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Chorus girls perform in one of the many musical numbers in the Las Ve*'lelula ?? ' 'wood/ currently at the Grand Hotel. 'Hallelujah'- Grand Time By RICHARD CUSKELLY Herald Examiner Staff Writer LAS VEGAS - The MGM Grand Hotel took a giant step toward living up to its glamourous name Friday night with the opening in The Ziegfeld Room of "Hallelujah Hollywood," a lavish musical spectacular featuring masses of be-rhinestoned girl and boy dancers and singers, animal' ; specialty acts, magicians Siegfried and Roy, one charming elephant named Tanya, hundreds of gorgeous cos- | tumes designed by Bob Mack- ie and Ray Aghayan, the music of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Irving Berlin. "Hallelujah Hollywood" is somewhat posher, more respectable, less raunchy than three other extravaganzas jwhich have become Vegas tractions: The Stardust's ?╓¬?╟≤Lido"; Tropicana's "Folies iJergere" and the Dunes' "Carina de Paris." *. There is an ample supply of Ibarely clad dancers, to be igure; but essentially the new show is a spirited, unabashed loving tribute to old movies #nd great stars. Never having seen a Florenz $Regfeld production, I've no Idea how the fabled "glorifier l>f the American girl" would ifespond to this nightclub tribute to movies which were themselves tributes to his Broadwayshows. ___ BuTthis show's producer, Donn Arden, must be a man of Ziegfeldian freewheeling imagination ?╟÷ just nutty enough to dream up ever crazier, more improbable production numbers, and clever enough to fig- tire out how to make his elaborate schemes work. A dolphin swimming in an cmstage tank, slowly undressing a lovely mermaid? Ridiculous. Yes, but it happens in "Hallelujah Hollywood", right rafter the full-si^e Pirate- ship loses a navahbattleand sinks. A, trolley car piled with gaily dressed dancers on their way to the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904 (inspired by the-Judy Garland film "Meet-Me In St. Louis")? Absurd. Of course. But you'll see that too. The show opens with a rousing "Strike Up the Band" and moves into a sort-of "Hollywood Looks at New York" production number with a Manhattan silhouette as backdrop. The first set piece is based on the operetta "Kismet," and has everything Baghdadian except Yvonne de Carlo and Maria M o n t e z. There is, however, a llama. After a cheerful, old-fashioned "Meet Me In St. Louis" comes "The Pirate" with that sinking ship and the streaking dolphin. "We Could Do It Bet-, ter" is a novelty number in which eight singer-dancers watch old film clips and then do star routines of their own: Carmen Miranda, Mae West and The Cowardly Lion are the most fun. The finale is just what you expect a finale to be: splashier, more glamourous and lavish than anything that's come before. It's an elaborate follies number with girls in exotic headdresses, plus the rest' of the cast, marching down a grand staircase and then up onto a platform which descends over the heads of the audience. A huge chandelier drops out of the ceiling and the show's over. About time. .What was Arden to do for an "encore? Part the Red Sea? Crosby at Sahara Comedian Norn Crosby has been set for a return engagement with Dan Rowan and Dick Martin in the Congo Room of Del Webb's Hotel Sahara, May 14-20. Crosby, known as "Mr Malaprop," ap- peared with the former "Laugh-In" stars at the Sahara in their recent April appearance. DAYS and NIGHTS in LAS VEGAS By Mela Shepard AT THE MGM HOTEL The most elaborate spectacular Extravaganza opened last Friday: it unveiled Donn Arden's "Hallelujah Hollywood" an aural mosaic, with brightly colored bits of sights and sounds woven together in hypnotic textures; a talking, singing, dancing, flaming, sparkling, exploding motion performance. "Hallelujah Hollywood" has it all: gorgeous girls, breathtaking fantastic productions, sparkling scenery, specialty acts, animals, special effects presented on the world's most magnificent and modern stage in the appropriately named Ziegfel Room. Don Arden's is a genius, and his masterpiece is a real "head trip"; however, the grabbiest scenes are provided by the production numbers. The stage" is filled with beautiful bodies, sparkling costumes and that spells for a beautiful stage set. From the Star Parade ?╟÷ saluting the grand old stars of Hollywood ?╟÷ audiences are whisked on the town with Leonard Bernstein's "New York, New York," and Rodgers and Hart's "Manhattan," with Manhattan's skyline visible in the background from the New York penthouse filled with singers and dancers, audiences are then led on a delightful balletic romp down and around Old Broadway into Broadway Melody of 1929. Film clips from that academy award winning flick movie "Red Rock" number guaranteed to steal the spotlight. KISMET: Donn Arden waves his magic wand and Hallelujah Hollywood takes the audiences on a musical magic carpet ride to the streets of Bagdad. There are oriental palaces and costumes, swarming bazaars, tall minarets, j camels, llamas, and harem houris i ?╟÷ everything dreamed of in the Bagdad of storybooks is bundled somewhere in this luxuriance. MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS: this resorts to the seductions of nostalgia, taking nostalgia addicts roi a loving look back to the turn ei the century with a trip througn MGM picture set in 1903-04. ?╟÷ The film was a real love story between a happy family and a way of living ?╟÷ a home oriented middle-western family enjoying a aay- to-day nvmg during a time when the days were somehow longer and sunnier, exquisite pleasure was to be found in evening sit-ins around the piano, and the greatest excitement imaginable was a visit to the St. Louis Exposition, right there in ones home town. Then Donn Arden goes into the boy next door ana tne loveiy Trolley Song and Come to tne Fair beckoning to the fairgrounds of the St. Louis Exposition. Hallelujah Hollywood's visit to the fair takes place at Easter, thus treating onlookers to Irving Berlin's Easter Parade. Gorgeous showgirls and dancers ?╟÷ and their handsome partners ?╟÷ in fabulous finery ?╟÷ linger in such nice old neighborhoods as "Oh, You Beautiful Doll". THE PIRATE: from Gershwin and Berlin, Hallelujah Hollywood travels musically by sea to thp Cole PorternScored "Pirate". This has got to be the most spectacular offering of Hallelujah Hollywood. Then Donn goes from "Black and Love of My Life" to "Gone with the Wind"; then to Mae West's and Tarzan; there Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor delight the audience with Camile; then comes Carmen, Miranda and Groucho Marx, and the audiences see Wallace Berry and Marie Dressier as Bill and Min; then Shirley Temple and Charlie Chaplin. It is one of the most Magnificent Productions you will ever see in your life. The Productions, the scenery, the costumes, the girls and boys, are just unbelievable ?╟÷ Just fantastic! m j