An Inside Look At The Dazzling Glitz And Glamour Of 1950s Las Vegas

When you picture Las Vegas, you probably see the strip's blinding lights, right? Sixty-odd years ago, though, the place looked downright quaint – well, at least in comparison to what it’s like today. This is Fremont Street back in 1958, and those buildings seem astonishingly normal-sized. They do have light-lined billboards, mind you.

It’s hard to believe that the Tropicana once had the biggest pool in all of Nevada – let alone Las Vegas. Compare it to the biggest pool on the Strip today, and, well, it looks quite quaint! The title today goes to the Boulevard Pool – a guests-only swimming hole that’s part of The Cosmopolitan.

Here, we see English playwright and performer Noël Coward in the Nevada desert. He’s posing ahead of his first ever appearance in the U.S. – in Vegas, of course. And as it turned out, this photoshoot – and the performance it preceded – proved to be a turning point in Coward’s stateside career. After the live recording of the Brit’s Sin City show became a huge hit, CBS hired him to write and star in a series of TV specials.

It apparently cost around $164 million in today’s money to build the Tropicana Las Vegas. And when the flashy new hotel embarked on its suitably ritzy opening night, Eddie Fisher rose to the occasion – quite literally! After the show, his supporting castmates hoisted him into the air, which could only signify a job well done.

With international flags waving her in, model and actress Kitty Dolan made her way to the Tropicana Las Vegas in 1958. At that time, the casino and resort was brand new and much smaller than the one you’ll find in Sin City today. In 1986 subsequent owners added a 21-story tower to the otherwise humbly sized hotel.

You imagine showgirls in sequined jumpsuits and feathered headpieces – and yes, those kinds of performers did indeed exist. But Dotty Harmony was classed as a showgirl, too, and instead of the fancy costume, she got a pie in the face! It makes more sense if you consider the context, of course. She was at the Tropicana Las Vegas in 1957 to introduce the next performer – a comedian named Ernie Kovacs.

It wouldn’t have been a party in the 1950s without a bit of Elvis, right? This picture features the rocker in 1955 – a year before his first big single “Heartbreak Hotel” hit the airwaves. It also foreshadowed a future gig for The King. That's because more than a decade later he'd make his return to live performance with a residency in Sin City.

General Omar Bradley had once seen Marlene Dietrich perform for the troops during World War II. So, it seems he couldn’t miss another show from the famous star, who logged her first nightclub stint in 1954. The military official apparently flew from Los Angeles to Las Vegas just to catch the first show!

Evel Knievel came to Las Vegas to watch a boxing match, and that’s when he got an idea. The stuntman wanted to jump his motorcycle over the towering fountains outside of Caesars Palace. Unfortunately, though, the stunt didn’t go quite to plan. He made it over the water feature but crashed once he landed. The daredevil was hospitalized, but Knievel lived to tell the tale – and make many more daring leaps in the future.

Nowadays, you might be able to argue that the queen of Las Vegas is the songstress putting on the best residency in Sin City. But in 1950 the title actually meant something a bit more concrete. The Queen of Las Vegas got to float down the street during the Hellolorado Parade, which we see happening here.

A car accident stole Sammy Davis Jr.’s left eye in 1954 but that didn’t stop him from returning to the spotlight. The crooner didn’t cover up his injury, either. Here, he’s taking off his patch to reveal a prosthetic eye for the first time just before hitting the Las Vegas stage. And he didn’t have a bandage in place for his performance, either!

A crowd of 850 gathered on July 16, 1956, to see Las Vegas’s then-most expensive performer: Judy Garland. Reportedly, the multi-talented star made $55,000 for the show – a record payday at the time that would be a staggering $535,000 nowadays. But she earned every penny by performing all of her hit songs to a captivated audience.

Liberace is said to have raked in $50,000 a week for his show at Las Vegas’s Hotel Riviera, which kicked off on April 20, 1955. The flashy performer tickled the ivories and played his signature jazz tunes, but he didn’t sit on stage by himself. An eye-catching team of showgirls known as the Chorines can be seen standing alongside the legendary musician.

The roulette tables at the Monte Carlo hotel had a 2 percent profit margin when this photo was taken in 1953. These gamblers, therefore, had little chance of beating the house. Still, you couldn’t – and can’t – go to Vegas without letting the good times roll with a game that’s purely based on luck.

Jane Russell signed on to host the 1958 Las Vegas Golf Tournament, but she clearly didn’t just want to stand on the sidelines. The Gentlemen Prefer Blondes actress hit the links alongside the competition’s resident pro Jerry Barber, who managed a smile even though his student is stuck in the sand trap.

There was perhaps no Golden Age performer better suited to Sin City than Mae West, whose brand of comedy pushed the boundaries by flaunting her sexuality. She promised to bring the same energy to Las Vegas, where her show would compete with Marlene Dietrich and other stars’ residencies. But West promised to beat them all “with [her] own brand of sex,” according to this Getty Images original press caption from 1954.

When’s the last time you saw a human-shaped slot machine? Well, you might not be able to find one now. Though in 1950s Las Vegas, a fleet of cowboys beckoned tourists not to try out life on the range, but to have a pop at winning big. Oddly enough, the patron standing in front of these old machines happened to look a lot like them, too.

Ginger Rogers made a name for herself dancing alongside Fred Astaire in RKO features in the 1930s. She then won an Oscar the following decade for her performance in Kitty Foyle. So, by the 1950s, Rogers was more than ready for a Las Vegas show, which kicked off at the Hotel Riviera in 1958.

If you see a crowd gathering around a craps table in Vegas, then you know – someone’s got a hot hand. That was probably why so many people squeezed their way around this one on the casino floor at El Rancho. But that gambler’s lucky streak probably ran out, as did the hotel’s. It closed down in 1992 – nearly 40 years after this photo was taken.

Even though The Mint Las Vegas no longer stands, you may have heard of this 1950s-born building. It’s the first stop on Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Acosta’s infamous weekend trip to Sin City – a journey that inspired the former’s novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Here, though, we see the casino floor a mere half-year after its July 1957 opening.

Wearing a sequined jumpsuit under a spotlight – that’s a great way to glitter, right? But if you do all of that and give your body a shimmy, well, your glow will only grow. Dorothy Dandridge proved that point on November 28, 1955, when she danced across a Las Vegas stage under bright bulbs and in lots of glitter.

The Desert Inn Casino’s slot machines seemed to draw in one type of gambler in particular. Look closely at this image and you’ll realize every single person trying their luck is a woman. And this trend continues today! An Oregon State University-Cascades study found that people who use the machines most are female homeowners aged 55 to 60.

Long before he made his way to the Oval Office, Ronald Reagan assumed a different post: Las Vegas headliner. That opportunity came knocking when the then-actor’s career had taken a turn for the worse – meaning he essentially had nothing to lose with a two-week stint in Sin City. And in 1954 co-star Ben Cruz told Los Angeles magazine that Reagan had started out “rough as a cob.” Hard to believe! The future president apparently got the moves down, though, and looked “polished” when he hit the stage.

Sammy Davis Jr.’s Las Vegas wedding to singer Loray White – and attended by fellow musician Harry Belafonte and actor Donald O’Connor – appeared to be a joyous affair. But the Rat Pack member didn’t actually want to marry this woman. As it turned out, he wed White just to assuage violent threats made against him for dating the white actress Kim Novak. At the time, interracial relationships were frowned upon, and this forced him into an unhappy union for a year.

There was lots of fanfare for the opening of the Stardust Resort and Casino, and for good reason. It was the world’s largest hotel when they cut the proverbial ribbon on the property in 1958. To celebrate, they had a faux firework out front – complete with a bit of smoke at its end. But luckily for the ladies sitting atop the rocket, it would not actually launch!

Every Las Vegas show seems to out-do the one before it – and that has long been a trend among the city’s resident artists. In 1954 actress Terry Moore had a very special gown made for her Sin City nightclub debut, and it would rival Marlene Dietrich’s dress before her. The cost? Supposedly it was $3,500, which tots up to more than $34,000 today.

Considering all of the glitz and glamour of 1950s Las Vegas, it’s a bit of a shock to see the one-time Royal Nevada Hotel’s dealers in shorts. Yet at the casino’s outdoor gambling tables, the staff could dress down a bit – perhaps because of that scorching desert sun overhead.

In this 1958 photo, Kitty Dolan is seen with a friend beside the Tropicana’s huge pool. And it was the most spectacular of all of Vegas outdoor spaces, too. Yep, this was actually the state’s largest pool at the time!

Trips to Vegas are fun enough. But comedian Milton Berle seems to be having an extraordinarily good time on this July 1953 jaunt to Sin City! A grin just so happens to break across his face when the women of the Sands Hotel’s chorus line surround him for a photo.

Who better represents the glamour of old Vegas better than showgirls? This shot captured a gambling-themed number in a Sin City show. And the Jackpot winner in this game would clearly win a great prize – the performer who fell through the slots.

A few weeks before this photo was taken, Elvis Presley worked as a truck driver in Memphis. But he skyrocketed to fame in 1956 – a trajectory that brought him to perform in Las Vegas by April of that year. Here, he poses alongside fellow musician Liberace. And the Getty Images caption noted that both performers had “a big following among the women.”

Dean Martin’s gaze may be directed off stage, but look at the audience. They’re all transfixed on the crooner, who hit the stage at The Sands in March 1957. He wasn’t just any old artist performing in Las Vegas, though. The “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head?” singer turned out to be one of the city’s most popular acts of his time.

Elizabeth Taylor eventually admitted that she married Eddie Fisher in a whirlwind of grief after her third husband Mike Todd died in a 1958 plane crash. But the couple looked pretty darn happy at their wedding, which took place at the Temple Beth Shalom in Las Vegas. Mind you, their union would end five years later.

When it comes to performing in Vegas, you clearly can’t go wrong with glitter. And Esther Williams clearly got the memo ahead of her residency at the Hotel Sahara in Sin City! Not only did she wear a sparkly getup, but set designers simulated a meteor shower by raining some shimmer down on her.

Frank Sinatra made himself a regular at The Sands Hotel and Casino. First, he gambled there – famously holding onto his winnings and ignoring what he lost. But the owners didn’t care because having such a famous face in the establishment benefited them. Eventually, he started performing there and doing other duties – like cutting cakes with Kim Novak and Lauren Bacall!

Before they flicked into high kicks and danced their way across stages, Las Vegas showgirls had to prepare for the spotlight. Here’s a whole troupe of them getting ready in matching polka-dotted robes in 1956. They can be seen fixing their hair, getting made up and partaking in a vice or two before curtain call.

Nowadays, if you bet on a sports match or race, you can head online to find out who won. But in 1950s Las Vegas, gamblers would gather around a board like this one. Meanwhile, staffers constantly updated the wall with horse-racing results from across the country to reveal who had made the right bet.

Las Vegas sits in the middle of the Mojave Desert, so it’s no surprise that it gets hot there. Perhaps this is why Jayne Mansfield – donning a floor-length black gown – had to pick up a frozen treat while grocery shopping in 1959. Mind you, there’s no word on whether or not her pup got to lick the popsicle.

Who would be better to play Nat King Cole in a movie about him than, well, Nat King Cole? Here, we see the famous crooner dancing alongside a few showgirls as they filmed The Nat King Cole Story in 1955 Las Vegas. Looks like he’s nailing the part!

If you went to Las Vegas in 1953, you’d be able to drive down Fremont Street, pass the Golden Nugget and see the glimmering billboards of other hotels and casinos, too. Nowadays, though, you get something so much different. It’s called the Fremont Street Experience, a sheltered pedestrian walkway surrounded by screens – even on the ceiling. It almost makes us miss the simpler – and much more glamorous – glory days of this pulsating city.