The Golden Age of Vegas

July 15, 2005

Once Upon A Time in Old Las Vegas, there was a golden age. In the 1950s, it was Frank, Dean & Sammy's Rat Pack, holed up at the Sands in raucous nightly hijinks. Performers, like Elvis, Liberace, Don Rickles, Steve and Eydie and others made major contributions to this special age of golden entertainment. Barbra Streisand's Vegas acts during the 1960s and 1970s can also be counted among the most classic of Old Las Vegas entertainment, perhaps the best The Strip has ever played host to.

Thirty-six years ago this month, Barbra opened Vegas' new International Hotel. The ticket to her show was priced reasonably. You got a good seat in an intimate showroom, with dinner, cocktails and an opening act included (comedian Robert Klein, Barbra's Owl and the Pussycat co-star, warmed up her audiences). Barbra's International Hotel appearance was the final act in a golden age of Las Vegas that has long since vanished.

Las Vegas has become a lavish corporate entity with enormous overhead. Nowadays, when a big name performs, the unique intimacy that was once sought after by visitors to the Las Vegas of old is no longer part of the experience. Nowadays, one no longer sees traditional Las Vegas acts. They have been replaced with commercial, large scale arena show tours which you can eventually see in your own home town. Even Barbra's last two appearances at The MGM Grand fall into this category. Today, when big talent plays Vegas, the spectacle is glitzy and thoroughly entertaining to be sure. It's just not unique. It's not what we used to experience in Old Las Vegas.

Once Upon A Time.