The seven deadly sins of Hollywood (1957)

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS OF HOLLYWOOD splendid and clapped, but they were less enthusiastic when they discovered that this did not constitute the entire portrayal, and that Shylock also made speeches. Shakespeare was only half of Mr. Welles' bill. For the rest of the evening he did a magician's act — making a girl float in mid-air, reading minds and forecasting the next 64,000-dollar question. Now the audience may not have been too knowledgeable about Shakespeare, but they had seen magicians before — and they were not terribly impressed by Mr. Welles. They were prepared to admit, however, that as a Shakespearean he was a pretty good magician. I, on the other hand, felt that as a magician he gave a passable performance of Shakespeare. I met Welles the following day. If you are to appreciate the full flavour of this meeting, you must know a little more of the background against which it took place. For there is something incongruous about finding a genius in Las Vegas. It is a town dedicated to the proposition that if the greatest thrill of life is to win at gambling, the second greatest thrill is to lose at gambling. Most of the people who come there have to be content with the second greatest thrill. Wherever you go, some form of gambling is available. Along The Strip, the long avenue which leads into the town, you find all the big, luxurious hotel-gamblingpalaces like the Sands, the Riviera, the Desert Inn, the El Rancho. Gambling goes on day and night without stop. Sheriffs and deputies, employed by the individual hotels, walk among the gamblers, pistols slung at their hips. They were there, I felt, to provide atmosphere rather than to maintain law and order. At one establishment a million-dollar banknote is on view in a glass case. Nobody has yet tried to steal it, though it is not 130