glimmers of what this city would one day become the ultimate collation to work, las vegas, nevada. Vegas, as always, marketed itself on its naughtiness. Of course, within legal constraints. Well, sometimes illegal bill, one of those gambling better than Organized Crime its really vegas became free Entertainment Capital two of the world, say as long theyre all here together when we had a drink the content of that town, what it has to offer you cant beat that every song will become visual shelf. Every song will be like an adventure, like an experience to be a headliner was vegas. Thats what i wanted to do whether youre driving into laws or youre flying into los you see it. It glow when i think about the las vegas first day to come to my mind isnt a 50 sammy davis, frank and dean martin. I just loved it. I just seem like a great playground. Back in the 70s Elvis Banners and elvis spotlights las vegas over each of its historical eras is like a giant Experimental Laboratory for human desire but in the early 30s, las vegas was very different town than it is today very of the New York Stock Exchange millions of dollars. Yet it had the fraction of riot but a gamble from the cradle to the grade wide open gambling the man who pledges his money on the turn of a wheel the satisfaction of knowing whos got to money 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 pin escape from the depths of despair from those days. After the country had been through world war i, theyd been with the boom of the 20s and suddenly that goes away in the 1930s, the United States is facing a real question of identity. In vegas, they have a Triple Threat of positive factors that attract business and tourists number one, youve got hoover dam Build A Dam In The Wilderness in the world will beat a path to it number two, you got the Quickie Divorce bill when the explosion of a marriage leads to divorce, the next stop, maybe nevada ive played Long Associated with easy divorce of course, number three, you got legalized gambling, which makes nevada the only place in the United States where are you can play Casino Style Games legally without gambling, las vegas would have not been born gambling to las vegas is like water to the earth gambling put las vegas on the map the potential to build this city into a gambling mecca, pique the interest of the Crime Syndicates so the launch of the Gambling Industry and las vegas essentially it was the launch of Mob Involvement in las vegas to smash gambling, sharpe, new york mayor laguardia, that big gang. Thank 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 bugs is siegel. And they plot their money into buying the l cortez hotel and they used it almost like a training ground. Billy wilkerson, who was the publisher of the hollywood reporter, was already building the Flamingo Hotel been siegel, basically muscled Wilkerson Out of the picture and ended up finishing the flamingo so with money from meyer lansky, when the flamingo opened in 1946, they had spent 6 to build this hotel. And of that, their stories that segal stolen million benjamin seagulls financiers, lets just call them that were convinced he was pocketing the money june 20, 1947, siegel was assassinated in beverly hills, california and not 15 minutes later, other people are at the flamingo saying were in charge bugs these out. Were in and fomenko becomes one of the Iconic Hotels on the strip and then it was full speed ahead for the model the Flamingo Hotel was the first hotel to really go after big, big name entertainment. The mob people loved mixing with stars. And so they would shell out the money for them. You know, i walked out with a slot machine and i put 11 on a flat. And what do you think came up . Manager they got Jimmy Durante to open the hotel. They had martin and louis, they had the biggest entertainers in america they entertainment in the 50s and las vegas is centralized were in la, you might have someone play one time las vegas had them coming in backtoback you can see four people at one time in the same week 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 you gamble . Big time 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 will cared about las vegas. Theyre very much involved in the community. It was 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 can 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 these fingers. I dont think he ever achieved it again in mob circles, las vegas became known as an open city. This is a place where there were no territorys. You had new york and chicago and cleveland in kansas city and all these different syndicates had investments here hi, everybody could win in las vegas. If youre outside nevada, you had to pay somebody off to operate here its Business Las Vegas was essentially the mobs atl Elliott Spitzer blazed a trail that had him in Spitting Distance of the white house right up until the moment he set himself on fire and crusading governor by day, wanted desperately, i think to be present in the United States client number nine by night, this guy who was a crusader against Human Sex Trafficking is a customer. Heres how the saga of Eliot Spitzer really went down this was a Turning Point in american government, United States of scandal with jake tapper. New episode next sunday at night on cnn, sorry, body for knowing about actives. But giving 100 of them to my face, the fear no more body get active serums with Hyaluronic Acid that quench vitamin c that brightens and pro sara mind that even everywhere, new doubs theorem, body wash, get dove or get fomo with so many choices on booking. Com, there are so many tina fey as i could be. So i hired body doubles to help me out, splurge 18 loves a hotel near rodeo drive tina tina blocked a farm stay to ride this horse glenn close was millions of possibilities. You can book whoever you want to be thats my line. Booking. Com booking dot yeah. Rachel, you okay. No. I live with a broken phone. I cant treat it. Okay. Thats dramatic. But our plans, verizon, you can treating your old phone and get the new Samsung Galaxy s24 plus with ai on them i know phone free this is great yeah, great. Talk. Save up to 1,800 and trade in any Samsung Phone for a new Galaxy S24 Plus watch and tablet all on us, only on verizon ill, deal. With the sooner. You wont ripen. Here is your watering look out Crusty Disease its just too much. Now with this good advice, when stains and odors pile up, its got to be tied when you shop wayfair, you get big deals for your home every day so big. So am i a big deal. You are because its a big deal when you get a big deal, wayfair deal so big that you might again a big head because whats savings so real, you can get your dream sofa for the phrase wayfair, its always a big deal ways you could just what i need whats my safe flight story . Im a photographer and when im driving, i see inspirations right through my glass. So when my windshield cracked, it had to be fixed right i scheduled with safelite auto glass. Their experts replaced by windshield and recalibrated my cards advanced Safety System safelite its the one i trust. They focused on safety. So i can focus on this view like we pay are safe place organized gambling is a vicious evil it 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. When i was your age, we never had anything like this. Join the millions of people taking what . Wifi . Privacy wifi that works all over the house, even the basement. The basement. So i can finally throw that party. And invite shannon barnes. Dream do come true. Xfinity gives you reliable wifi with walltowall coverage on all your devices, even when everyone is online. Maybe well even get married one day. I wonder what i will be doing . Probably still living here with mom and dad. Fast reliable speeds right where you need them. Thats walltowall wifi on the xfinity 10g network. 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 wou