Cult Vegas: The Weirdest! The Wildest! The Swingin'est Town on Earth!

by Mike Weatherford

Overview

Elvis Meets Liberace, Shecky, and Vampira!
Where? In Las Vegas, of course!

Just about every subject of lingering cult fascination, from James Bond and Bela Lugosi to Lili St. Cyr and "Pussycat" Tura Satana, has a Las Vegas connection. And Cult Vegas is the first--the only!--entertainment history that puts them all together.

Forget about the modern, corporate, themed Las Vegas. Cult Vegas resurrects the golden-age Sin City of history and legend: Frank Sinatra, Louis Prima, Ann-Margret, Redd Foxx, the Treniers, Charo, Don Rickles, Juliet Prowse, Buddy Hackett, and more. This book captures the cool without forgetting the kitsch, such as sex kittens Jayne Mansfield and Mamie Van Doren, and sit-com stars Don Knotts and Sherman Hemsley as headliners.

Cult Vegas also includes detailed coverage of the Strip's swingin' lounge scene of the '50s and takes a comprehensive look at its own boozy brand of comedy. Cult Vegas also gives you the inside dope on nearly every offbeat movie to feature Las Vegas, and peers into forgotten corners of showroom trivia and esoterica: Marilyn Chambers goes legit! Lorne Greene sings!

The extreme, the awful, the camp, and the sublime--it's all here in this freewheeling tribute to a half-century of entertainment that can only be collectively described as "Vegas."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780929712710
Publisher:	Huntington Press
Publication date:	02/28/2001
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	10 Years

About the Author

A Tulsa native, Mike Weatherford rolled into Las Vegas, via the Kansas City Star, on Oct. 29, 1987--the last night Frank, Sammy, and Dean would stand on the same stage on the Strip. Beat down by a long drive, he didn't make it to that show. But he's seen plenty of others since then as Entertainment Columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the city's morning daily newspaper.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	1
	Frank's Room: starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. featuring Jack Entratter, Judy Garland, Peter Lawford, Jerry Vale, Paul Anka, and Wayne Newton	9
	Vegas Goes Legit	22
	Frank and Lefty	32
	Sinatra: Humanitarian and Lifesaver	35
	The Beatles in Vegas	41
	The All-Night Party: starring the Mary Kaye Trio, Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Sam Butera, the Treniers, Freddie Bell, Sonny King, Pete Barbutti, the Checkmates, and Cook E. Jarr	45
	Hey Boy! Hey Girl!	52
	Esquivel: Space-Station Vegas	57
	Guess Who?	68
	Exotica!	72
	Diamond Dave: The Eternal Gigolo	76
	Vegas Rediscovered	82
	Comedy on the Rocks: starring Joe E. Lewis, Buddy Hackett, Shecky Greene, Don Rickles, Totie Fields, Redd Foxx, and Sam Kinison	85
	A Night on the Town	94
	Foster Brooks: So Real He Hiccups	101
	H-e-e-e-re's Johnny!	104
	Drawn Out in Vegas	115
	The Comeback Kid: starring Elvis Presley featuring Sammy Shore, Tom Parker, Priscilla Presley, Bobby Darin, and Joe Guercio	117
	The Odd Couple	122
	Elvis Shows in Vegas	137
	Tom Jones: The Eternal Sex Machine	139
	The Las Vegas Drive-In	145
	The three classics
	Ocean's Eleven	146
	Viva Las Vegas	156
	Diamonds Are Forever	164
	Decade by decade	171
	The '50s: The Atomic Kid, The Amazing Colossal Man	171
	The '60s: The Grasshoppper, Hell's Angels '69	174
	The '70s: The Night Stalker	178
	The '80s: Rocky IV, Over the Top	185
	The '90s: Honeymoon in Vegas, Indecent Proposal	186
	Fear the Worst: The three stooges: Las Vegas Hillbillys, Lookin' to Get Out, Showgirls	195
	Cult value: The best of the rest: Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Best of the Best II, Con Air, Cool World, Corvette Summer, The Electric Horseman, Elvis and Me, The Gauntlet, Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, Honey I Blew Up the Kid, Kill Me Again, Las Vegas Story, Las Vegas Weekend, Lost in America, Mars Attacks!, Meet Me in Las Vegas, One From the Heart, The Stand, Swingers, Things Are Tough All Over, Vegas, Vegas Vacation	200
	Vampires in Vegas	180
	Vegas Movies and Me	189
	As Seen on TV	214
	Vive Les Girls: starring Lili St. Cyr, Tura Satana, Regina Carrol, Dyanne Thorne, Angelique Pettyjohn, Jayne Mansfield, Mamie Van Doren, Charo, Juliet Prowse, and Ann-Margret	219
	Photo Credits	249