Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner
After a successful career during the 30s and early 40s, Frank Sinatra hit a major slump. It was both Vegas and winning an Oscar for his performance in “From Here to Eternity” that turned his career around. It was also the time he had his very fiery and publicized marriage with actress Ava Gardner.
The two began dating while Sinatra was still legally married to his wife Nancy, even though they had been on and off for a while. Sinatra and Gardner’s fights were legendary, and they kissed and made up just as loudly. Here’s the couple at the opening of his club in 1951.
The Opera Singer
Celebrated opera singer Marguerite Piazza was a Las Vegas headliner originally born and raised in New Orleans. Piazza was also a radio and TV star during the 1950s, and she took her act on the road for 15 years from New York and Boston to Las Vegas.
As a Las Vegas regular, the opera singer transitioned into a jazz career, performing at the supper-club circuit in popular venues. But that’s only scratching the surface of what was a remarkable life and career. Piazza also had six children, survived cancer, saw four marriages and the deaths of her husbands, and rallied after losing a child under tragic circumstances.
The Dream Girl
Jayne Mansfield was a hugely iconic sex symbol in the 1950s and early 1960s. Everyone wanted to be her. She shot to fame after a minor part in the CBS show "Lux Video Theatre." Here, the actor poses by one of her absolute favorite spots in Las Vegas - the Dunes Hotel poolside in 1955.
Mansfield wasn’t just an actor and the very personification of a Hollywood blond bombshell. She was a singer and Playboy Playmate too. Mansfield more than made her mark in the cutthroat entertainment industry. But fans today might not know Mansfield as well as her famous daughter – actor Mariska Hargitay of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit."
Jon and Sandra Steele
Jon and Sandra Steele were regular Las Vegas fixtures in the 1950s. They fell in love and married in the 1930s and continued to partner together - not just for life but also as performers. They were a brilliant vocal duo. In this picture, Sondra helps fix her husband’s bow tie in their green room before a performance at the El Rancho in Vegas.
The couple skyrocketed to fame in 1948 after their rendition of “My Happiness” reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts. The song earned them the Cash Box award for Most Popular Jukebox Record and continued to dominate the charts for 30 weeks after. Jon passed away in 1987 while Sondra died in 1998.
Express Weddings
Las Vegas has been the “quickie” wedding capital since the ‘50s, and the story behind how it got that name goes back even further. The city had always been lax about wedding requirements since the early 1900s. Unlike other states, Nevada didn’t need blood tests to prevent couples from marrying while inebriated – which is why everyone flocked here to get married.
But express weddings became a thing only in the 1930s when the state passed bills shortening the time needed before you could file for divorce. By the 1950s, the Vegas wedding industry was booming. Here we have a couple kissing after a Vegas wedding, with an official already handing over their easily-acquired marriage license.