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"Lights Out At The Moulin Rouge" - New Book Remembers 1955 Las Vegas Performers

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'Lights Out at the Moulin Rouge' is a way of keeping an important piece of ethnic and entertainment history alive.
A new novel about the controversial 1955 Moulin Rouge casino couldn’t have come at a better time. The 15-acre Las Vegas property located at 900 West Bonanza Road was just in the news last month, and will be again in the upcoming year. It seems that the site of the former 1955 Moulin Rouge Casino and Hotel is up for grabs again. Many Las Vegas residents made their voices heard at a public meeting concerning the historic landmark. Locals made it very clear that turning the site of the city’s first racially integrated casino into a government building was not an option they favored. So the county withdrew their winning bid and once again the property is on the market, or what some may consider the chopping block. One argument is that there are those who tend to forget the significance of the location and what it meant for blacks in Las Vegas. But apparently, there are also people who will never forget how significant the Moulin Rouge was to past, present, and future African Americans; especially entertainers. Author Charm Baker is the latter. Baker says her new novel: Lights Out at the Moulin Rouge is a way of keeping an important piece of ethnic and entertainment history alive. According to Baker: “What’s really sad is that most people; blacks in particular, don’t even know anything about the 1955 casino or the mysterious circumstances under which the casino closed.”

Lights Out at the Moulin Rouge is a unique blend of fact and fiction and paints a story based on the 1955 happenings and events of the day. The story is presented in such a way that the reader can actually take a journey to the casino and experience all the fabulous sights, sounds and shows that the Moulin Rouge was known for. Baker encourages readers by saying: “This book is for anyone who enjoys history, entertainment, suspense and intrigue, and an element of surprise just for fun.”

Lights Out at the Moulin Rouge is currently available on Amazon for Pre-order for anyone who wants to make their purchase before the January 1, 2018 Release Date.

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BOOK EXCERPT

When April thought about the earlier conversation with Reggie, she remembered the $50,000 a week that Liberace was getting paid. I wonder how much they were paying people like Sammy Davis Jr. or Pearl Bailey to entertain on the Strip.

Whatever it was, she was pretty sure it was nowhere near $50,000 a week. And no amount could make up for the fact that black entertainers couldn’t even come in the front door. April looked around the casino at all the people laughing, gambling and having fun. She tried to imagine how it must have felt to be stars like Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington and Harry Belafonte. To do a show and give your best to an audience that won’t even allow you to relax and have a drink afterwards. The thought of all those iconic black entertainers being hustled in and out of the back door just infuriated April.

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