Vegas documentarian Ives is unconventional authority

Friday, Nov. 11, 2005 | 10 a.m.

It's difficult to find a documentary on Las Vegas that attempts to tell the whole story. But "Las Vegas: An Unconventional History," airing Monday and Tuesday on KLVX Channel 10 (PBS) as part of "American Experience," makes the effort.

Produced and directed by Stephen Ives, the two-part documentary examines the idea that Las Vegas and American ideals are merging, and looks at how residents fare in an area devoted to tourists.

It goes beyond the glitter to look at Las Vegas' neighborhoods, its social services, its ugly racist past and its dreams and growing pains.

Contemporary Las Vegas is contrasted against historic footage of the city's growth spurts. We meet compulsive gamblers, a successful real estate agent, students in the crowded Clark County School District and disgruntled longtime residents upset by lack of planned growth.

Since taking on the project two years ago, Ives said he's been fascinated by the "bravado" of a city that has always been able to anticipate desire and keep itself one step ahead of regulators in Washington and the changing taste of the public.

"In the 1950s, you were out on the edge if you went to Las Vegas," he said "The things that would have been scandalous are now on cable. The city and the country are growing together."

State Sen. Dina Titus, art critic Dave Hickey, radio talk-show host Patricia Cunningham, Las Vegas Sun editor Brian Greenspun, and Review-Journal columnist John L. Smith fill in the story narrated by actor Michael Murphy.

Marc Cooper, author of "The Last Honest Place in America," is also a voice in the documentary.

Between intriguing statistics (such as 60 new streets being named each month and Las Vegas once having more churches per capita than any American city of its size) and slow-motion implosions set to the song "The Good Life," the documentary is as educational as it is entertaining.

Old footage shows the change from the Western town's railroad days to the Rat Pack era and how Las Vegas turned atomic testing into an entertainment factor. There is the inevitable look at how America lets loose when it wants to.

"Las Vegas is one of the most astonishing creations in America," Ives said. "It is the most visited place in the world. It's surpassed Mecca."

But, he added, "The level of ignorance about Las Vegas away from the Strip in the country is staggering. And it's understandable. Most people who go to Las Vegas visit the Strip and go home again.

"We wanted to show both sides of that coin. Ten thousand people come to Las Vegas every month, but every month 5,000 leave."

The project is the official documentary of the Las Vegas Centennial Celebration. It ends with the making of the world-record Centennial cake that sums up the city's excess.

"We couldn't really ever do it all," Ives said, referring to the fact that Yucca Mountain, which he said is more of a Nevada issue, was left out. "But I felt that in the end we pretty much put our arms around the story in the best way we could."

On the stage

Stand-up comic Carole Montgomery stars in her one-woman show, "Confessions of a PT & A Mom" at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Backstage Theatre on the Community College of Southern Nevada's Cheyenne campus, 3200 E. Cheyenne Ave.

Montgomery, who has performed comedy in various shows on the Strip, wrote "Confessions" with her husband. The story of a middle-aged woman fighting to get back her true self, it was inspired by the duality of Las Vegas' night life and suburban life. Tickets are $8; $5 for students and seniors. Call 651-5483.

Las Vegas Little Theatre's Insomniac Project explores the afterlife in, well, "Afterlife" at 11 p.m. today and Saturday, and 6 p.m. Sunday at the Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3920 Schiff Drive.

The comedic presentation of four short plays looks at death and what lies beyond: "Crystal Ball" has a mediocre psychic haunted by her late mother, a renowned psychic. "Fast Track" has four strangers awaiting something, but they don't know what. In "Past Lives" a woman lunching with a friend discovers that the waitress is a reincarnation of her ex-husband. "Are You Being Served" portrays a young man being enlightened on the idea of heaven and hell in a metaphysical waiting room after he kills himself.

Tickets are $10. Call 362-7996.

Fall concert

The Southern Nevada Musical Arts Society presents "A Mozart-Haydn-Mendelssohn Celebration" at 3 p.m. Sunday at UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall. The program features the 60-voice Musical Arts Chorus, a 35-piece orchestra and guest soloists, Mezzo-Soprano Juline Gilmore, soprano Amy Cofield and baritone Tod Fitzpatrick.

Tickets are $12; $10 for seniors, disabled and military; free to students with identification. Call 895-2787.

Kristen Peterson can be reached at 259-2317 or at kristen@lasvegassun.com.