The 46 Year Impact of a Vegas Song
Viva Las Vegas - The Song and Movie Art
The gathered crowd watching the filming of Viva Las Vegas in 1963.
Viva Definition: [Italian, Spanish] an exclamation of acclaim or approval.
WARNING: This is an exceptionally long, rambling and overly-opinionated blog. At first I mainly just planned to show a video of ZZ Top singing Viva Las Vegas. One thing led to another and I somehow ended up writing the entire definitive history of the use of the term Viva Las Vegas in all its various incarnations. So, if you would prefer to just take a look at some interesting videos - you can see them down below and can skip right over the jumbled story I tried to put together. Jeez. I'm apologizing ahead of time for my own long blog.
Elvis in Vegas 1956
Elvis, bass player Bill Black, guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana sitting by the pool at the New Frontier Hotel, in 1956, while there for their first ever Vegas performance.
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To better understand the social signifigance of Viva Las Vegas, the beginning section of this blog traces the evolution of First and Second Wave teen-movies up their 1964 ,young adult, Viva Las Vegas culmination.
If you're mainly just interested in highlights from the movie you can skip down to the video players to see assorted highlights and videos. If you care to know more about the genres of movies geared towards 1950s and 1960s American teenagers, you can read the info that follows.
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Viva Las Vegas was one of the last movies in a teen-audience genre that extended from the early 1950s until 1964 . The social fashion of Juvenile Delinquency was a major movie theme through most of the Fifties. The Fifties provided a extravaganza of 'troubled-teen' films that both reflected and perpetuated that decade's main social disorder and the fashionability of the Rock 'n' Roll, hot rod driving, greased pompador wearing, tough-talking, teen-culture.
Troubled-teen movies were the rage of the 1950s - from Marlon Brando in the 1953 Wild Ones' biker-gang movie, to the 1955 Blackboard Jungle, to James Dean's 1955 Rebel Without a Cause.
After Elvis' arrival as the Musical King of the Juvenile Delinquents and his gaining ultimate Cool Punk icon status, his second movie, 1957's Jailhouse Rock was about another troubled-teen who gets sent to prison for a bar-room brawl murder. Films about juvenile delinquency were the mode of the times and were even represented on Broadway in the 1957 production of West Side Story (a modern-day Romeo and Juliet story that took place in a JD street-gang culture).
As the teens of the 1950s matured, the troubled-teen movies began to slowly fade away to be replaced by a new era of teen culture (1959-1964) that was much more fun-loving and wholesome. When Elvis came back from the Army he was set to play young-adult roles, much more representative of the gay times and the short lived JFK Camelot years.
Elvis would star in 10 fun-loving movies from 1960-1963. In 1964, Elvis's starring role in Viva Las Vegas represented the last days of the super-wholesome era of teen-audience movies. In the movie he marries Ann-Margret and sets off for a life of marital bliss as a young adult.
The span of Elvis films - from teenage Jailhouse Rocker to a Twenty-Something married man seemed to perfectly complete the trouble-teen genre. Most of Presley's original 1950s teen fans had likewise followed that same 'settling-down' pattern in their own lives.
Along came the Beatles in 1964, releasing their Hard Day's Night movie just three months after Viva Las Vegas. In this Post-JFK year the 1960s teen-scene fashion would soon shift from the "Wet Look"Greasers to the "Dry Look" surfer-like Mop Tops, the same way England's Mods replaced the Rockers.
This 'Wet to Dry shift' represented much more than a change of fashion. In actuality it demonstrated an entire dividing line between two generations of Youth Culture.
The era of JDs, Punks and Troubled-Teens became a relic of another decade and reached extinction. Elvis, likewise, became musically extinct for nearly the remainder of the decade - yet was still locked into his Post-1964 movie contracts. Thus began the era of what many people call the Schlock Films of Elvis - though that might be arguable as this blog later presents, mid-way down.
The remainder of this blog-page talks about the teen movies, then the Viva Las Vegas movie, followed by various revisions of the Viva Las Vegas song and ideal, as displayed in the revival-culture of the decades from 1980 to 2010.
The basic plot of the Viva Las Vegas movie was about a race car driver named Lucky Jackson who comes to LV to race in its first Grand Prix style race. He loses the money he had to buy an engine in the Flamingo Hotel's swimming pool after trying to seranade Ann-Margret. The movie follows his pursuit of her and shows lots of Vegas landmarks thru the course of the movie.
Viva Las Vegas was titled 'Love in Las Vegas' for Latin audiences in Mexico and South America. The slightly more garish artwork was deemed to be more suitable for foreign markets.
Viva Las Vegas - Historical Cultural Context of the Movie
Punks, Rebels, JD's, Reform School Girls, Bikers, Hoods, Switchblades and Hot Rods
The years following World War Two brought a focus upon a culture of society that was barely before recognized - the teenager. From 1937-1946 teenagers were mainly represented in American film through the super-wholesome Andy Hardy series of movies (starring Mickey Rooney) in which the main focus on teen-life was acting as a young adult should, finding a date for the prom, mowing lawns for side-money or choosing a proper course of study for one's future career.
In the late 1940s Teen-Culture began to change dramatically. A big rise in juvenile delinquency began to take place and this new phenomenon began to be reflected in American movies. This focus on juvenile delinquency began in the late 40s and continued to the end of the late 1950s, when the generation began to reach adulthood. Elvis Presley movies played a large part in the changes and today's blog will try to show how Fifties Generation reached its end in 1964's Viva Las Vegas
One of the first teen-age, youth culture movies to address the rise in teenage rebellion was this 1947 movie called The Devil on Wheels. 1949 brought two more of these delinquency movies, one titled Bad Boys and the other titled City Across the River - which starred Tony Curtis who played a member of the Amboy Dukes gang. Curtis was one of the first teens to wear the greased back, long haired pompador style that would be adopted by Elvis and members of the Fifties Generation.
Four major movies of the 1950s that focused on delinquency were The Wild Ones (1953), The Blackboard Jungle (1955), Rebel Without a Cause (1956) and Elvis' Jailhouse Rock (1957).
Though these are the well known ones produced by major motion picture companies, several hundred such JD movies were produced thru the 1950s with titles ranging from: Teenage Crime Wave, Hot Rod Girl, High School Hellcats, So Bad So Young, Hot Rod Rumble, Untamed Youth, The Violent Years, No Time To Be Young - to High School Caesar and The T-Bird Gang.
Even Howard Hughes got into the act when he produced his 1952 teenage movie The Pace That Thrills. A list of fifty other titles can be found at the bottom of this blog-article.
Most youth movies of the 1950s were about JDs or monsters. One film that managed to combine both genres was I Was a Teenage Werewolf. Another was The Blob (1958).
The big thrust of JD movies would die-out around the end of 1959...though it took until 1961 before the movie production of the 1957 stage play West Side Story hit the movie theaters.
A new era of wholesome teen films started the early 1960s, though a few other biker style were still produced in the 1960s - but the genre had largely played itself out.
The Elvis Impact on 1950s America
During the 1950s Elvis starred in four successful teen movies:
1956 - Love Me Tender
1957 - Loving You
1957 - Jailhouse Rock
1958 - King Creole
A New Era of Wholesomeness
In 1957, author Frederick Kohner wrote a simple little book called Gidget - about his daughter's fascination with the teenaged surf-culture rising up in Malibu, California. In 1959 a summer movie, based on the book, was released.
The Gidget Series of Movies
The 1959 release of Gidget presented a whole new genre of teen-movies that stepped away from the back alley Teen Punk fashion and instead, focused on the fun loving sagas of surf-culture and beach life. This transition from switchblades to surfboards more accurately represented the youth mentality developing at the end of the decade.
1959 Gidget, 1961 Gidget Goes Hawaiian, 1963 Gidget Goes to Rome
Elvis - Back from the Army - His Movies from 1960 thru 1964
1960 GI Blues - 1961 Flaming Star - 1961 Wild in the Country
1961 - Blue Hawaii
1962 Follow That Dream - 1962 Kid Galahad - 1962 Girls! Girls! Girls
1963 It Happened at the World's Fair - 1963 Fun in Acapulco - 1964 Kissin' Cousins
THE FEMALE ELVIS
Ann-Margret's star was rising fast during the early 1960s, especially after her starring role with Pat Boone and Pamela Tiffin in the 1962 remake of 'State Fair', which was soon followed by her starring role in the highly popular 1963 movie 'Bye Bye Birdie'.
The young stars of State Fair were Ann-Margret, Pamela Tiffin, and two of the most popular singing idols of the time: Pat Boone and Bobby Darin.
Bye Bye Birdie (1963) told a story based on Elvis going into the Army in 1958.
Viva Las Vegas and Early 60s Teen Cinema
Ann-Margret and Elvis on the Viva Las Vegas movie set at the Flamingo Hotel.
The grouping of Elvis and Ann-Margret, for Viva Las Vegas, brought together two of the most popular young, singing, sex-symbol, movie stars of the time - in head-to-head competition against Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello and their oceanside, teenage movie romps.
The early Beach Party movies of Frankie and Annette were released as follows:
Beach Party - August 1963
Muscle Beach Party - March 1964
Bikini Beach Party - July 1964
Viva Las Vegas was released in May 1964 and economically far surpassed the two beach party movies released just two months before Viva and two months after.
Viva Las Vegas earned over $5 million dollars and is listed as being the #11 top grossing movie of 1964, out-grossing such 1964 classic movies as Beckett, Zorba the Greek, Dr. Strangelove, and Night of the Iguana. Viva Las Vegas is ranked in the Top Eleven with such high-grossing 1964 movies as Mary Poppins, My Fair Lady, Goldfinger and The Pink Panther.
Viva Las Vegas - 2010 Remixing of Original Song & Scenes
1. 2009 Remix of VLV set to 1970 footage of Elvis in concert at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, 2. Fan Tribute to Elvis and Ann-Margret with the original version of the song, 3. 2010 remix w/ movie scenes
Viva Las Vegas - The 1964 Movie
Ann-Margret was labeled the "Bye-Bye Gal" on the Viva movie poster because of her earlier role in the 1963 movie titled Bye-Bye Birdie. That movie was based on the 1960 Broadway play about teen-fans' reaction to their rock 'n' roll idol being drafted into the Army.
30 Minutes of Viva Las Vegas' Beginning Scenes
1. The two and a half minute opening aerial shots show the neon lights of Downtown Las Vegas and then show the road-signs for the Stardust and other Strip casinos. The 2:20 mark shows the Flamingo's Champagne Tower and then a ground-level shot of Elvis driving into Flamingo's front driveway.
4:36 shows the old convention center dome and the Landmark Hotel. Ann-Margret arrives in hot-pants and the double-entendres begin ("we'll be very happy to check your motor" and "I'll be happy to drive you wherever you want to go", etc.). The Riviera can be seen in the distance at 9:20.
2. Around the :40 point of this second video the Sands Hotel can be seen close-up. 2:15 shows the Thunderbird. 2:36 shows the Stardust. 3:03 shows the Flamingo sign. 3:33 shows the Tropicana (along with the real Folies Bergere show, as listed in the movie's opening credits).
4:03 shows the Sahara. 4:30 shows a likely fictitional Swinger's Club (probably built on a studio lot) where Elvis breaks out into song (for the first of 10 songs thru-out the movie). As they say in movieland "gaiety, high-jinks and hilarity ensues".
8:15 shows the beginning segment of Ann-Margret at the actual Flamingo pool. This is probably the best movie footage of an actual casino pool in movie history and gives a true-to-life feel of the old Flamingo. Another song begins at the video's end and continues into video #3.
3. Ann-Margret changes from a red to yellow swimsuit and the inevitable romantic cat-and-mouse-game begins with A-M singing "the lady loathes him" and "I'd rather kiss a rattlesnake" while moundily walking around the pool area.
At 3:33 she pushes Elvis off the Flamingo's diving board into the pool, where his bankroll ends up going down the drain. 4:15 shows the actual pool-lobby interior of the Flamingo. 4:59 shows the Flamingo pool once again and Ann in the inevitable red bathing suit and mandated rear-view-walk-away-shot - as Elvis enters the picture (now suddenly) working as a costumed waiter for the hotel.
There are some very good views of Vegas swimming pool life until 7:00. The location shifts and Ann is then seen in black leotards at the UNLV gym doing various early-Sixties gyrations. She finishes her dance with some subliminally provocative "haw, haw, haws" and taunts Elvis with the standard Elvis-movie-line: "Are you gonna chicken-out? The kids are expecting you to do something". He reluctantly agrees with the counter-phrase order "but then we cut-out".
Elvis leads "the kids" into a finger-snapping, hand-clapping, hip-shaking romp with his "C'Mon Everybody" song and camera shots of Ann-Margret, now shaking her bootie to the words "my baby loves me".
4. The last segment of Viva shows the car race, which shows the obligatory car crashes and great night and day views of Downtown's Fremont Street. Scenes of Lake Mead and the desert roads, as well as some Mount Charleston roads, can be seen. Elvis wins the race and the girl. The final minute of the movie shows Elvis and Ann exiting the Last Frontier's Little Church of the West.
(Note:) In the crowd of well-wishers the Flamingo's publicist Abe Schiller can be seen on the right. Abe was once known by the title 'Mr. Las Vegas' long before Wayne Newton or George Wallace used the label. Abe was also known as 'The Jewish Cowboy' due to the simple fact that he wore very extravagant, jeweled cowboy clothes, designed by Nudie, most everywhere he went.
Nudie Cohn was the famous designer who worked for Tex Williams, Hank Williams, made Elvis' 1957, $10,000 gold lame suit and who also worked for ZZ Top. Elvis would later have his jumpsuits designed and made by Nudie in his Early Seventies Period at the International in Las Vegas.
Elvis with Nudie Cohn in 1957 with the $10,000 gold lame suit.
Viva Las Vegas is a good movie to buy or rent simply to see scenes of Old Las Vegas.
The Beatles Take Over America
In August of 1964 the Beatles' movie Hard Day's Night was released and is ranked as being the 7th highest-grossing movie of 1964, earning over $6 million dollars.
In a way, Viva Las Vegas marked the end-of-an-era, just as Hard Day's Night marked the beginning of a new one. Shortly after The Beatles entered the scene, the popularity of hot-rod movies, surfing movies, and even Elvis movies began to quickly fade away.
Beatlemania quickly spread across Europe and the USA all thru 1964.
Schlock of Elvis
The Great Cultural Divide of 1965.
The Wet Look versus the Dry Look. Real Music versus Movie Music.
Elvis would continue making such movie oddities as Frankie and Johnny, Harum Scarum and Clambake up till 1969, despite the fact that those movies flew in the face of the cultural shift taking place during the mid and last half of the 1960s.
The New York Times had this to say about Elvis movies in December 1968: "Three times a year Elvis Presley... makes multi-million dollar feature-length films with holiday titles. For each film, Elvis receives a million dollars in wages and 50 per cent of the profits. Every film yields an LP sound-track record which may sell as many as two-million copies."
While many critics and arm-chair quarterbacks say Elvis could have gone on to have a great career in dramatic films, if only he would have given up making his schlock, post-1964 films, that assumption is open to debate.
I personally doubt if Elvis would have done too great a job in such late sixties dramas as Cool Hand Luke, Bonnie and Clyde, Midnight Cowboy, Butch Cassidy or even Planet of the Apes. Elvis just doesn't seem like he would have fit too well in any type of dramatic cast ensemble (although, had he lived longer, it'd be interesting to see him in Glen Gary Glen Ross).
The appeal for Elvis' audiences was in seeing him as a fun loving womanizer, moving from job-to-job and going from one tourist destination to another. And he earned a lot of money playing that unique role. So maybe Colonel Parker and Elvis knew what they were doing after all.
As for me, I went to every Elvis movie until I was 12 and the Beatles arrived. By Autumn 1964 Elvis seemed like a character from a by-gone era. Hardly anyone I knew went to see any more Elvis movies (especially after feeling basically ripped-off for the 50 cent admission price to the 1965 Harum Scarum movie).
I've now (at age 58) seen most every so-called schlock, post-Viva Las Vegas Elvis movie that I skipped seeing when they originally were released. They've gotten me thru many a boring Sunday afternoon. And finally, with a distance of 45 years, I've come to see the relevance and (tongue-in-cheek) hidden sexual humor of Elvis singing 'Do the Clam' ("Let's work up an appetite, grab your baby by the hand, turn and tease, hug and squeeze, dig right in and do the Clam").
I finally saw the 1968 Elvis movie 'Live a Little, Love a Little' 32 years after it was released and was greatly impressed by how funny it actually is. I'd never before heard the term "satisfactioning me". As for Viva Las Vegas? It's boosted the popularity of Las Vegas immensely over the last decade. Hence, my unusually long blog about its history.
1980 Viva Las Vegas - Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys were a punk-rock band that was formed in 1978. In 1980, they were the first music group to re-record the 1964 Viva Las Vegas song for their debut album titled Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegatables.
The band was known for their tasteless and satirical attacks against mainstream, early-80s society. The group's name was quite controversial and often caused the group to have to use their alternate name, The Pink Twinkies, on several occasions.
The Dead Kennedys insisted that their name wasn't meant to insult the nearly sacred memory of the Kennedys, but was used "to bring attention to the end of the American Dream".
The photo for the album cover (above) was taken during San Francisco's 1979 "White Night Riot" and shows burning police cars that were set on fire by angry protesters against the overly lenient sentencing of the city supervisor (Dan White) for the murder of Mayor Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.
Spin Magazine ranked this album #46 in their list of "The 50 Most Essential Punk Records".
The Dead Kennedys disbanded in 1986 and reformed for a few years around 2001 until 2007. Their version of Viva Las Vegas was used in the 1998 Hunter Thompson movie, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Viva Las Vegas - By ZZ Top
ZZ Top was the first, well-known (non-punk) rock group to record Viva Las Vegas.
ZZ Top members: Dusty Hill (bass) on left, Frank Beard (drummer) in middle, Billy Gibbons (guitar) on right. The band is originally from Houston, Texas and was formed in 1969. About ten years later the two front-men started growing their beards out and their beards now have an iconic life of their own. Ironically, drummer Frank Beard doesn't wear the trademark long beard.
ZZ Top recorded their version of Viva Las Vegas around 1990. The song is included on their 1992 Greatest Hits CD and also in their retrospective CD boxed-set titled Chrome, Smoke and Barbecue.
All three band members were born in 1949. Dusty was born on May 19, Billy was born on December 16, and Frank on June 11. The band is basically a good combination of Fire and Air (with Billy the Fire-Sign Sagittarius, Dusty the Gemini Air-Earth cusper and Frank the full Air-Sign Gemini).
It's been decades since I could distinguish between Billy and Dusty unless they were carrying their instruments or I can spot Billy's beer-can-opener necklace.
ZZ Top will be performing at the Indianapolis 500 on May 28, 2010.
This wall mural shows the Eliminator (ZZ Top's 1933 chopped Ford Coupe) near the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. The Eliminator was featured on their 1983 album of the same name and was used in each of their first four MTV music videos. Their ZZ logo is seen on the car's side doors.
Viva Las Vegas - Sung by ZZ and Assorted Performers
The video-player has 37 videos installed. The first 16 videos are of various performers singing Viva Las Vegas (from ZZ Top, Dead Kennedys, U2, Springsteen, Chris Isaak, etc). Then come some parts of the Flintstones' Viva Rock Vegas. After that are scenes and songs from Bye Bye Birdie. The final are Elvis singing all ten songs from the Viva Las Vegas movie.
You can click the grey-box (left on player) to quickly advance to different videos.
1. ZZ Top 2. Dead Kennedys 3. Bruce Springsteen 3b. Johnny Ramone 4. The Analogs 5. Dolly Parton and the Grascals 6. Wayne Newton 7. Engelbert Humperdink 8. The Rock 9. U2 at Sam Boyd 10. 11. U2 360 12. Elvis 13. Movie's opening credits 14. At the Bellagio Fountains 15. More Fountains 16. Chris Isaak 17. Viva Viagra Commercial 18. Viagra 19. Fear and Loney Tunes in Las Vegas 20. Viva Rock Vegas Flintstones' trailer 21. Viva Rock Vegas ending scenes 22. Flintstones singing 23. Ann-Margrock 24. Paul Mc Cartney showing and playing Bill Black's up-right bass 25. Bye Bye Birdie Telephone Hour song 26. Birdie's Honestly Sincere segment 27. Ann-Margret Lovely to Be a Woman from Birdie * Elvis' other Viva Las Vegas songs: 28. If You Think I Don't Need You 29. Do the Vega 1 30. Do the Vega 2 31. What'd I Say 1 32. What'd I Say 2 33. Night Life 34. Today Tomorrow and Forever 35. TTF Version 2 36. I Need Somebody to Lean On 37. You're the Boss
Viva Las Vegas - The Rockabilly Festival
The Viva Las Vegas Rockabilly Weekend has been held in Las Vegas since 1997. It is operated by a group of great people who live in Southern California and Long Beach. Every year thousands of people attend this annual, four-day, April event. 2011 will be the 14th year this incredible festival will take place again in West Vegas.
The Thursday thru Sunday event features over a hundred rockabilly bands that play in the Orleans Ballroom or inside various Orleans' bars, like Brendans. A daytime car-show is held on Saturday. Fashion shows and Burlesque Competitions are held on the weekend and the headline band plays on Saturday night. The Tiki Pool Party is held on Sunday.
The Viva Las Vegas event organizers provide hotel room bookings at the Orleans, the Gold Coast and the Palms. You can book your rooms by clicking here. Bands and vendors can e-mail the organizers at tom@vivalasvegas.net.
Remember. The next event will be held from April 21-24, 2011.
Viva Las Vegas - The Wedding Chapel
The Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel offers a number of themed weddings such as the Hollywood Starlet wedding, Wassup Pussycat wedding, the Bluez Brotherz wedding and Rocky's Horror wedding.
People can hold their wedding in the Main Chapel, the Little Chapel, the Garden Chapel, or in an actual 1950s styled Doo Wop Diner Chapel.
The chapel is located on the Upper Strip between the Stratosphere and Downtown (1205 Las Vegas Blvd. Las Vegas, NV 89104). Phone: (800) 574-4450 or (702) 384-0771.
Another Elvis-inspired wedding chapel (in the same general area) is the Graceland Chapel which is supposedly the actual place where Elvis and Priscilla got married in May 1967, before holding their wedding party at the Aladdin Hotel. Graceland Wedding Chapel 619 Las Vegas Blvd. South Las Vegas, NV 89101 (800) 824-5732
Viva Rock Vegas - The Flintstones' Movie
Viva Rock Vegas is the story of the Stone Age foursome's trip to Vegas.
Viva Rock Vegas (2000) was the follow-up movie to the 1994 Flintstones movie. Mark Addy plays Fred and Stephen Baldwin plays Barney Rubble. Kristen Johnston (from TV's 30 Rock) plays Wilma and Jane Krakowski (from TVs 3rd Rock from the Sun) plays Betty.
The original Flintstones' TV series aired from 1960-1966. It was the first of a string of Prime Time TV cartoon shows. The Flintstones was aimed at an adult TV audience and was sponsored by Winston cigarettes.
The inside-joke to the Flintstones was that it was a cartoon version of the early 1950s Honeymooner's TV series' characters Ralph, Alice, Norton and Trixie. In 1961, another animated adult-cartoon TV series, called Top Cat, followed this same imitative pattern by portraying a gang of alley-cats patterned after the Phil Silvers' TV Show's group of Army characters.
The Flintstones was broadcast on Friday nights as the lead-in show to the ultra-popular 77 Sunset Strip. The first two seasons of the Flintstones were broadcast in Black and White. In 1962 it started being broadcast in color and became a phenomenal nationwide sensation due to that fact.
At that time there were few color TV shows, except for Perry Como, Bonanza, JFK's Inaugural Parade, the Rosebowl Parade, Disneyland, All-Star Baseball and NBC's Saturday Night at the Movies, etc. It would take until 1965 before live color TV was broadcast on shows like The Hollywood Palace, Lawrence Welk and Ed Sullivan. The simple cartoon imagery of The Flintstones was quite suitable for 1962 color TV.
A sort of spin-off TV series, The Jetsons, also aired in 1962 and was a 2062 futuristic-utopian reversal of the Stone-Aged Flintstones (just as Green Acres would be a reversal of the Beverly Hillbillies).
In September 1963, as the Flintstones entered its 4th season it aired an episode which featured Ann-Margret singing (as the character Ann-Margrock). In the 2000 Viva Rock Vegas movie, Ann-Margret sings the Viva Las Vegas theme song (with re-written lyrics).
Video clips of this movie can be seen in the video player above.
Movie Synopsis: Young Fred and Barney meet Betty and Wilma at the Bronto Burger King. Fred pursues Wilma and they head to Rock Vegas. Fred starts gambling too much and Wilma gets angry. They eventually resolve things and get married in the Rock Vegas Chapel of Love.
Viva Las Vegas - Rolling Stones' Shows and CD
On April 16, 1999 the Rolling Stones performed at the Joint at the Hard Rock. The following night (Saturday April 17th) they performed at the MGM Grand. Later that year they released this rare live CD titled Viva Las Vegas which combined music from both of their appearances.
Prior to this CD, George Thorogood and the Destroyers released a similar "recorded live in Las Vegas" album (also titled Viva Las Vegas) in 1993.
Viva Las Vegas - The Television Concert
The Viva Las Vegas Concert was filmed for television and was a celebrity tribute to the music of Elvis. It was broadcast in 2007 and included the following performers and Presley songs.
Songs Performed: Peace in the Valley, Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock, Love Me Tender, Don't Be Cruel, In the Ghetto, Suspicious Minds, Mystery Train, Love Me, Looking for Elvis, Can't Help Falling In Love
Performers: Faith Hill, Paul McCartney, Chris Isaak, Toby Keith, Joe Perry, Nora Jones, Celine Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Nils Lofgren, Three Six Mafia, Daughtry qand others.
Interviews: 50 Cent, Beyonce, Joe Esposito, Dwyane "The Rock" Johnson, Tom Jones, George Klein, David Lynch, Willie Nelson, Priscilla Presley, Jerry Schilling, Patti Scialfa, Nancy Sinatra and Rob Tomas .
Viva Elvis - The Cirque Du Soleil Show
The Viva Elvis-Cirque Du Soleil Show is performed at the new Aria Hotel
Las Vegas Related - Wall Murals, Prints and Posters
Click any slide for more Viva Las Vegas product info from Amazon.
Notes:
Juvenile Delinquent Movies Up Till 1961
Wild Boys of the Road 1933
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Teenage Jungle 1944
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Bad Boys 1949
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Hot Rod 1950
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Pace That Thrills 1952 (Howard Hughes)
Tough Guy 1952
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Girls in the Night 1953
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Girl Gang 1954
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Running Wild 1955
Rebel Without a Cause 1955
Blackboard Jungle 1955
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Hot Rod Girl 1956
So Bad, So Young 1956
Girls in Prison 1956
Crime in the Streets 1956
Teenage Crime Wave 1955
Teenage Rebel 1956
The Violent Years 1956
The Flaming Teenage 1956
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No Time to Be Young 1957
Dragstrip Girl 1957
So Evil, So Young 1957
Young Don't Cry 1957
Four Boys and a Gun 1957
Teenage Bad Girl 1957
A Dangerous Age 1957
Dangerous Youth 1957
Careless Years 1957
Untamed Youth 1957
Teenage Bad Girl 1957
Hot Rod Rumble 1957
Motorcycle Gang 1957
Reform School Girl 1957
Young and Dangerous 1957
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Juvenile Jungle 1958
Party Crashers 1958
Dragstrip Riot 1958
Stakeout on Dope Street 1958
Young and WIld 1958
Cool and Crazy 1958
Young and WIld 1958
Teenage Thunder 1958
Live Fast, Die Young 1958
High School Hellcats 1958
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Riot in Juvenile Prison 1959
High School Confidential 1959
T-Bird Gang 1959
Rebel Set 1959
Cry Tough 1959
Date Bait 1959
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High School Caesar 1960
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West Side Story 1961 (adaptation of the 1957 stage-play)
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