Category Books

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

Authors: Mike Weatherford
ISBN-13: 9780929712710, ISBN-10: 0929712714
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Huntington Press
Date Published: March 2001
Edition: (Non-applicable)

Author Biography: Mike Weatherford

Book Synopsis

In Cult Vegas, Mike Weatherford has resurrected the mystique of Las Vegas' Golden Age - and the 60's-cool of history and legend. This gorgeous entertainment retrospective introduces Sin City s hipster legacy to new generations of Vegasphiles. Meet '50's and '60's lounge greats the Treniers , the Mary Kaye Trio, and Louis Prima and Keely Smith; comedy legends Joe E. Lewis, Shecky Greene, and Don Rickles; and Vegas "babes" Vampira, Lili St. Cyr, Ann-Margret, and Tempest Storm. Weatherford also covers nearly every offbeat movie ever made about Vegas, as well as Elvis and Frank's impact on the town. Cult Vegas is packed with showroom esoterica, descriptions of near forgotten corners of Vegas cult musicology, odd trivia, and unsung heroes of a bygone era. Cult Vegas chronicles the major moments - the camp, the extreme, the awful in short, the magic of Las Vegas' half-century run as an entertainment mecca.

	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