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ent001522-012
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I agree.FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Las Vegas ?╟÷?╟÷ This town exploded last night (Friday, Aug.23-24) with the holding of the world's first 24-hour, round-the-clock premiere-celebration ever staged. Honoring famed nightclub wit, Joe E. Lewis, the celebration brought out the biggest crowd ever to witness a world premiere in this famed city. The picture, Paramount's "The Joker is Wild," was shown for the first time at the El Portal Theater, with Hollywood Stars Frank Sinatra, the film's star, Gary Grant and his wife, Betsy Drake, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Lawford, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall and Ann Shirley, with her producer husband, Charles Lederer, among the many luminaries to attend. Highlights of the premiere included the front-of-theater emceeing of Hank Henry, beloved Vegas nightclub comic, the awards to Sinatra and Lewis from the stage by Eugene Murphy, Ghief Barker of the Las Vegas Variety Club, whose fund for mentally retarded children benefited from the screening, and by the arrival at the theater of Lewis, dressed in jockey silks, astride a nag led by Sinatra. In the theater was Governor of Nevada, Charles Russell, and party. Festivities got under way with a cocktail party in the Emerald Room of the Sands Hotel, hosted by Jack Entratter, followed by dinner in the Gopa Room and a show starring Marguerite Piazza. Then came the motorcade to the El Portal Theater, with Samuel J. Briskin, producer of "The Joker is Wild," and Director Charles Vidor, attending with the aforementioned stars. After the premiere, rated a rousing success, came a splashy show at the El Rancho Vegas Hotel, hosted by Beldon Katleman, and starring Joe E. Lewis, Roberta Sherwood and others. -more-