By RAY KELLY
Many down-on-their-luck souls have traveled to Las Vegas in hopes of scoring some much-needed cash. In early 1956, Orson Welles was no different.
Following a poorly received King Lear at City Center in New York, Welles journeyed to the desert city for a three-week run at the Riviera Hotel, where he was reportedly paid $45,000. Biographer Simon Callow has described the nightclub act as an eclectic mix of magic, mind reading and Shakespeare; the latter “really wowed the gamblers, the gangsters and their guests.”
The show was by all accounts a huge success.
“Orson Welles, former ‘boy wonder’ of the entertainment world, made his night club debut at the Riviera Hotel here last night and climaxed the act by predicting the question and the answer on the famed $64,000 question three weeks hence,” the Reno Gazette-Journal reported on February 23, 1956. “In the presence of armed guards from the county sheriff’s office, the prediction was put inside an envelope, sealed and then transported downtown to a waiting safe deposit box. The act presented by Welles features a bit of everything including mind reading, magic, telepathy, hypnosis and Shakespeare.”
A minute of silent black and white footage from the Riviera performance was recently posted on Instagram by Welles’ youngest daughter, Beatrice. She has graciously shared with Wellesnet the full four minutes and it can be seen below. In addition to opening shots of the audience, whose ranks includes longtime friend Joseph Cotten, the footage captures the broom act, which Welles would perform later that year with Lucille Ball during an episode of I Love Lucy. In the footage provided by Beatrice Welles, it is believed Welles’ lovely assistant was Phyllis Lines, wife of noted magician Kirk Kirkham.
Welles’ run at the Riviera was extended by two days. But despite his success, he never returned to the Las Vegas stage, though he would buy a home there two decades later.
Other major acts to play the Riviera included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Barbra Streisand. Sadly, the Riviera faded into history on May 4, 2015, just two weeks after its 60th birthday, to make room for part of a major expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
The video of Welles at the Riviera can be seen at https://youtu.be/7DCyQB_KUeQ
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