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Vegas4Visitors Museum: Las Vegas Print
Long before there were magazines like Showbiz or What's On, the entertainment scene was covered by local publications like "Fabulous Las Vegas Magazine" and the "Las Vegan." Here are a couple of classic examples of them from the 1950s.

  • 1959 Las Vegas Magazine
  • 1951 Las Vegas Magazine
  • Las Vegas Print


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    1959 "Fabulous Las Vegas" Magazine
    Fabulous Las Vegas was published in the 50s and 60s as a forerunner to the kinds of free magazines you’ll find in hotel rooms today. This 44-page booklet is dated November 14, 1959 and is packed with ads for shows, casinos, and businesses; show guides; columns about Downtown, The Strip, and entertainment in general; television listings; and much more.

    Each week, a different comely lass graced the cover – usually dancers from the various shows around town. On the cover of this issue is Joan Webster, a dancer from the Tropicana Hotel.

    Ads like this one for Victor Borge’s show at the famed Sahara Congo Room take up a lot of space in the magazine. On the bill with Borge were Louis Basil and his Orchestra plus Jerry Gray and his "Band of Today" keeping the folks dancing from 2:30-6:30 in the morning!

    The Riviera took out an ad to not only promote the Peggy Lee & Buddy Hackett show but to promote the Hickory Room where, according to the copy, you’ll get "A dining thrill you’ll always remember!"

    The Glitter Gulch column by Gerry Kern kept readers up to date on all the latest happenings along Fremont Street in the Downtown area. Part of this issue’s column reads "Who says business won’t boom in Glitter Gulch in 1960? The expansion programs being carried out the Fremont, Golden Nugget, Nevada Club, Westerner and at the Resort Hotels are indicative of the faith and confidence that we should have in Fabulous Las Vegas."

    The TV listings for this week before Thanksgiving included some familiar names -- like "Gunsmoke," "What’s My Line," "Ed Sullivan," "I’ve Got A Secret," and "Twilight Zone" – and some not so familiar – does anybody remember "Badge 714" or "The Alaskans."

    On the back cover is an ad from the Sands thanking a very young looking Sammy Davis, Jr. for his 8th "wonderful engagement" at the hotel. A column inside the magazine entitled "That’s For Sure…" by publisher Jack Cortez, mentions Davis: "Audiences are stirred to exhilaration by the unbelievable talents of Sammy Davis, Jr. at the Sands Hotel. This lad strikes us as one with an unquenchable thirst for knowledge of every facet of show business."

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    1951 "Las Vegan" Magazine
    Boots Van Horn is one of the most colorful characters in Las Vegas history. He moved to the city out of the navy in 1946 and almost immediately took up writing and publishing this little magazine called Las Vegan.

    It features ads for local casinos and other businesses, gossipy columns about stage shows and local Las Vegas life ("What’s this we hear about Wilbur ‘Superman’ Clark of the Desert Inn proving that his muscles have muscles at the pool last week? Yep, he looks real cute in a bathing suit."), and the odd joke or saying ("Dancing is the art of pulling your feet away faster than your partner can step on them.").

    The highlight of this issue is the big splash in the center celebrating the opening of Binion’s Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. One photograph in the spread is of legendary casino moguls Wilbur Clark (The Desert Inn), Benny Binion (Horseshoe), Beldon Katleman (El Rancho), and Karl Cohen (Sands).

    So what ever became of Boots Van Horn? Well, he was married and divorced eight times but gave that up when his last wife stabbed him (eight times, ironically enough). Believe it or not, as of spring 2001 he was alive and kicking and still publishing a free Las Vegan newsletter that he distributes himself around town.

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