Las Vegas: Last Oasis In America

Video portrait of Las Vegas in the late 1970s.

0:00Copy video clip URL Color bars, black.

0:30Copy video clip URL Fireworks. Interview with a singer, who refers us to Bjorn Borg. We talk to people in cowboy hats.

1:45Copy video clip URL Las Vegas: Last Oasis in America. Pan around hotel pool area. Nancy Cain reads a Las Vegas newspaper and talks to the viewer. Joel Gold interviews a man about Las Vegas. He says he can’t relax.

3:18Copy video clip URL Liberace Museum. Liberace’s brother welcomes us to the museum. We see his first Rolls Royce with American flag motif and costume. Man tells us that they have broken the previous attendance record that day, nearly 500 people. Brother claims that there really is nothing to do in Vegas during the day besides go to the museum, which seems to be the museum’s biggest draw. We see gifts from the Pope.

6:58Copy video clip URL Cain driving and singing with someone else. We drive by a wedding and stop to shoot them.

7:28Copy video clip URL Talk to security guard, who explains how she got to Vegas–she flipped a coin and it chose Vegas over Texas. She says most people who come to Vegas are looking for excitement.

8:10Copy video clip URL Woman talks about her trailer home and its convenience.

8:58Copy video clip URL Interview with woman at slot machine. She just got married last night. Her husband is off playing Blackjack, which is fine with her since he gets on her nerves.

9:26Copy video clip URL Kids in baseball uniforms talk about their opinions on gambling. They think gambling should just be for fun, not people losing their cars.

10:20Copy video clip URL Casino shots. We see senior citizens trying to work a slot machine.

11:07Copy video clip URL Couple in matching outfit talks about how much they enjoy dressing alike and how they choose their clothes.

11:20Copy video clip URL Young kid talks about hanging out looking for chicks on Freemont Street.

11:40Copy video clip URL Binny Binion, owner, and Ted Binion, son, talk about their casino. They make over 10 million dollars a year.

12:14Copy video clip URL Flashing neon lights.

13:32Copy video clip URL Man points out famous people at Ceasar’s Palace Pool. Most are tennis players since a professional tennis match had just ended.

14:49Copy video clip URL Man tells a joke that explains the only way to describe Vegas.

14:42Copy video clip URL Nevada School of Dealing. Man talks about the old days of casinos. Employee found 2 pennies, bet them, and eventually made $19,000, then lost all of it and went back to sweeping the floor.

15:28Copy video clip URL Ralph Pearl, gossip columnist, talks about Caesar’s Palace and Frank Sinatra. Sinatra wouldn’t pay his markers–$700,000 worth–and got beat up.

16:45Copy video clip URL Debbie Reynolds talks about playing craps with Howard Hughes. Nick the Greek didn’t go to the bathroom or leave the crap table for two days straight.

17:38Copy video clip URL Gamblers at table. One is famous. City shots.

22:18Copy video clip URL Credits.

22:57Copy video clip URL End of tape.