Photo Friday: Viva Las Vegas Edition

Good morning!

As you remember from previous entries, one thing Doris and Ray were good at were taking photos of themselves on vacation. I LOVE. TO SEE THESE PEOPLE. ON VACATION. This set of snaps come from an October 1966 trip to Las Vegas with the improbably named Lou McHugh (the skinny gal holding a golf club in the photo on the upper right) and her husband Bill. Doesn't everything look just as blue and green as you would imagine it would be for a resort in the middle of a desert! I was rewarded for my bravery in carefully removing these photos from their album pages by Doris's red-ink captioning of almost all these pictures! Granted, most of them just said the place and the date and the people in the photo, but that is way more than I usually have to work with!

Here are Doris and Ray outside of their hotel. I love seeing fountains in just about any setting-- water conservation concerns aside, they just look nice! Ray's pose here is particularly "dad-like" to me.

Here, "Myron Cohen" (could these names get better?) looks a lot like Emperor Ming from Flash Gordon, and a small pupster makes a guest appearance. At right, Lou McHugh (which is my new stage name...I know I had one earlier, but I obviously have more than one act to support with weird names, so this is my OTHER stage name) has a laugh with Ray. Two thoughts: are those mimosas? Some kind of tropical, beachside drink? And how cute is Ray in his swashbuckler-y, unbuttoned to the navel striped shirt?

Caesars Palace! The place had only opened in August of that year, so Doris and Ray are seeing the famous Las Vegas hotel and casino at its very infancy. There's a great history of the building at this website, including this little nugget about opening day:

On August 5, 1966, the 14-story, 700 room Caesars Palace opened with each guest being welcomed by the official greeter, a blond 40-20-37 Cleopatra. The opening included the stage production of "Rome Swings" with Andy Williams, and Phil Richards playing the Caesar character. 

Who knew Cleopatra was so pneumatic?

LOOK. AT THEM POSING. WITH THE ROMAN FIGURES. Ray is holding that woman statue's hand, and Doris is looking off into the future with the Centaurian. As usual, Doris's clothes are beautiful. The teal with her blonde hair! Both of them had such style.

At left, possibly my favorite photo of the bunch. Doris labeled this one "Ray October 1966 Caesars Palace Las Vegas Tango, anyone?" You guys crack me up. Do you see his tango stance?!

I initially thought this was Ray and a child or teenager in baseball togs. Turns out (thanks, Doris, for captioning!), this is Bill McHugh in what he considered to be golf attire. Which looks a lot like Casey at the Bat to me, but there you go. Red socks? Check. Red ball cap? Check. All white ensemble plus white sneaks? Sure! Why not! Also: get a load of how shooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrt Ray's shorts are. If you thought the striped shirt was jaunty, these manly hot pants take it over the edge.

As always, it wouldn't a Doris and Ray post without a sweet picture of one or the both of them looking at the other with an adoring gaze. Here they are all dressed up to paint the town, in what looks like a hotel room. Dig those teal curtains! They're almost the same color as Doris's blouse earlier. This ensemble makes me want to grab one of my stoles and my tiny silver purse and sweep-up my hair like Doris for a night at a casino. Granted, I might look a little overdressed in Tunica, but maybe I would be mistaken for a high roller!

Last but not least, this souvenir program from the Stardust Hotel was included to make the folks back home jealous. I love the colors on the first woman's ensemble, and the strategic placement of the top hat on the second one. Just wow.

Have you ever been to any of these casinos in Las Vegas? Are there still remnants of vintage Vegas in that city of sin? I've never been there, but maybe in my decadent middle age I'll get to go like Doris and Ray!

Have a great weekend-- I'll see you next week!