Footage from show on Vegas to enrich UNLV archives

Monday, Sept. 26, 2005 | 10:07 a.m.

UNLV library's Special Collections department will be inheriting hundreds of hours of raw footage and interviews from the making of an upcoming PBS "American Experience" documentary on Las Vegas, officials said.

UNLV co-sponsored the Public Broadcasting Service "Las Vegas: An Unconventional History" series with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as part of the centennial celebration, UNLV spokeswoman Hilarie Grey said. Officials got a sneak peak at the documentary last week at Artemus Ham Hall.

The university contributed $500,000 to the project and the LVCVA contributed $700,000 to the making of the three-hour, two-part documentary scheduled to air Nov. 14 and 15 on PBS affiliates, including KLVX Channel 10 in Las Vegas.

UNLV's portion was paid out over three years from non-state investment income, Gerry Bomotti, vice president for finance and business, said. His records show that the expenditure was vetted among other priorities for the university and that administrators saw the project as a great marketing opportunity for the university and as a way to take part in a prestigious documentary.

About 20 million people are expected to watch the documentary or visit the PBS Web site, Grey said.

The LVCVA, funded through hotel room taxes, similarly saw the documentary as a great way to promote the city, Terry Jicinsky, vice president for marketing, said. LVCVA's sponsorship was paid out over two years.

"It was part of our centennial initiative outlining and capitalizing on our 100-year birthday to extend the brand recognition of Las Vegas," Jicinsky said. "The PBS documentary was considered to be one of the better tools to do that in that it had an existing reputation in being a true documentary rather than a travel show type of program."

The documentary shows Las Vegas "blemishes and all," but also paints "the picture that Las Vegas has been one of the success stories of a great American city," Jicinsky said.

As a bonus to its investment, UNLV will own all of the raw footage and interviews after the documentary is finished, Peter Michel, director of Special Collections, said. The collection of tapes will allow the university to preserve valuable Las Vegas history as part of its larger collection on the city and will give professors, students and community members access to the video for research purposes.

UNLV is one of the main repositories in the state for Las Vegas and gambling memorabilia.

Directed by Stephen Ives, well-known for his work with PBS director Ken Burns, the video footage is of much higher quality than UNLV is able to do in its own, Michel said.

"I'm sure there's enormously valuable material that did not make it into the final film," Michel said.

Most of UNLV's Special Collections archives are donated, Michel said, and it's extremely rare that the university "would lay out large sums of money for something."

But the university did pay Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, $350,000 in the mid-1990s for the Union Pacific Railroad collection and recently spend $55,000 for a rare, four-volume history on the Spanish empire's control of the Las Vegas area in honor of the library's one millionth volume.

The railroad started the town and played a key role in the first few decades of its history and compiled the most extensive collection of the city's history between 1905 and the 1950s, Michel said.

Ives shared about an hour of the documentary with officials and specially invited guests of the LVCVA and UNLV at Artemus Ham Hall Tuesday night, and also spoke with an honors history class earlier in the day, Grey said.

The film includes several on-camera interviews with Las Vegas leaders, plus UNLV professors Hal Rothman, Eugene Moehring, Michael Green and state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas.

The Greenspun Family Foundation, owners of the Las Vegas Sun, also contributed to the making of the PBS film.