2016 Esper Esau
All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the author.
ISBN: 978-1-54399-861-0
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
COVER PHOTO
Bluebell dancer Valda Boyne in her opening costume Cest Magnifique, Lido de Paris, Stardust Hotel Las Vegas, 1958.
Cover design by Robn Meeks, Prisma Printing, Las Vegas.
All images are from the authors personal collection unless otherwise noted. Images of resort hotels courtesy of special collections department, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Any omission from the text, copy or credit are unintentional, and appropriate credit will be given in future editions if such copyright holders contact the publisher.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
For my wife.
Without her none of this
would have been possible.
FOREWORD
Over the years, while still living in Las Vegas, friends and acquaintances would, after finding we were old-time show folk, ask what it was like living in those early times.
Much later in the mid-nineties after relocating to Sedona, Arizona where, while running our intimate Wishing Well Bed and Breakfast, guests would inquire into the history of the myriad of autographed, framed, glossy photos of stars of stage, screen and radio mounted on our entry wall, having been accumulated over those decades in Las Vegas, and which we felt added a bit of whimsy to our inn.
In time we met the curator of early Las Vegas at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas to whom we took from our personal archives many photos, programs and mementos that we felt otherwise would be abandoned or lost. Upon receiving these treasures, she was most gracious and grateful, adding queries of her own of that glittering era.
During our short visit, a colleague was introduced who happened to overhear part of our historical retrospectives and eagerly sought a verbal record of those times to be set up at our convenience when next in Las Vegas. Later still, retired and back in Sedona among neighbors, friends and acquaintances, the interest in old sin city ran unabated along with the continual intimation of properly documenting these memoirs.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For their help in the preparation of this book, the author wishes to extend his heartfelt thanks for their encouragement, guidance, advice and sincere interest.
To the Mahans, Jay, Karen and Jess, who, upon reading my original notes, urged me to record in greater detail what life was like in early Las Vegas.
To Ed DeGeorge, master writer, director extraordinaire for his invaluable guidance in making my musings cohesive and readable.
To Dr. Su Kim Chung Ph.D., Head of Public Services, UNLV Libraries Special Collections, Las Vegas, for her collaboration over the years on this retrospective by offering a wealth of additional material from their extensive archives.
My warmest thanks to Dick Welsh and Len Rader Jr., two of my long time coworkers, who gave valuable insight to the backstage workings in the fifties.
Thanks to my wife, who provided much of the narrative from the dancers perspective.
My warmest gratitude to Walter Marin and Greg Benoit of Las Vegas Motion Pictures, whose tireless energy over many months helped resurrect the original 16mm film of the second Lido production that resurfaced after more than fifty seven years in obscurity.
Last but not least, my thanks to my wife Valda, who encouraged and supported my months of research, keeping me focused after years of making and keeping notes on the happiest days of our lives.
INTRODUCTION
L as Vegas, Nevada in the early forties and fifties through the seventies was a unique spot on the face of the globe known as Sin City USA. It harbored the famous and infamous, and the term anything goes in Las Vegas was not an empty utterance. It was distinctly different from any other city in the country and proud of it. The saying went for entertainers: If you havent played Las Vegas you havent arrived. It was the only real twenty-four hour town where guests could walk across the desolate strip with a drink in their hand at three in the morning and not get noticed, and where one could order a full steak dinner at five a.m.
Early Las Vegas had very few natives, and native Las Vegans never referred to their home town as Vegas. The great majority of Las Vegans came from somewhere else and constituted the bulk of its population. Constantly reinventing itself, defying the odds of becoming a ghost town after a bust, fiercely independent and proud of it, Las Vegas, unique in every way, soon became the envy of many. Another two decades would pass, and speaking for all my peers and myself, those wondrous years between 1954 and 1974 in our city had to be known affectionately as Las Vegas Golden Era.
The following reminisces starting in the spring of 1954 are an incomplete recollection of what were probably the most exciting and happiest days of my life in the small hamlet known as Las Vegas. After a series of events from my childhood through my youth, serving time in the military, I then embarked on a career one could only dream about. These memories reflect those twenty some odd years when Las Vegas boasted a population of less than fifty thousand souls. While still in its infancy, Las Vegas evolved into the undisputed entertainment capital of the world. Change was inevitable, but during those twenty plus glorious years there was no place quite like it on earth.
Most of the narrative is in the first person and prior to that happy moment during the Stardust period where Valda and I first met, fell in love and then married. This, then, is the culmination of many, many hours of pleasurable ruminating. These memories are not in chronological sequence, and any errors or opinions are mine alone. They are admittedly a labor of love.
CHAPTER 1
A s a young student in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I obtained valuable experience in scenic art, construction and design, learning stagecraft working in community theatre, painting drops, hanging set pieces and building scenery. With this limited knowledge of theater, I one day hoped to pursue this promising vocation. Upon my discharge from the Air Force in 1954, and with my limited theatrical background plus a happy off-base working relationship with the local stagehands, I subsequently endeavored to follow my dream, relocating to the Los Angeles area after that and finally at the age of twenty-six on to Las Vegas.
Hence the majority of my memories revolve around the various theatrical venues, hotel showrooms, projection booths, coworkers and stars of radio, stage and screen, personalities in and around Las Vegas, population at the time around fifty thousand.
During my last months in the Air Force, having recently returned from Korea, I was then based at Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. It was there I became acquainted with the IATSE, The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees. Under the auspices of the local union, and during my off hours at the base, I worked as a relief motion picture projectionist, having learned the craft on base working various movie theaters in Spokane and a drive-in theater in Coeur D Alene, Idaho. The opportunity to work as a stagehand while still in the service arose at the newly being built, Spokane Regional Convention Center. The camaraderie there was infectious, and I learned a great deal from my coworkers treating me as one of their own.
