Friday, April 9, 2021
"The Las Vegas Story"
I really know nothing about the city of Las Vegas, except how it is portrayed in movies and literature. When I first went to that city in the 1990s, I was starstruck. Yet, it was a city that is basically a verb and not a noun. I think people like me who enjoy the images of 1950s Las Vegas but live outside of that world and with no interest in gambling would tend to be teary when it comes to a hotel building being torn down or significant changes take place. Those who live in Vegas are on the move. I don't suspect that they think too much of its history. I remember going to hotel gift shops and not finding anything historical about their hotels nor Las Vegas history. So what is Las Vegas?
I don't know about you, but for me, Las Vegas is guys in suits, and all come from some other part of the world. Girls are primarily showgirls or work in the casinos. The entertainment is various lounge artists and performers/singers like Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and of course, the best of them all, Wayne Newton. As a child, I remember his hit song, Danke Schoen. It is sort of a Frankenstein song. It was initially by Bert Kaempfert, who wrote the melody as an instrumental Candlelight Cafe. Eventually, Kurt Schwabach wrote the German lyrics. In 1963 (when I was nine), Wayne Newton recorded the song with new English lyrics by Milt Gabler, a big wig in the recording industry. Not in a million years would I have thought that this simple tune (well, for me as a child) would lead Newton as "Mr. Las Vegas." When you read the lyrics to Danke Schoen, it is almost on the level of Marcel Proust concerning remembrance:
Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen
Thank you for all the joy and pain
Picture shows, second balcony
Was the place we'd meet
Second seat, go Dutch treat, you were sweet
Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen
Save those lies, darling don't explain
I recall Central Park in fall
How you store your dress
What a mess, I confess, that's not all
Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen
Thank you for walks down Lover's Lane
I can see hearts carved on a tree
Letters intertwined for all time
Yours and mine, that was fine
Danke schoen, darling, danke schoen
Thank you for seeing me again
Though we go on our separate ways
Still the memory stays for always
My heart says danke schoen
Danke schoen, oh darling, danke schoen
I said thank you for, hmm, seeing me again
Though we go on our separate ways
Still the memory stays for always
My heart says danke schoen
Danke schoen, auf wiedersehen
Danke Schoen*
Las Vegas is never about memory, but how one lives, one lives at present. Last night I watched the film Las Vegas Story, which true to the Hollywood sense of history that has nothing to do with Vegas. In fact, the original title for the film was The Miami Story.
The plot of the film has no importance whatsoever, and in fact, it's boring. What is interesting is one can see images of Vegas from 1950. It had a small town seediness but with neon lighting. The interiors were shot at the RKO Studio. I like the cast a lot - Jane Russell, Victor Mature (best movie star name), the underrated and slightly creepy Brad Dexter (he saved Sinatra's life in a swimming incident), and my all-time favorite composer and personality Hoagy Carmichael. He sings a few songs, and whenever he is on the screen (or TV or computer screen), it is like the wind that is visually shown throughout the film.
As the head of the RKO Studio at the time, Howard Hughes mismanaged everything. The film lost $600,000 at its release, and he even managed to get in a fight with one of his screenwriters, Paul Jarrico, because he was a Communist at the time and fired. Jarrico took it to court, but he lost the case. Still, what we have is the essence of Las Vegas's thoughts without actually being Vegas. I find cities that are artificial (such as Los Angeles, my home) fascinating because it's made by a vision. It must continually live in any manner or existence.
*Songwriters: Bert Kaempfert / Kurt Schwabach / Milt Gabler
Danke Schoen lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC