New Las Vegas documentary movie

[Grant]

Las Vegas Documentary Goes Beyond Casinos

People think of Las Vegas as Sin City, a version of Disneyland, or maybe a little of both. But as the town's place in American culture continues to evolve, people seeking to change their fortune are still drawn there.

A new installment of PBS' American Experience explores the ups and downs of America's fast-growing rollercoaster of a town.

Las Vegas: An Unconventional History follows the development of the town's all-important casinos, but it also delves into the stories of those who come to Vegas for everything from entertainment to a fresh start on life. The film features the stories of 10 Las Vegas residents, including a strip club "house mom," a hotel maid and a local schoolteacher.

Director Stephen Ives talks with Scott Simon about the film, which airs on PBS stations Nov. 14 and 15.

[Grant]

I need to check my PBS cable listing to see if they will be airing it. The 14th in Monday, so I will check this weekend.

Sounds pretty interesting.

[Grant]

Found this article from Dusty Saunder of the Rocky Mountain News

Public television has produced three hours of programming about Las Vegas.

At first glance, that combination seems about as compatible as Pamela Anderson hosting three nights of The Lehrer NewsHour.

But the three hours are on PBS' award-winning American Experience - anything but a glitzy entertainment series.

Las Vegas certainly is American. And, as any visitor can testify, the neon city definitely is an experience.

There's nothing lightweight about the production team behind Las Vegas: An Unconventional History.

Stephen Ives (Seabiscuit, Reporting America at War) produced and directed the documentary, while Michelle Ferrari (also of Seabiscuit fame) claims script credit. The result is a two-part, three-hour comprehensive history of the glitzy world called, affectionately, "Sin City" by many.

This isn't the first TV report about America's most outrageous playground, which draws more than 37 million tourists annually. But I can't recall any previous project as detailed, informative and entertaining. (The latter is a key word.)

Glitz and glamour define the city. Ives has brought much of that to the screen, along with documented reports that examine Las Vegas' dark side. The chronological documentary begins in 1905 with grainy archival film showing how Las Vegas was born as a small, dusty railroad town in the middle of nowhere.

Writers, historians and resort entrepreneurs recount the city's fascinating history, while profiles of 10 modern-day Las Vegas residents provide a complex look at life in the nation's fastest-growing city.

Among them is a construction worker, an addicted gambler who recounts his nightmarish life, which included robbing a bank to pay his bills and feed his addiction.

A minister talks about his career running a marriage factory, which includes drive-through weddings. Only in Las Vegas.

The three hours are peopled with a wide variety of heroes and villains who shaped this desert fantasy land. There's Bugsy Siegel, Howard Hughes and the famed Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford), who ruled Vegas in the early '60s with their outrageous entertaining in the Sands Hotel.

Fascinating black-and-white film shows the Rat Pack dazzling its audience, which included, upon occasion, a young senator from Massachusetts who was running for president.

John F. Kennedy's association with Las Vegas provides one of the many ironies that weave their way through this tale. JFK loved the Vegas lifestyle. But as president, he "betrayed" his Vegas friends.

Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy began a nationwide campaign against mobsters, many of whom owned and operated Las Vegas' major hotel-casinos. This eventually led to corporate America replacing the mob as the city's major entrepreneurs.

And the question is raised: Was Vegas more fun when the mob was in charge?

The seamy, dark side includes the era when Las Vegas was the ultimate Jim Crow city. Segregation barriers were broken in the mid '50s when, after protests were organized, casino operators finally determined the color green was more important than black or white.

Segregated blacks with menial jobs on "The Strip" or historic Fremont Street had lived in broken-down shacks in an area called West Las Vegas. While Davis, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald and other black entertainers headlined the marquees of the major show palaces, they were not allowed to stay at the hotels. West Las Vegas was their temporary home.

One of the many intriguing aspects about Las Vegas is its ability to re-invent itself. Early on, it was a crude nightspot for the men who built the Hoover Dam. At one time in the '80s, Las Vegas billed itself as a family vacation haven.

As Ives notes: "Las Vegas is a city that understands better than any other what Americans want most when they run away from home."

Las Vegas' excesses are well documented by Ives and his crew. Earlier this year, the city celebrated its 100th anniversary with a 130,000-pound birthday cake. As up- close scenes of the project dominate the screen, the head baker proudly proclaims: "The cake contains 23 million calories."

Only in Las Vegas.

[Grant]

Sounds pretty cool.

I will be watching tommorrow night at 9pm. I just checked my local listings.

Only problem is that it starts at the same time as Monday Night Football