Announcer friends, viewers, countrymen, lend me your eyeballs. Las vegas has always been able to grab you by the lapels and pull you in. Little its glitz and glamour, entertainment, gambling. Its a place thats like no other. Announcer with time on your hands and money to spend, your thoughts may turn to las vegas. Anka by the late 60s, vegas started to figure out, what else can we bring here . Woman love you, elvis thank you, dear. Elvis was, like, an alienlike thing. He was so unique, so charming, and so hot. They saw that sex and debauchery sells, so lets do sex and debauchery. [ chuckles ] 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 Ladyyyyyy Toniiiiiight The Stars of the las vegas shows may be Frank Sinatra, dean martin, and wayne newton, but for years, the fantasy and the Razzle Dazzle came from the famous longlegged showgirls. The las vegas showgirl was a unique specimen. She was very tall, minimum of 59, and to be hired, your body had to be, i mean, perfect. Schwartz a lot of things went into being a showgirl. It wasnt just about being able to dance. It was being able to wear the costumes. They were incredibly elaborate affairs lots of feathers, lots of sequins. Mckee i had some headpieces that would be about 20 pounds. I wore headdresses that it took two people to carry backstage to put on me. Little that was a way to open up a show having a bunch of girls come out in skimpy little costumes and get everybody excited and then bring out the headliner. Woman in this business, you have to make it while you can, because once you reach the age of 30, they automatically bring somebody younger in. Weatherford las vegas probably hung onto its sexism longer than a lot of places, and definitely longer than it should have. Reporter these women are outraged at the cliches and stereotypes that hold women to be creatures of inferior intellect. They resent the way women are portrayed as sexual playthings, conditioned to believe that their sole reason for existence is to snare and service men. Green in the early 60s, you are seeing women fighting for their rights, but thats leading people to look at las vegas and say, well, the only women you get to see in las vegas, if they arent showroom stars, are showgirls showing most or all of themselves. What does this say about las vegas . Schumacher you look at the cultural movements of the 1960s in america, las vegas was not a leader because whatever was good for the economy was good for las vegas. Culturally, las vegas missed the boat. When i was 16, i was working in paris in the moulin rouge, and then i got a contract for the Casino De Paris at the dunes. We landed in vegas. It was 3 00 in the morning, december 7th, freezing cold, and we had to get into our costumes and do a dance on the tarmac. I thought they were crazy. I said, This Is Vegas . Schwartz some of the showgirls wore all the sequins, some of them wore fewer sequins. At the time, most American Entertainment was still fairly conservative. In your town, women dont walk around on the stage topless, but here, they do. So it had this kind of countercultural appeal. Mckee we had a lot of power. I could get whatever i wanted whenever i wanted because of how i looked and the position that i had in vegas. You were kind of on a pedestal. It was such an honor to be a showgirl. Do you know how few showgirls there were . I mean come on, to be a showgirl . Ugh. Gill it could have been very exploitative if you couldnt Stand Your Ground and say no. I did a strip in the show. I said, look, i want to make it classy, sophisticated, and elegant. I took the stockings off and took my shoes off, but i said, i dont want to wind up with just a gstring on. I said, i dont mind taking these things off, but im gonna put my shoes back on cause it made you finished and elegant. It wasnt the whole, oh, well, lets see boobs. It all was glamour and sophistication, done with class. Binkley i think that when we hear former showgirls saying that they felt empowered, that you have to hear that in the context at the time that they experienced that. I dont think theres a doubt that that era of showgirls in las vegas was exploitative. But that doesnt mean that they werent being exploited better there than they might have been exploited someplace else. Mckee whenever i would go out to the casino, there were always men that wanted me to come over and bring em luck. And then if theyd win, theyd give you chips, theyd give you money. I was making more money than my father was making working his whole life in detroit. Without the women, i dont think you would have had the money in vegas. The richest men in the world were in that audience. We got to a point where the long stem roses would come in, never met the guy, and if the box did not rattle with jewelry, we didnt open it. Binkley they were paid really well, but i dont think that in the post metoo era that we look at that kind of experience as empowered. Hey, young man, if you want an autograph, would you stand in the back there . But im i dont care who you are. Everybody want im im im im Elvis Presley. Elvis presley [ Women Screaming ] from 56 to 58, elvis was the hottest thing in show biz. He changed show business. He changed rock n roll. And then, at the height of his stardom, he gets drafted. Announcer the king of rock n roll no longer has that rock n roll beat. The tempo is, hut, two, three, four for private presley. Hes at camp chaffee, arkansas, beginning his twoyear army hitch courtesy of the memphis draft board. Schilling but even though elvis wasnt performing the whole time he was in the army, he was still on the charts, and elvis came back to a career. And he came back in a big way. He was on the Frank Sinatra special. Man there he is, folks [ cheers and applause ] we work in the same way, only in different areas. [ laughter ] weatherford it adds an extra layer of irony for vegas buffs with this special that welcomed him back. You had the outgoing and the future kings of vegas there on the same tv show. I love you man, thats pretty. [ laughter ] and i always will [ Women Screaming ] Zoglin Vegas Became Elvis retreat, his place to go for rest and relaxation. Elvis and his friends from memphis would travel around the town at night going from show to show, and some smart newspaper columnist dubbed them the memphis mafia. Vegas was perfect. It was a place where elvis could have freedom as a star amongst stars that he could not have even in hollywood. If we wanted to go to see a lounge act at 2 00 in the morning, we did that. It was our kind of life. Zoglin after 1960, colonel tom parker, his manager, didnt think that rock n roll was gonna last, so he decided that elvis would do no more live performing. He would just do recording and make movies. One of his best films from the 60s was Viva Las Vegas. Can you help me, please . Can we help you . Yes, maam. Well, then, id like you to check my motor. It whistles. I dont blame it. What did you say . Zook in Viva Las Vegas, you have Elvis Presley and annmargret together. They have this incredible chemistry. Annmargret turned the tables on the Traditional Vegas Chanteuse that was always a secondary role or window dressing. Hold on for a second. You cant do that to me zook in Viva Las Vegas, she speaks her mind. She doesnt take a lot of guff from elvis. Shes a very Strong Female character. That was appealing to a lot of the female audience back in the mid60s. It was a film that probably gives you the best picture of las vegas in that era. Vegas was always indebted to elvis for putting it on the map. Schumacher it made it look fun. It made it look sexy. It glamorized the place. Viva Las Vegas VivaLas Vegas Viva, Viva Las Vegas schumacher who didnt want to come to las vegas after seeing that movie . Announcer this Rock N Roll Group has taken over as the kingpins of musical appreciation among the younger element. You guessed it the beatles. The beatles actually made a stop in las vegas on their first us tour. Zook the beatles had come in 1964. They wanted to see las vegas. When the beatles came here, they played the convention center. Of course, it was a mob scene. But it was a whirlwind. They came through one day, and left. [ cheering ] schumacher the beatles were a bit of an anomaly because las vegas wanted to capitalize financially on whatever was going on, but when you look deeper, las vegas was resistant to rock n roll. It was resistant to the counterculture that was happening all over the country. Reporter how would you compare this beatlemania to the idol worship around Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley . To my mind, those of us who are an older generation, of course, think the beatles, you know, they dont appeal to us at all. Zoglin as the 60s went on, the Counterculture Revolution was happening, vietnam, the whole rock n roll revolution, and vegas was oldfashioned. Vegas was your parents entertainment. Charles they didnt want the party people. They wanted gamblers. They wanted people who were adult and successful enough to spend a lot of money on the tables. Takes a worried man to sing a worried song takes a worried man to sing oh, hold it. Hold hold it. Who the hells worried . They were much more interested in this nostalgic form of music that would appeal to that wider base. Man ladies and gentlemen, wayne newton. [ cheers and applause ] hello, my honey hello, my baby hello, My Ragtime Gal wayne newton was sort of the cultural bridge between elvis and Frank Sinatra. He was doing a sinatratype show with that veneer of class. Danke schoen darling, danke schoen thank you for all the joy and pain i was comfortable in the kind of music that frank did. Loved the ballads, loved to be able to sing that way. Zook wayne newton started out performing in the lounge at the Fremont Hotel in downtown las vegas. Hed have to go sit in the coffee shop and drink a coke in between shows [chuckles] cause he was way too young to be anywhere in the hotel other than the stage or the coffee shop. Newton the gentleman who was auditioning us listened to two songs. And he got up to leave and i thought, well, back to school. And he said, if we can get you a work permit, then ill hire you for two weeks. The twoweek engagement turned into a fiveyear contract. Fly me to the moon let me sing among the stars i think the time has come and gone that a singer can just stand and sing. You have to do more things than just sing. You have to be a performer. Then its a little easier to achieve some kind of longevity. In other words, i love you listen to that, george. Youre all talkin. I can tell you if i learned anything about show business, it came from those five years in the lounges. The discipline that it taught me, the rapport with the audience that it taught me i couldnt even begin to articulate all the things that that five years has meant to my life. I said, in other words i love you yeah, i do. Her uncles unhappy. Im sensing an underlying issue. Its tmobile. It started when we got him under a new plan. But then they unexpectedly unraveled their price lock guarantee. Which has made him, a bit. Unruly. You called yourself the uncarrier. You sing about price lock on those commercials. The price lock, the price lock. So, if you could change the price, change the name its not a lock, i know a lock. So how can we undo the damage . We could all unsubscribe and switch to xfinity. Their connection is unreal. And we could all unexperience this whole session. Okay, thats uncalled for. Announcer las vegas has its own strange aristocracy. Many people in gambling here have criminal backgrounds elsewhere, but thats forgiven. For the mafia, las vegas is an open city. Schumacher in the 60s, the mobs still involved in a number of casinos on the las vegas strip, but in the State Government in nevada, there was this feeling that this was a way for this state and for this city to grow. The casinos were gonna be good for the economy. Anka they were running a great business. They knew how to do it, they knew how to cater to people, and it was a great place to work. Zoglin Frank Sinatra definitely had connections with the mafia going back into the 40s. Exactly how close it is is always a little bit of a question. Schumacher Frank Sinatra was a jazz crooner, right . And all these nightclubs were owned by the mob. So he had this inevitable interaction with mobsters all over the country. Schwartz Frank Sinatra was trying to fit into many different worlds at once. One, he always liked to pal around with the mob guys from his youth. You know, two, hes trying to make it as a political figure with jfk. So imagine youre going to see Frank Sinatra and dean and sammy at the copa, and youre sitting there and all of a sudden in the middle of a show, sinatra gets up and says, hey, wait. We have somebody in the audience. The brightest man in the political world in this country or any other country today, say hello to john kennedy from the great state of massachusetts. [ cheers and applause ] bow follow that, joey. [ laughter ] you son of a gun, you got the jewish vote. [ laughter ] schwartz originally, sinatra and jfk got along very well. Sinatra had been one of his biggest supporters. The mob guys, its been alleged, were also his supporters. The mob really was excited about john kennedy becoming president because they thought he was one of them. What they didnt anticipate was that he was going to appoint his Brother Bobby to be the attorney general. I was seriously concerned with Organized Crime before i took office. I have become even more aware of how far racketeering has infiltrated our society. The mafia thought they were pretty much protected with helping jfk get elected, but when Bobby Kennedy came in, things started to evolve where the heat was too intense. Where we have seen illegal gambling operate, it has not been a very happy picture so far. Senator have you found, then, that legalized gambling actually attracts this element of society into its midst . It does, senator. Schwartz so Bobby Kennedy gets it into his head that the mob is using las vegas, basically, to wash all their money. He wants to come and shut down all the casinos and kick the mob out. It is my firm belief that new laws are needed to give the Federal Bureau Of Investigation increased jurisdiction to assist local authorities in the common battle against the rackets. Schumacher The State Of Nevada was constantly vigilant about doing whatever it took to keep the feds out. One of the ways they could do that is to show that they, in fact, were regulating the casinos here and doing a good job of keeping Organized Crime out. The state of nevada decided to create the list of excluded persons. It became nicknamed The Black Book. The black book was created in 1960, and its called The Black Book because, believe it or not, it was in a black binder. They couldve been more creative. They made a list of people who could not set foot in a casino. Schumacher it really was a facade to say, you know what . Were really doing something, you dont need to bother with nevada right now. Anka when the boys ran las vegas, youd see them sitting at ringside. If that spotlight went off the performer and went into the front rows, guys were jumping under tables. [ chuckling ] they didnt want to be seen. Man stand back, please. Please stand back. Reporter can we just have a word with mr. Sinatra . Sorry. Im sorry. Can we please have a word with mr. Sinatra . Schumacher when Frank Sinatra started investing in casinos here and in northern nevada, thats when things got a little bit screwy. Im sorry well, when can we get a word [ Voices Distort ] sinatra in theatrical work and nightclub work and concerts and restaurants, you meet all kinds of people. But then came the ridiculous accusations and statements that i was consorting with mobsters and gangsters. The fact that i used to be involved was a legitimate business reason. Schwartz he entertained sam giancana, who allegedly was the boss of the chicago mob at his lake tahoe casino, the cal neva. Schumacher when this was discovered, he was forced to relinquish his ownership of that casino. Green at the end of the day, Bobby Kennedy didnt succeed in clearing out the las vegas mob, but he made them nervous. He put las vegas more squarely in the sights of Law Enforcement generally, but critics said the mob will find a way around it. They were right. Follow me. Ladies and gentlemen, the dynamic checkmates [ cheers and applause ] [ scatting ] weeeedalala lalaloraybam, bam bam mama, baby love all right Baaaby Charles as a kid in the 50s watching television, they would have all of these las vegas acts. Those are the people i grew up idolizing, and, in 1963, i got a chance to play here. cause iii, i feel blue we ended up getting a job at a place called the pussycat a gogo. It was five of us three black guys, two white guys. One of the first integrated bands to play the city, as a matter of fact. Man they call themselves the checkmates. And everybody says theyre going to be big stars. And if versatili