Elvis in Vegas

May 1, 2019
In a spectacular Las Vegas show, Elvis Presley (1935-1977) revived his flagging career. Entertainment journalist Zoglin (Hope: Entertainer of the Century, 2014, etc.) uses Elvis' 1969 comeback to recount a history of Las Vegas from 1931, when Nevada became the first state to legalize gambling, to its current iteration as a vacation destination boasting lavish, theme park-like hotels, designer shops, gourmet restaurants, blockbuster performers (Celine Dion, Elton John, and Lady Gaga, to name a few), and high-tech, hugely expensive extravaganzas, such as Cirque du Soleil. Before focusing on Elvis, the author reprises stories about "the boozing, macho Rat Pack" and many other headliners who drew crowds at the city's glitziest hotel, the Sands. "Sinatra was the king," Zoglin writes, "Vegas's undisputed Most Valuable Player," selling out his shows and attracting wealthy gamblers to the casinos. The 1960s, though, saw a "seismic shift, in music as well as in the rest of the culture"; along with the advent of rock 'n' roll and the Beatles, tumultuous political events such as Vietnam, anti-war protests, and civil rights activism all affected the Vegas strip. Elvis, too, had gone through "a rough decade...in many ways a disastrous one." His early trajectory to fame had been interrupted by two years of military service. When he returned in 1960, at the advice of his domineering manager Col. Tom Parker, he gave up live performing, instead appearing in a spate of lackluster movies. By 1969, writes the author, both Elvis and Parker agreed that he needed to return to the concert stage--beginning with Vegas. Drawing on scores of interviews, Zoglin paints a vibrant picture of Elvis' thrilling, electrical presence: "everyone was dumbstruck," one woman said. "It was one of the greatest shows I've ever seen." Elvis' performance, writes the author, "set a new standard for Las Vegas. The star was now his own spectacle." Sadly, success proved brief: Less than a decade later, the star was dead. An enthusiastic portrayal of an iconic performer.

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May 6, 2019
In this fascinating entertainment history, Zoglin (Hope: Entertainer of the Century) examines the symbiotic relationship between Las Vegas and Elvis Presley. As Zoglin explains, Vegas underwent a handful of reinventions throughout the early 20th century—in 1931 gambling became legal and construction began on the Hoover Dam, bringing in thousands of workers—all of which laid the groundwork for the city’s status as “gambling capital, celebrity playground, mob hangout, entertainment Valhalla” by the late 1950s, when Elvis first performed in Vegas. Much of Zoglin’s account focuses on the evolution of the Vegas entertainment industry, from the performances of Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack to Wayne Newton’s embodiment of the city as a conservative, familiar destination in the 1960s for “middle-aged, Middle American audiences didn’t want to be provoked.” Vegas hotels hosted few pop and rock performers, but the arrival of performers like Tom Jones in 1967 paved the way for Elvis’s landmark 1969 residency at the International Hotel. Elvis, rejuvenated and in top form, “established a new template for the Las Vegas show,” one that Zoglin contends helped transform the city even further into an entertainment destination. Elvis fans will enjoy this richly sourced look at one of the most consequential performances of his career and his lasting legacy in the city that hosted him.

June 1, 2019

A title such as Elvis in Vegas sounds almost redundant--for a time in the 1970s, Elvis Presley was Vegas and Vegas was Elvis Presley. After Memphis, Las Vegas is the city most fans associate with the King, and visitors today still seek out Elvis lore. Presley's late-period transformation into the Vegas-residency icon--the sequined jumpsuits, flared collars, and bell-bottoms--happened as the city and country were changing and played a big role in the modern development of Las Vegas as an entertainment destination. To set the scene for the King's arrival, Zoglin (theater critic, Time; Hope: Entertainer of the Century) offers a condensed post-World War II history of the city. While this is not new ground, the author writes about it with a welcome freshness and a feel for the "Ring-a-Ding-Ding" of the time: Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, Liberace, and the Mob's influence. Zoglin then illustrates how Presley revived his act following his film failures in the 1960s and brought rock and roll to a town that had previously shunned it. VERDICT For Presley devotees and readers who enjoy entertainment history.--Brett Rohlwing, Milwaukee P.L.

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