Designer Times
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I had the chance to work on a number of Las Vegas Spectaculars from 1993 thru 1996 when I began to get interested in more travel and less work. Here's a few:

The Fremont Street Experience is a brilliant and original example of fearless new free entertainment. Every night the Street turns into an extravaganza of sound and moving images using a bazillion little lights. But that's not what it started out to be. Originally conceived as an overhead trolley rail system with a float parade under a blocks long canopy structure, doubts arose as to it's practicality. I was charged with preliminary design of the overhead system working with Kent Bingham on the structural engineering.

When I completed my illustrations of what this iron railroad would look like, it really was not the thing to do. Steve Wynn called and asked me what I would do if I was in charge. "Don't build it". "Thanks Gurr"....end of project. Soon afterwards, the design changed to the lighting method which totally avoided any moving parts. While I'm in the business of creating moving parts, I was delighted to see none on this job.

Sometimes a job is already in construction and a major piece has not even started engineering yet. As time ran out for the usual design, bid, then contract period, the MGM Grand EFX Show needed a 45 ton machine NOW! A fellow came into Kent Bingham's office one day and declared "youse da guys what sunk da ship, get started on dis right now and give me a price by Friday". So Kent and I just started....no contract, just do it now. This job turned out just fine in the end.

It was a monster two-piece moving stage set that rose up thru a giant hole in the stage for act two of EFX starring Michael Crawford. Several other contractors had been engaged to supply two animated dragons, a large pond with a waterfall, and some big fire effects. I only had a few weeks to design a giant steel structure including integrated lifts for the dragons. I made 100% of the shop drawings and the prime contractors shop built the whole thing very quickly and easily caught up to all the other portions of the job.

Another project got off to a quick start since all the original participants knew each other very well. On the EFX job, we had a situation where some steel supports were to be unavoidably visible, generating the wrath of the show's creator, famed New York Tony Award designer David Mitchell. We worked out a compromise to his later satisfaction. A year later Mitchell called me and asked me to join the Rio Masquerade Village Sky Parade project the next day. "I want to know how big the supporting steel is before I make any more drawings".

Our first meeting of the design team developed the concept detail configuration in just two hours. Since all the parties were represented, we enjoyed a rapid give and take session with some of us making mad sketches to illustrate the concept. This project went clear through all the design and construction phases with very little change to the original idea. Certainly a tribute to the folks exchanging ideas up front to launch a practical job to completion rather than forcing everyone to suffer through a "fancy Showbiz" impractical idea, which sometimes happens.

The Atlantis Show at the Caesar's Forum Shops was another far out idea. It was to combine just about every tool in the EFX trades to tell the story of the Lost Empire of Atlantis. I was asked to help very early in this project to figure out how much space might be needed to house all the effects and associated equipment space. Since a number of elevators would be required to handle some very large animated figures as well as support a large fish aquarium, the underground spaces needed to be identified early on. This was a job where I only had to visualize the future space requirements, but not required to design any equipment.

One Las Vegas job extended over several years - The Cirque du Soleil "O" Show at the Bellagio Hotel. Late in 1994, Steve Wynn started formal monthly design charettes to figure out his dream for an underwater show. The conceptual design period was quite lengthy as the show toyed with outdoor, indoor, motorized stunt shows a bit like the famed Florida Cypress Gardens. Steve had engaged the Cirque creators led by Guy Laliberte to be the show producers.

Steve had invited maybe twenty or so specialized subs to kick ideas around with the Cirque guys. I was so impressed with Guy's guys and their "cat off the wall" French thinking methods. This was a joyful time watching a fabulous show develop in a formal charette setting each month. Steve was a superb committee leader. One day Design Architect John Jerde and I enthusiastically doodled some ideas together in the meeting. "Gurr....shut up. Fellas, no sidebars. All your ideas are important and we will hear them together....no more sidebars".

At the end of every day, Steve would invite every single person to summarize their thoughts on the day's progress. He made sure we all had plenty of time to voice our concerns, good and bad, before we end the meeting. It was hard for the first guy, but everyone voiced freely after that. I never forgot that lesson. If you hire talent, listen to it all....not just get guys to sanction your scheme in silence. What a lesson for organizations that value creative success.

Of course, some of the Las Vegas Spectaculars never make it, like the Giant Gorilla that was to climb up the Stratosphere Tower. I kid you not. I did a ton of design on this project. The idea was that it was really a ride. about 30 folks would enter the "belly of the beast" and enjoy the view as the Gorilla "climbed" the southeast leg of the Tower. A track system was to be added to the leg and the Gorilla was actually a tramway car pulled upwards by a funicular type cableway system.

The Gorilla body was to be mostly made of inflatable body sections which were animated in an articulated manner by the motion of car going up the track. The whole thing was engineered far enough to identify all the systems required as well as the weights and many functional details. Stratosphere management was serious enough but I think they experienced some differing internal viewpoints. Nevertheless, the Stratosphere Tower Gorilla was surely one of the wildest Las Vegas Showbiz Schemes ever.

oOo

Next Month: Godzilla - Hollywood's Last Movie Monster