Since starting the Occasional Paper Series over at the Center for Gaming Research, I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity of getting to learn more about the topics that scholars choose to write about. So it’s a good day when I can announce that another one is ready for your reading pleasure:
Paper 06: August 2010
Laura Cook Kenna. “The Promise of Gangster Glamour: Sinatra, Vegas, and Alluring, Ethnicized, Excess,” Occasional Paper Series 6. Las Vegas: Center for Gaming Research, University Libraries, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2010.
Abstract: Las Vegas has been linked with Frank Sinatra since the 1950s. The highly‐publicized performances of the Rat Pack (consisting of Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Joey Bishop, and Peter Lawford) at the Sands crystallized the image of Las Vegas as a place that mingled economic mobility with excess. This excess was often associated with ethnicity and frequently linked to crime. It was, however, the excess that made Las Vegas and Sinatra glamorous to many audiences.
Keywords: Las Vegas, Rat Pack, Gangsters, American Ethnicity
View the paper here (pdf)
I tweaked the masthead a bit, to keep up with the lighter look that we’re going for with the site in general. I’m always open to feedback–it’s still in transition, most likely.
On to the paper: what I like about this one is that it gives a serious exploration of an idea–”gangster glamour”–that seems contradictory at first thought, but actually makes sense. In a lot of ways, this is what Las Vegas is all about. For decades, the city’s offered “safe adventure” for visitors–wild times, but not too wild (at least that’s how the city’s been promoted. Reality often differs quite a bit).
You can also hear the podcasted version of Kenna’s lecture here.
Perhaps it can be said that the “suspension of disbelief” is the key element in enjoying Disneyland, Las Vegas and other such amusements.
If we suspend our critical judgment we can accept “gangster glamour” as an entertaining and profitable force. Its rather hard to believe that during “the good ol’ days” in Vegas every dealer was moonlighting as a hit man and every cocktail waitress getting callouses after eight hours of walking was really a ten-thousand dollar a night call girl. People accept such a role for organized crime simply because the people are there to have fun and do not want to be reminded that as Meyer Lansky was fond of saying: “there is no such thing as organized crime”.