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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Promise Of Gangster Glamour: Sinatra, Vegas, And Alluring, Ethnicized, Excess, Laura Cook Kenna
The Promise Of Gangster Glamour: Sinatra, Vegas, And Alluring, Ethnicized, Excess, Laura Cook Kenna
Occasional Papers
Las Vegas has been linked with Frank Sinatra since the 1950s. The highly‐publicized performances of the Rat Pack (consisting of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford) at the Sands crystallized the image of Las Vegas as a place that mingled economic mobility with excess. This excess was often associated with ethnicity and frequently linked to crime. It was, however, the excess that made Las Vegas and Sinatra glamorous to many audiences.
The Burger King Revolution: How Las Vegas Bounced Back, 1983-1989, David G. Schwartz
The Burger King Revolution: How Las Vegas Bounced Back, 1983-1989, David G. Schwartz
Library Faculty Publications
Most who have considered Las Vegas history have concluded that not much happened in Las Vegas gaming between the openings of the original MGM Grand (1973) and Mirage (1989). In fact, several structural changes during the 1980s had already reversed a declining appeal. Responding to three crises—competition from Atlantic City, a national economic downturn, and the MGM Grand fire—Las Vegas casino operators began to draw more extensively on a middle-class mass market. Capitalizing on the “Burger King Revolution,” Strip casinos drew more gamblers who, on average, played less, and slot machines displaced table games as the industry’s leading revenue producer. …