American Experience: Las Vegas - An Unconventional History (64 of 75)
HICKEY: He understood that how it looked is important.
I would say the most admirable thing about all of Steve's projects is they really do detail, you know, they really do detail.
The volcano in front of the Mirage is there because when they were setting it up, they were doing time-motion studies on how long did it take you to get your car on the busiest night of the year?
So, 20 minutes to get your car, right?
But if the volcano's going off every 15 minutes, you're not waiting for your car-- you're hoping your car won't get here until the volcano goes off.
See, this is very refined service-economy thinking.
NARRATOR: Even the entertainment broke the mold.
There was no run-of-the-mill headline act here, no second-rate celebrity backed by a row of scantily clad dancers.
Instead, the Mirage showroom featured a pair of flamboyant German illusionists named Siegfried and Roy, their hand-raised pride of white tigers and a twice-nightly, jaw-dropping magic show that would play to sold-out houses for years to come.
GREENSPUN: Steve came and he realized that if you build it and you build it better and you create a little demand where maybe there wasn't demand-- make it a little harder to get into-- everyone will want to get into it and everyone want...
will pay more to enjoy it.
And he built these fantasy lands for adults, you know, with these volcanoes and the Siegfried and Roy show and, you know, porpoises and everything that people would just love to be part of.
Did they pay more for it?
Sure, they were willing to pay more for it-- he understood that.
Give them something they can't get anywhere else.
NARRATOR: The Mirage had miraculously made Las Vegas new again, and it had done so just in time.
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