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FREEMAN COMPANY pub/icfsts - 6 - A few years ago, when the pressure began graying his hair and the doctors suggested a change of scene, Jack said goodbye to midnight Manhattan and went West with friends who were planning "The Sands*" He took with him a ready-made roster of Thespian friends, and they?╟╓ve been miking show business history ?╟÷ in a desert oasis '350 miles from nowhere ?╟÷ since the December night in 1952 when Danny Thomas went on stage for the grand opening. That opening, incidentally, was a foretaste not only in luxuries that were to startle the hotel world, but of Jack Sntratter?╟╓s fabulous connections with the kings and queens of the stage and screen. Chartered planes flew into Das Vegas from Hollywood, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, Hew York and other cities ?╟÷ bringing lij.6 newspapermen and 21 guests including Terry Moore, Esther Williams, Jane Powell, Fernando Lamas, Richard Widmark, Arlene Dahl, and Corlnne Calvet, all of whom were presented with chamois bags ?╟÷ full of newly- minted silver dollars, Howard Hughes lent Jack his personal Constellation for a flight that delivered columnists Earl Wilson, Hy Gardner and other Hew Yorkers, and overseas planes brought in #10,000 worth of Dutch asparagus, Italian chestnuts, Brazilian palm hearts aid similar hors d?╟╓oeuvres ?╟÷ delicacies which, by the way, are still given away to guests. Jack personally dedi- cated a nine-foot "Time Capsule" containing Bing Crosby?╟╓s pipe, Arthur Godfrey?╟╓s ukulele, and a gold-plated auto jack ?╟÷ the symbol of Danny Thomas* climb to fame. The whole spectacular premiere ?╟÷ it cost Istatratter about $35#000 -- bad such an emotional impact on Danny Thomas that he lost his voice for the second show. Shortly afterward, the hotel bandleader went to the microphone and said* "Danny Thomas will not appear tonight but we have found some friends in the audience who will take his place." The "friends", as an astonished audience soon discovered, were Jimmy Durante, the RItz Brothers, Denise Dareel, Frankie Laine, Spike Jones, Jane Powell, and Ray Anthony, all of whom went on stage and performed without charge for their old pal, Jack Entratter. Since then show people have not been surprised at anything involving Jack and his desert stage. When he recently decided that Van Johnson had cabaret - more - 9508 WI LSHIRE BLVD. ?╟≤ BEVERLY HILLS, CAL. * BRADSHAW 2-8611