Indeed they did. According to David Schwartz, author of the definitive biography of Circus Circus creator Jay Sarno, it was $2. A Circus Circus fan site offers a differing account, stating that the fee was 50 cents from 2 to 7 p.m. and $1 from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. (Perhaps Sarno hoped the levy would recoup the money he was losing by not having built any hotel rooms.)
The 1968 opening was one of those occasions when almost everything that could wrong did, starting with the failure to meet its scheduled October 1 opening date by 17 days. When the big day finally arrived, a massive rooftop release of celebratory balloons went off prematurely when a TV-camera helicopter tore their netting loose with its prop wash. Gina Lollobrigida almost canceled her big number when a tiger with whom she was supposed to share the spotlight got a little too frisky. It was no Gina or no tiger. The tiger went.
With its novel carnival midway, trapeze acts, and wandering elephant (which even flew, briefly, but that's another story...), Las Vegas' first fully themed casino was designed to be kid-friendly, for sure, but it straddled an interesting line, with juxtapositions including a bar built into a merry-go-round, plus peepshows and a "knock-the-girl-out-of-bed" game, both of which featured topless women. The ground-floor casino could be entered from the second floor by any of three ways. The sedate could descend a staircase, friskier patrons could take the slide, and the really daring could shimmy down a fireman's pole. Schwartz believes this gimmick lasted no longer than 1974, when Bill Bennett and William Pennington purchased Circus Circus. In a year they turned the property from a money-loser to a profitable casino.
One non-fan of the clown-themed casino was notorious germophobe Howard Hughes. "The aspect of the Circus that has disturbed me is the popcorn, peanuts and kids side of it …And also the carnival freaks, and animal side of it. In other words, the poor dirty, shoddy side of Circus life. The dirt floor, sawdust and elephants … the hobo clowns, and I repeat, the animals." (It is not clear whether by this point he was railing at Sarno’s casino or carnivals in general, but we can confirm that the elephant was not house-trained...)
Hughes’ objections notwithstanding, Circus Circus would go on to become not just a beloved target of jokes but also one of the most enduring and iconic casinos on the Las Vegas Strip … at least for those who aren’t coulrophobic.
