LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Travelers from around the world came to The Mirage to see headliners Siegfried & Roy.
Zar Zanganeh was friends with the magical duo. He told me Steve Wynn knew the duo, who had been performing at The Tropicana, had something special.
"They were the face of The Mirage. They were the identity of that hotel. I mean, the hotel opened around them," Zanganeh said. "I mean, Steve Wynn imagined The Mirage and imagined them as the showmen for that property. Everything was built around them being the headliners for that property."
I spoke with Wynn exclusively on the night I broke the story that Roy Horn had died from COVID-19 complications and as our community showed an outpouring of love in the wake of his death.
WATCH: Steve Wynn shares Vegas memories of Roy Horn
Wynn reflected on the legendary show complete with white tigers.
"This show was so complicated and dangerous," he said.
He also called the magic duo perfectionists.
"The boys had incredible discipline. They never missed a show," Wynn said. "They had impeccable high standards, no compromise. Everything had to be perfect."
The duo performed more than 5,700 shows over 14 years at the Mirage.
"One-hundred percent occupancy, 12 shows a week, no matter what," Wynn said of the show. "The success of the Mirage and the contribution that Roy Horn and Siegfried Fischbacher made can never, ever be separated. The identification of the hotel with them, and them with the hotel, was one of those great marriages."
That marriage came to an abrupt end during a show on Oct. 3, 2003, when Horn was injured during a performance. One of the tigers, Mantacore, bit him by the neck and dragged him off stage.
I remember that night so clearly. I was doing the 11 p.m. news, and we were getting calls into our newsroom from people who were watching the show and could not believe what had happened. That's one of the few times we broke into primetime programming to report what was happening. It was a big, international story.
"I remember that night clearly because it was October 3, which is Roy's birthday," Zanganeh told me. "That was his birthday show, which he had a huge celebration happening later that night."
That birthday show at The Siegfried & Roy Theatre would be the duo's final performance.
"Roy went to his grave saying that Mantacore saved his life. He says he slipped and fell because he was having a stroke," Zanganeh said. "Mantacore did what Mantacore has done with his own cubs for many years — picked him up gently by the neck and dragged him off-stage."
After the incident, Horn insisted that Mantacore be spared, and the tiger became a permanent resident at the resort's Secret Garden attraction.
Even though Horn was left paralyzed, that didn't stop the duo.
"They were huge about giving back to the community. Not just animals, but [disabled] children's organizations," Zanganeh said. "They have a Boys & Girls Club right here in Las Vegas named after them. Every year, this time of year, they were huge about gathering things for children who needed school supplies. Every year around Christmas time, they were very, very big about gathering Christmas presents for the kids that needed Christmas presents."
While we say goodbye to a legendary resort, Wynn says Siegfried & Roy gave the world a rare gift.
"Those two men, the people that they brought together with them, gave us that. [It will] just be a long, long time before we'll ever have something come our way, I think, of that quality or that caliber," Wynn told me.
