More from the 1966 World Series program, with the theme being Vegas in 1966:
Yes, Vegas was then as now the "Fun Spot!", just one hour and $15 later. I didn't know that flights were just $15. back then, but they must have been, because they certainly didn't mean that youy'd only have to spend $15. to have fun there. They counted on you blowing your 1966 paycheck at the tables if you saved money on the trip, and if you won, well, the lady in the picture with her hands spread wide seems pleased and surprised to see your enormous thick bankroll, if you get my drift.
Once you got there, you had plenty of places to stay, what with 25,000 hotel and motel rooms even then. The Fremont looked like the ultimate in new and modern, with 500 "New, Modern Rooms" and "400 Car Inside Parking," where you could leave your car when you arrived to sample "Your Favorite Chinese and American Cuisine" and "The Finest in Entertainment." THis was before Fremont Street degenerated so badly that they had to put a cheesy dome on it and do light shows to distract tourists from the fact that it's still a pit. A pit with way better odds than the Strip, a pit where serious gambling degenerates go to play, but a pit nonetheless. The Fremont's still there, by the way.
And this place was pretty spiffy for the time:
The features of the Dunes included a full golf course and, new in 1964, a massive neon sign. But the place was perpetually financially challenged, and eventually Steve Wynn blew it up. What did he put there? This.
Meanwhile, some other casinos took the occasion to tout the celebrity factor. The Riviera touted a big star of the time:
Okay, she was appearing there at the time, October 1966. But the coming attractions had some major firepower: a young, nervous Barbra Streisand, Satchmo himself, Debbie Reynolds, Eddie Fisher, Tony Martin, Abbe Lane, a pre-meltdown Harry Belafonte, and the immortal Shecky Greene himself. The hotel's still there but perennially on the endangered list. The big name entertainment's moved on, leaving behind the names- there's a show with Barbra and Sinatra impersonators doing "the show that never was," plus "Jay White as Neil Diamond" and "outrageous comedy hypnotist" Dr. Scott Lewis, as well as a La Cage troupe, the latest incarnation of the "Splash" revue, and other not-quite-big-time shows. Mitzi, we hardly knew ye.
But if the Riviera had some big names, check this lineup out:
The Rat Pack- Dean, Frank, Sammy, Joey, and you know Peter Lawford was lurking. Jerry Lewis, ostensibly when Dino wasn't around. Steve and Eydie, Louis Prima, Allen and Rossi ("Hello dere!"), Nipsey... Carol Burnett, Alan King, Red Skelton, Danny Thomas... "That Was The Week That Was" chanteuse Nancy Ames, Corbett Monica, Buddy Greco... Paul Anka... for 1966, that was the apex of Vegas entertainment. But the best thing in this ad was the slogan "So far ahead... it will always be new!" Er, no. It did last 44 years, but it went away in 1996- here's a nice photo gallery from the very end. But the Sands company lives, and lives well: the convention center's still open, and three years after the Sands itself closed, the owners opened this in its place.
I didn't get to Vegas until '95, after the current wave of Strip megaresorts took root. It must have been quite a place in 1966. It's quite a place now.
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