Dean Paul Martin was an American singer, actor, and comedian. One of the most popular entertainers of the mid-20th century, he was nicknamed "The King of Cool." Martin gained his career breakthrough together with comedian Jerry Lewis, billed as Martin and Lewis, in 1946. They performed in nightclubs and later had numerous appearances on radio and television and in films.
The Rat Pack was an informal group of entertainers, the second iteration of which ultimately made films and appeared together in Las Vegas casino venues. They originated in the late 1940s and early 1950s as a group of A-list show business friends, such as Errol Flynn, Nat King Cole, Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra and others who met casually at the Holmby Hills home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. In the 1960s, the group featured Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford, among others. They appeared together on stage and in films in the 1950s and 1960s, including the films Ocean's 11, and Sergeants 3; after Lawford's expulsion, they filmed Robin and the 7 Hoods with Bing Crosby in what was to have been Lawford's role. Sinatra, Martin, and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members after Bogart's death.
Vegas is an American crime drama television series starring Robert Urich that aired on ABC from September 20, 1978, to June 3, 1981, with the pilot episode airing April 25, 1978. Vegas was produced by Aaron Spelling and was created by Michael Mann. The series was filmed in its entirety on location in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Copacabana is a New York City nightclub that has existed in several locations. In earlier locations, many entertainers, such as Danny Thomas, Pat Cooper, and the comedy team of Martin and Lewis, made their New York debuts at the Copacabana. The Barry Manilow song "Copacabana" (1978) is named after, and set in, the club. The nightclub was used as a setting in the films Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Tootsie, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Carlito's Way, The French Connection, Martin and Lewis, Green Book, Beyond the Sea, The Irishman, and One Night in Miami. It was also used in several plays, including Barry Manilow's Copacabana. Also, the musical film Copacabana (1947), starring Groucho Marx and Carmen Miranda, takes place in the Copacabana, as does the made-for-television film based on the Manilow hit song, in which Manilow himself starred.
The Sands Hotel and Casino was a historic American hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, United States, that operated from 1952 to 1996. Designed by architect Wayne McAllister, with a prominent 56-foot (17 m) high sign, the Sands was the seventh resort to open on the Strip. During its heyday, it hosted many famous entertainers of the day, most notably the Rat Pack and Jerry Lewis.
The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the fifth resort to open on the Strip, the first four being El Rancho Vegas, The New Frontier, the still-operating Flamingo, and the now-defunct El Rancho. It was situated between Desert Inn Road and Sands Avenue.
A showgirl is a female performer in a theatrical revue who wears an exotic and revealing costume and in some shows may appear topless. Showgirls are usually dancers, sometimes performing as chorus girls, burlesque dancers or fan dancers, and many are classically trained with skills in ballet. The term showgirl is also sometimes used by strippers and some strip clubs use it as part of their business name.
Flamingo Las Vegas is a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Caesars Entertainment.
The Moulin Rouge Hotel was a hotel and casino located in West Las Vegas that was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1992. Although its peak operation lasted only six months in the second half of 1955, it was the first desegregated hotel casino and was popular with many of the Black entertainers of the time, who would entertain at the other hotels and casinos and stay at the Moulin Rouge.
Live at the Sands is a live DVD by Mary Wilson, recorded at the Copa Room of the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas and released in 2006.
The Chez Paree was a Chicago nightclub known for its glamorous atmosphere, elaborate dance numbers, and top entertainers. It operated from 1932 until 1960 in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago at 610 N. Fairbanks Court. The club was the epitome of the golden age of entertainment, and it hosted a wide variety of performers, from singers to comedians to vaudeville acts. A "new" Chez Paree opened briefly in the mid-1960s on 400 N. Wabash Avenue and was seen in the film Mickey One with Warren Beatty.
Meet Me in Las Vegas is a 1956 American musical comedy film directed by Roy Rowland, filmed in Eastman Color and CinemaScope, and starring Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. It was produced by Joe Pasternak for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Antonio Morelli (1904-1974) was a producer, arranger, bandleader, movie producer, and conductor most well known for serving as orchestra leader for the famous Sands Hotel Copa Room in its Rat Pack heyday from 1954 through 1971. He was music director, band leader, and friend to some of the biggest names in show business for twenty years and is credited with bringing classical music to Las Vegas. He was also a songwriter, arranger, and music director for several Broadway musicals, and beloved for his devotion to philanthropic endeavors in his community most notably founding The Las Vegas Pops.
Frank Gagliardi was an American jazz drummer and percussionist, big band composer, arranger, director, and professor. He was the creator and director of the UNLV Jazz Ensemble from 1974 until 1996. Prior to that, he worked as the drummer and percussionist at the Sands Hotel, accompanying such notable performers as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Patti Page, Lena Horne, Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gorme, Joe Williams, Marlena Shaw and Joey Bishop among many others.
Sinatra at the Sands is a live album by Frank Sinatra accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra, and conducted and arranged by Quincy Jones, recorded live in the Copa Room of the former Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in 1966.
The 1950s was a time of considerable change for Las Vegas. By the 1950s, there were 44,600 living in the Las Vegas Valley. Over 8 million people were visiting Las Vegas annually in 1954, pumping $200 million into casinos, which consolidated its image as "wild, full of late-night, exotic entertainment". The population grew dramatically from 8,422 during World War II to over 45,000. From 1952 to 1957, through money and institutional lending provided by the Teamsters Union and some Mormon bankers, they built the Sahara, the Sands, the New Frontier, the Royal Nevada, the Showboat, the Riviera, the Fremont, Binion's Horseshoe, and finally the Tropicana. Gambling was no longer the only attraction by the 1950s; the biggest stars of films and music like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, Andy Williams, Liberace, Bing Crosby, Carol Channing, and others performed in intimate settings and brought a whole new brigade of Hollywood film stars and others in the entertainment business to the city. In 1957, the first topless show "Minsky's Follies" was started here.
Jack Entratter, nicknamed "Mr. Entertainment", was an American business executive. He is best known for management positions at the Copacabana nightclub in New York City in the 1940s and early 1950s, and at the iconic Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas from the early 1950s. He is closely associated with Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack in the history of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Carl Cohen, was an American executive in the gambling resort industry in Las Vegas, Nevada, in the 1940s through 1970s and is credited with playing an important role in the development of Las Vegas as a premier resort destination. He began his career as a bookie and operator in illegal gambling clubs operated by the Mayfield Road Mob in Cleveland, Ohio. Moving to Las Vegas, he became casino manager for the El Rancho Vegas in the 1940s and the Sands Hotel and Casino in the 1950s; he also had a controlling interest in both resorts. He advanced to senior vice president of the Sands and, in 1973, became senior vice president of the newly opened MGM Grand Hotel. He gained national notoriety for a 1967 altercation with Frank Sinatra at the Sands, in which he responded to the singer's drunken and aggressive behavior by punching him in the mouth and knocking the caps off his front teeth. Cohen was the father of American actor and film director Corey Allen.
The 500 Club, popularly known as The Five, was a nightclub and supper club at 6 Missouri Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States. It was owned by racketeer Paul "Skinny" D'Amato, and operated from the 1930s until the building burned down in 1973.
Bill Miller was a Russian Empire-born American impresario, best known for serving as the entertainment director for several large casino hotels in Las Vegas from the 1950s to the 1970s. He was the father of music producer Jimmy Miller and of The New York Times reporter Judith Miller.
