HELDORADO (1946): Starring Roy Rogers (“King of the cowboys”) and Trigger (“The smartest horse in the movies”), featuring George “Gabby” Hayes, Dale Evans, and Bob Nolan and The Sons of the Pioneers.

The mob was laundering money in Vegas and it was up to Roy to take care of the problem. Dale wants to help but, in typical old-Hollywood fashion, has to be rescued a few times. This is a “standard” Roy Rogers cowboy film…there’s a lot of riding, the good guys always win, and the horse gets higher billing than the heroine ☺ !!

Is it just coincidence that the film was released the same year that Ben “Bugsy” Siegel opened the Flamingo? Notice that the name of the movie is spelled “Heldorado”, while the annual May celebration is named “Helldorado”. The censors wouldn’t allow the second “L” in the name of the movie, though there are signs, posters and banners in several scenes with the correct spelling. 3 stars

For those who love old Vegas and gambling: Helldorado was an annual event in Las Vegas from 1934 until 1997. It featured the Helldorado Village, a rodeo, 3 parades, a Kangaroo Court, beard contests, and other frontier fun. Part of the movie was filmed during the 1946 Helldorado days, and shows scenes from the parades as they go down Fremont Street. There’s glimpses of the SS Rex, the Apache Bar, El Portal Theater, Wolfson Jeweler, Overland Café, Pioneer Club, The Monte Carlo, Boulder Club, Frontier Club “Roulette-Ladies Welcome”, Bank of Nevada, the original Las Vegas Club, and several other businesses.

Quite a bit of the movie was filmed at the Last Frontier and the Western Village, including scenes around the pool and in the 21 Club casino. There was one shot, by the roulette wheel, which showed stacks of generic “comet” chips. The movie also included shots of Boulder Dam. The Vegas/gambling scenes get 4.5 “chips”

Note: In 2005, for their Centennial celebration, Las Vegas brought back a scaled back version of Helldorado Days. There was a small “Helldorado Village” constructed downtown, the Kangaroo Court found the mayor guilty of not wearing a Helldorado button and tossed him in the pokey, and there was a parade that lasted several hours. My husband and I were fortunate to be in town and participate in the celebration, though we only lasted for about the first two hours of the parade, as the temperatures were hotter than helldorado…