Tommy's #1 SHANIA TWAIN SuperSite Message Board

Will Shania return to Las Vegas to be a part of Caesar Palace's 50th anniversary week in August?

Celine Dion’s 1,000th show to be part of Caesars Palace’s 50 anniversary events

By Robin Leach | Las Vegas Sun | Wednesday, April 6, 2016 | 1:34 p.m.

Caesars Palace execs have begun turning paper plans for celebrating the hotel’s 50th anniversary this August into reality and have confirmed to me that the celebration of headliner Celine Dion’s 1,000th show at the Colosseum will be an integral part of the half-century parties.

Invitations are going out to artists and sports stars who have appeared at Caesars since the AAA Four Diamond hotel and casino opened in 1966 by then-owner millionaire Jay Sarno.

Among the many stars who have performed at Caesars: Celine, Shania Twain, Bette Midler, Cher, Liza Minnelli, Judy Garland, Gloria Estefan, Janet Jackson, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin and The Pussycat Dolls.

Notable male stars include Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Rod Stewart, Elton John, Liberace, Julio Iglesias, Tony Bennett, David Copperfield, Luis Miguel, Ricky Martin, Matt Goss and Jerry Seinfeld, who headlines there this weekend.

Caesars, which is one of the Strip’s most recognized landmarks, has nearly 4,000 rooms and suites in six towers and numerous celebrity chef restaurants, with its newest Michael Chow’s Mr. Chow.

Other culinary royals there include Guy Savoy, Francoise Payard, Gordon Ramsay, Nobu Matsuhisa, Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, Frank Pellegrino and Brian Malarkey. There will be a staggering array of celebration dinners during the 50th anniversary week in August.

Back on Aug. 5, 1966, the hotel served 50,000 glasses of champagne for its opening along with $1 million of the largest order of Ukrainian caviar ever placed by a private company.

Opening performers included Andy Williams. On April 14, 1989, Evel Knievel’s son Robbie successfully completed a 140-foot jump over the Strip-front fountains.

That was a feat his father failed to achieve and cost him 29 days in a hospital coma after he broke his pelvis and several bones when he flew over the handlebars into the neighboring Dunes parking lot after hitting the top of the safety ramp.

Harrah’s Entertainment became owner of Caesars in June 2005 when it acquired Caesars Entertainment Inc. The Greco-Roman fantasyland started out as a 14-story hotel on a 34-acre site in 1962 and was completed in 1966.

The Forum Shops of Caesars, a 636,000-square-foot paradise of shopping, opened in 1992 and is hailed as the highest-grossing mall in the United States.

Robin Leach of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” fame has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past 15 years giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.

Follow Las Vegas Sun Entertainment + Luxury Senior Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter at Twitter.com/VDLXEditorDon.

http://lasvegassun.com/vegasdeluxe/2016/apr/06/celine-dion-1000th-show-caesars-palace-50th-annive/