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Las Vegas in the 1950s was a time of considerable change. 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. ==1950–51== While Las Vegas in 1940 had a population of 8,422,〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/factsstatistics/history.htm )〕 by 1950, it had increased to 24,624 people. The cornering of the gambling market in the city by suspected mob members sparked a two-year investigation by Senator Estes Kefauver and his Senate Special Committee to Investigate Crime in Interstate Commerce in 1950–51. The hearing concluded that organized crime money was incontrovertibly tied to the Las Vegas casinos and was becoming the controlling interest in the city thereby earning for the groups vast amounts of income which was strengthening their influence in the country. This led to a proposal by the Senate to institute federal gambling control. Only through the power and influence of Nevada's Senator Pat McCarran did the proposal die in committee. Along with their connections in Hollywood and New York City, these interests in Las Vegas were able to use publicity provided by these media capitals to steer the rapid growth of tourism into Las Vegas thereby dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other illegal gaming centers around the nation.〔 〕 Nevada's legal gaming as well as the paradoxical increased scrutiny by local and federal law enforcement in these other locales during the 1950s made their demise inevitable. Owned and operated by a joint combine of Mormon elders who provided political and business legitimacy and people involved with organized crime who provided unreported income and street muscle, such as Meyer Lansky these crime hotels came to be regarded as the epitome of gambling entertainment. In 1950, the Last Frontier's Western Village was converted into the Silver Slipper.〔 The Desert Inn opened on 24 April 1950; Frank Sinatra's first performance at The Desert Inn was held in September 1951. The first edition of ''The Las Vegas Sun'' was published on 1 July 1950 by Hank Greenspun with the header "Las Vegas Morning Sun"nquiry into Organized crime was started by Senator Estes Kefauver on 15 November 1950. Above-ground nuclear tests began at at the Nevada Test Site, north of Las Vegas ( from downtown Las Vegas) on 27 January 1951. After it was shown on television on 22 April 1952, the Las Vegas town and the nation was gripped by the atomic fever and the Chamber of Commerce even brought out a calendar showing the vantage points to view the atomic sites. Atomic Cocktails, Atomic hair-dos, and Miss Atomic Blast beauty contests became popular with people in some of the casinos.〔 Testing continued until the 1963 Test Ban Treaty came into effect and surface testing was banned and underground testing became mandatory.〔 In 1951, the Eldorado Club Downtown was converted into Binion's Horseshoe Casino by Benny Binion. Binion styled the casino like an old-style riverboat, with low ceilings and velvet wallpaper. It was the first casino to have carpeting, as well as comps that were offered to all gamblers. He instituted high table limits and set the craps table limit at $500—ten times higher than any other casino in Las Vegas at the time. Ultimately, Binion's raised the table limit to $10,000 and even eliminated table limits completely at times, which was an immediate hit. Binion later served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary from 1953 to 1957 for tax evasion and sold his share of the casino to fellow gambler Joe W. Brown. While Brown operated the casino, he installed the famous $1 million display on the casino floor. He sold the display in 1959 and it was later recreated using 100 $10,000 bills by Binion in 1964 when he regained control of it.〔 The display became one of the casino's attractions. Vegas Vic, the unofficial, yet most widely used name for the Las Vegas, a 40 ft neon sign that represents a cowboy, was erected above the The Pioneer Club in Las Vegas in 1951. The sign was a departure in graphic design from typeface based neon signs, to a friendly and welcoming human form of a cowboy. The giant neon cowhand's creation was based on an image that was part of the promotional campaign launched by the slogan "Still a Frontier town". The voice message that was broadcast every 15 minutes by the mechanically operated image was "Howdy, pardner." This voice was not liked by people and hence its broadcast was stopped. The original figure (now restored) was of 40 ft height weighing about 6 tons (considered then as the largest such mechanical contraption sign in the world). The sign moved its arms, winked, held a cigarette and let out smoke rings. Its attire consisted of a cow boy hat, blue jeans, boots, a yellow checked shirt and a bandana.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Las Vegas in the 1950s」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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