Show Business: Well Hello, Reno, Hello

America's grandest, gaudiest floor show hits the Sierra Nevada

Once MGM churned out fantasies on film, but now the studios are mostly sold off or grinding out TV fluff. MGM is best known today for its hotels and casinos, lavish Disneylands for grownups with high-roller dreams. The MGM Grand Hotels make dollar-and-cents sense; in the past 4½ years the Las Vegas MGM hotel's floor show has earned nearly $60 million. Some of old Hollywood remains in the new playgrounds. The MGM Grand Hotel and casino newly opened in Reno is colossal: it cost more than $138 million and has the world's largest...