JULY 30, 2008: IN A LIVE EPISODE OF HIS TV SHOW MINDFREAK, VEGAS-BASED ILLUSIONIST CRISS ANGEL...
July 29, 1971: Christina Onassis, 21-year-old daughter of Greek magnate Aristotle Onassis, marries Los Angeles real estate developer Joe Bolker, 48, in Las Vegas. Her furious father demands they break up – which they do nine months later. She marries and divorces three more times before dying at 37.
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July 30, 2008: In a live episode of his TV show Mindfreak, Vegas-based illusionist Criss Angel appears to escape from an imploding building in Florida. Skeptical video analysts question just how dangerous the stunt really was, but his $100 million Luxor show “Believe” opens huge two months later.
July 31, 1969: After a nine-year hiatus from live performances, Elvis Presley performs at the International (which later becomes the Hilton), igniting a major comeback. He returns to the hotel periodically for the rest of his career.
August 1, 1997: Pepsi, Fox and KB Home unveil The Simpsons House in nearby Henderson, a house built and furnished to resemble Homer and Marge’s cartoon home. Thousands tour the attraction and the contest to win it attracts 15 million entries, but the winner doesn’t want it so it’s repainted and sold.
August 2, 2008 : Joshua Clottey of Ghana beats Brooklyn’s Zab Judah to win the IBF Welterweight Title at the Palms Casino Resort. Eighteen months later Clottey picks up a big payday by fighting Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium in Texas after a Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather superfight falls through, but loses by unanimous decision.
August 3, 2007: On Craig Ferguson’s show to promote their Vegas magic act, Pamela Anderson says she and Hans Klok are in a “very physical, very loving” relationship, and he agrees. That makes headlines in his native Holland, where Klok is known to be gay. He later concedes it’s a publicity stunt.
August 4, 1963: Barbra Streisand, just 21, wraps up her first Las Vegas engagement, a month-long gig opening for Liberace at the Riviera. “Her make-up made her look like something that just climbed off a broom,” snipes the Hollywood Reporter. By her next visit in 1969, she a major star – and the headliner.
August 5, 1966: Caesars Palace opens with a three-day, million-dollar gala that includes 50,000 glasses of champagne and two tons of filet mignon. Leggy cocktail waitresses in Roman attire greet guests by saying, “Welcome to Caesars Palace. I am your slave.”
Flashbacks research by Mike Precker.