Vegas Myth Revived: Actor Lee Marvin Shoots Vegas Vic with Arrow
Editor's Note: Vegas Mythbusters releases new entries every Monday, plus a bonus Friday flashback edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally appeared on June 19, 2023.
Longtime visitors will remember that Vegas Wick once had a voice. Every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, a smiling neon sign greets passers-by with a resounding "Hello Podner!"
This element of the Vegas attraction was installed above the Pioneer Club Casino in 1951, but was not particularly popular with guests who wanted to stay in the Mint 26-story hotel tower, which opened in May 1965 Opened across the street in Fremont.
According to a long-standing Vegas myth, actor Lee Marvin was one of those guests. In December 1965, he came to Valley of Fire State Park near the town to film "The Professionals." He reportedly flew into a rage and shot Vic in the throat with an arrow.
This left the 40-foot-tall neon cowboy speechless for 20 years.
It never happened—at least not that way.
First, if a mechanical sign breaks, especially a famous sign that tourists want to see because it talks, if they wait long enough, it will be repaired. This should be the first red flag.
Myth Understanding
The arrow shoots at Vic. But Lee Marvin didn't shoot them, and they didn't silence Vic.
On December 11, 1965, a drunken, all-night party broke out in the 16th-floor Mint Room rented for "Pop" actor Woody Strode and stuntman Tony Alper. Partygoers included any off-duty bartenders, cooks and maids who had caught wind of the incident, as well as several dancers from the wild topless Watusi troupe that performed at the casino hotel.
When it comes to Vegas Vic's obnoxious quarter-hour greeting, Strode's character in the movie is an archer who grabs his bow and does something with it.
“It was a five-foot-tall arch, and I had to climb out the window to see the angle,” Strode wrote in his 1993 autobiography, “Goal Dust.” "There was a ledge at the Peppermint Hotel, and I was standing on a ledge that was 16 stories high. Tony reached down and grabbed the belt on the back of my pants. I found the angle, adjusted it, and shot an arrow, and it hit Hody Bode. Na's mouth. The whole statue began to explode. Sparks flew. Then 'Howdy Podner' lost consciousness and stopped."
Vaughan Cannon, YESCO sign manager responsible for maintenance and repairs at the Vic, later recalled that the damage was limited to neon damage. Since Vic's recording only played intermittently, Strode may have thought the arrow silenced him, but that wasn't the case.
Arrow Dynamic
After the attack, Strode and Amber ran up several flights of stairs to Marvin's room, where they woke him and asked if they could hide the bow there until the police arrived. Note that Marvin is sleeping, which according to mythology Vic is not allowed to do.
"Well, the crazy son of a bitch got so excited that he shot out the window," Strode said. The explosion was aimed at the sky, not Vic, and the police were immediately called to Marvin's room, where they found the shotgun and bow.
It's unclear why charges were not filed. Maybe the Las Vegas police gave Marvin a metaphorical "get out of jail free" card because he was a decorated soldier who fought and was seriously wounded in the Battle of Saipan in World War II.
Perhaps one of them was one of the many young men affected by his portrayal of the Lieutenant. Frank Ballinger was inspired to enter law enforcement by the 1957-1960 NBC television series "M Squad."
It's entirely possible that some of the signatures were signed in exchange for another, a decision that neither party wanted to make public.
Or maybe police just didn't want the negative international publicity that would come with sending one of today's most famous and popular stars to jail. (Earlier this year, Marvin won a best actor Oscar for his role opposite Jane Fonda in "Baloo.")
It is also possible that the police never came; the uniformed police who responded were simply working for hotel security.
While this fact seems to have faded away over time, as more research is done, another fact becomes clearer... "Lee had absolutely nothing to do with this incident, and both Woody and Tony confirmed that to me," said Dwayne Epstein, author of the extensively researched 2013 biography "Lee Marvin: Straight Talk." Epstein told reporter Jeremy Roberts in 2017.
"Lee had passed out in his hotel room hours earlier. As a major star and recent Oscar winner, he took responsibility and saved his friends from jail."
Robin Hood Party
Journalist Murray Hertz first mentioned the arrow attack in a Dec. 12, 1965, gossip column in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Hertz called the event a "Robin Hood party," but did not name any of the participants. But soon word spread that Marvin was responsible.
"Lee was very proud," Strode wrote. "This has got to be the biggest joke in town."
In 1979, however, Marvin wasn't smiling. At the time, his former partner, actress Michelle Triola, used the story as evidence in the Palimion trial, which seemed designed to send the actor spiraling out of control.
There are other explanations for the Lee Marvin/Vegas Vic myth, including a rather boring one from the sign's current Wikipedia page: "Marvin complained that the Vegas Vic was too loud, so the casino The manager kept Vegas Vic quiet, and that went on for almost as long.Twenty years,” it said, actually citing a fake interview about the sign in the Las Vegas Sun in 2000.
But what's really going on with Vegas Vic's voice is much more boring and has nothing to do with the casino manager. A story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal published on January 25, 1968 explains...
City commissioners voted to order the Pioneer Club to stop using the audio portion of its iconic Vegas VIC sign on Fremont Street downtown. The familiar "Howdy Podner" keeps sleepers awake at nearby hotels... Commissioners stressed that the sign itself will continue to function in its usual way, waving to passers-by, but silently. "
Marvin wasn't mentioned, but that doesn't mean city officials didn't think of the legend.
Print legend
Vick regained her voice on May 17, 1980, but lost it permanently in 1994 during the construction of the Fremont Street Experience Canopy. At the time, the Pioneer Club was turned into a gift shop and the building's new owners decided to stop recording.
Following The Professionals, Lee Marvin, who died of a heart attack in 1987, played the title role in a larger Western. In the final scene of 1962's "Shoot a Freeman," a newspaper editor makes a statement that couldn't be more fitting...
"When legend becomes fact, print the legend."
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