When did Vegas Vic first make his appearance of Fremont Street? And if I can pose a second related question, did Lee Marvin really blow out the sign with a shotgun from across the street?
Vegas Vic dates back to the era of Wild West-themed promotions, such as Helldorado and the Last Frontier Village, in Las Vegas. The idea of a Vegas cowboy icon was dreamed up by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in 1947 for a post-World War II campaign to draw visitors to southern Nevada.
The first "Vegas Vic" was erected atop the Pioneer Club at First and Fremont streets in the late '40s. It was mostly Vic's face, with a moving neon thumb and neon typography that read, "Here It Is! The Famous Pioneer Club."
That sign was torn down a few years later to make room for the 40-foot-tall neon cowboy, erected on the side of the Pioneer Casino in 1951. Manufactured and installed by the Young Electric Sign Company (YESCO) for $25,000, Vic weighed six tons, his arm waved to passersby, and his cigarette twitched and blew smoke rings. At the time, it was the largest mechanical sign in the world.
A few years later, a voice box was installed so the Vicster could say, "Howdy, pardner, welcome to downtown Las Vegas."
Which leads us to Lee Marvin.
Marvin was a movie and television actor for nearly 40 years. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1965 for his offbeat performance in Cat Ballou with Jane Fonda. He appeared in numerous films, starting with You're in the Navy Now in 1951 and ending with The Delta Force in 1986, including The Wild One, The Comancheros, The Killers, The Professionals, The Dirty Dozen, and our favorite, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. He also appeared in more than 100 episodes of the TV series "M Squad" (1957-1960). He was known for one of the earliest "palimony" suits. In 1971, his long-time girlfriend Michelle Triola sued Marvin (unsuccessfully) for financial support, even though they never married. He died of a heart attack in 1987 at the age of 63.
As for Marvin shooting at Vegas Vic, we think that story is apocryphal.
First, we've never come up with any evidence of the alleged incident. Second, it's true that Marvin was known to be a little reckless at times. He served as a Marine sniper in World War II and was wounded during the vicious Battle of Saipan, where most of his platoon was killed -- an experience that affected him for the rest of his life. But even intoxicated, as the story goes, he probably wouldn't have taken the chance of damaging the sign or injuring passersby.
Marvin did, apparently, raise a stink about the noise. He wasn't the first guest at the downtown casino-hotels to complain about the Vegas Vic disturbance. Several reports claim that Marvin's high-profile objection, along with the aggregation of other complaints, prompted Vegas Vic's owners at the Pioneer Club to disconnect the audio. It wasn't connected again for 20 years.
Back to Vic, he remained single for nearly 30 years until, in 1980, Vegas Vickie was installed atop a small slot joint named Sassy Sally's across Fremont Street; she's now on display in Circa.
In 1994, in preparation for the Fremont Street Experience, Vic was taken down and several feet were shaved off the top of his cowboy hat to make room for the Experience canopy. Over the next few years, poor Vic saw some hard times and fell into disrepair, but in 2000, the sign underwent a major refurbishing.
Today, Vic continues to be one of the most famous signs YESCO ever created (the other is Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas) and is one of the most enduring symbols of Las Vegas. No other image, certainly, evokes old Las Vegas and downtown Las Vegas more than the neon cowboy.
