VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: The Sands’ Showgirl Tram

Posted on: December 2, 2024, 08:02h. 

Last updated on: December 2, 2024, 09:52h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Las Vegas Myths.

The showgirls at the Sands not only kicked up a storm as the opening act for iconic Sands headliners, including the Rat Pack, but they also took the day shift driving the resort’s parking lot tram in full costume.

Something’s not right here. Can you guess what it is? Hint: Look at the passengers, not the showgirls. (Image: UNLV Special Collections)

“This photo shows a nostalgic ride on a tram driven by showgirls, transporting guests to their rooms at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas in the 1950s,” claimed an October 21 post from the Facebook page D&G Vegas Adventures.

D&G Vegas Adventures is a Philippines-registered Facebook page, with 17K followers, that mines old photos from the UNLV Special Collections archive for clicks. This post nabbed tens of thousands of views, along with 1,700 likes and 147 shares. (Image: Facebook)

“Almost naked showgirls and old(er) “ladies” in wool coats in Vegas!!!” commented Facebook user Larry Bittner beneath the post. “Such were the ’50’s!”

“Boy, are those days G.O.N.E.,” agreed Greg Elvis Miller. “They’d slam you for over $1G per person for anything like that now.”

Well, you already know what column you’re reading, so you can probably guess the news we’re about to break to you. But we don’t blame D&G Vegas Adventures for spreading false information on purpose.

The photo, donated to the UNLV Library’s Special Collections Department by the Sands when the resort closed in 1996, was misleadingly labeled.

Its title is “Photograph of a Sands Hotel tram driven by a showgirl as she transports guests near the pool, circa 1950s.”

Man, we love busting myths right out of the gate.

Who’s That Girl?

The woman driving the Sands tram wasn’t a showgirl. She was an Anglo-Austrian model and actress named Mara Lane who played a minor role in the Howard Hughes-produced 1954 film “Susan Slept Here,” starring Debbie Reynolds, before quitting show business 10 years later. She died in Spain in 2014.

Mara Lane co-starred in the 1954 film “Susan Slept Here.” (Image: IMDB)

OK, then, so what was a Hollywood actress doing driving a Sands tram?

First of all, she wasn’t driving it. Lane only pretended to because this was a publicity photo staged by Slim Aarons. The noted Hollywood photographer was hired often by Jack Entratter, the Sands’ GM, to promote his new resort with wacky visuals.

And Lane was among Aarons’ favorite models.

Entratter created the Copa Girls chorus line for the legendary Copacabana Club in Manhattan in 1945, and he heavily promoted their addition to the Sands’ entertainment lineup in 1955, when this photo was taken.

Tram Sham

The second thing most people seem to notice about this photo — once they stop staring at Lane and the other faux showgirl, whose identity is lost to time — gives away what’s really happening in it.

It’s the annoyed expression on every single passenger’s face. (And no, that isn’t Groucho Marx seated in the back.)

We can’t say with 100% certainty, but we are 99.95% certain that these were real passengers on a tram that Entratter gave Aarons permission to hijack for the shoot. And we’re at least 72% certain that Aarons was the type of photographer who took his sweet time getting the best shot possible.

It’s too bad that Aarons wasn’t given the budget to hire 10 extras. If he were, all the tram’s passengers would have smiled in this photo instead of appearing as though a loved one had just died.

These poor people were exhausted from traveling all day in the 1950s and all they wanted was to get to their hotel rooms as quickly as possible.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. Visit  VegasMythsBusted.com to read previously busted Vegas myths. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.