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Las Vegas, Nightclub Capital of the World n 4k This is the third of a six part series on Las Vegas night life and show business personalties. lly MICHAEL H. DREW / Of The journalStaff^-?╜^v: Las are more big Wars performing on stages here than in New York and Los Angeles combined. For example, two weeks ago, this marquee lineup upheld Las Vegas reputation as the capital of the bistro business: Godfrey Cambridge, Juliet Prowse, Fartha Kitt, Jimmy Durante, Debbie Reynolds, Dean Martin, S^dams, Jack Jones, Freddie Martin ||g 1 Miller, Louis Prima, Sarah Vaughan and Erro Garner. All were appearing within three miles of each other on the Las Vegas strip. Mickey Rooney was two miles away, downtown. nnn Most of them make between $15,000 to $30,000 per week. The biggest, in Martin?╟╓s class, get I ^ ?╟úThe law of supply and demand creates those salaries as in any other business,?╟Ñ says Dave Victorson, entertainment director of Caesar s Pal- ace. ?╟úIf he left the Sands stable and would per- form elsewhere, Frank Sinatra could make what- ever he asked for.?╟Ñ Hoodlum Money Used Until the 1930s, the strip was three miles_of barren desert along highway 91, just south of Las Vegas Shortly before World War II, the gam- bling resort El Rancho Vegas was built on the strip. Soon it was joined by the Last Frontier. Both since have disappeared. After the war, mobster Bugsy Siegel, a mem- ber of New York?╟╓s Murder, Inc., used hoodlum money to build the Flamingo hotel on the strip. ?╟úPeople flocked there,?╟Ñ says Bob Plummer, publicist for the Mint hotel, ?╟úbecause they thought they might see a gangster. It was all a little bit naSotms!egel brought in stars-Martin and Lewis Shelley Winters, Debra, Paget, Terry Moore, Tony Martin and Kay Starr. . The Flamingo had names and games. Americans, pockets filled with inflated postwar dollars, crowded in. . Then came the building boom. Up wen Thunderbird, Desert Inn, Stardust, Sands Dunes^ Hacienda, Riviera, Sahara, Tropicana, Aladdin and Caesar?╟╓s Palace. AH are huge strip hotels and casinos with either stars or French their 600-1,000 seat theater-restaurants and other stars in their smaller 250-500 seating Three more hotels are going up?╟÷the Frontier, Lta^h*early B1950s, top Stars (including one named Ronald Reagan) pulled weekly Vegas sal- aries of from $10,000 to $15,000. It was far more money than they could demand on other stages. Then, to get Liberace, who was at his popularity weak the Riviera hotel signed the former Milwau- keean to f three year $50,000 per week .contract ?√ßI weeks ayyear. That began a pr.ce war which hasn?╟╓t abated. Jack Benny, Judy Garland and Danny Kaye demanded and got similar sal- aries. Today, Martin, Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Andy Williams, Red Skelton and Johnny Carson also are making about $50,000. ?√ß ' Such stars as Wally Cox and Ethel Merman flopped as drawing cards. This and the price war prompted the Stardust to brmg m the g||g| Paris?╟Ñ in 1958. The Tropicana followed with the ?╟úFollies Bergere?╟Ñ in 1959 and the Dunes with. ?╟úCasino de Paris?╟Ñ in 1963. Though most of the chorus singers sound more like little giris from Little Rock than mademoiselles, the French shows still pull capacity crowds. - . J ?╟úIf Vegas shows don?╟╓t draw, the entertainment directors hear howls from the casino pits, says Jim Deitch, manager of the city?╟╓s ?╟úAnd there aren?╟╓t enough Stars to go around, , savs Don Payne of his staff. ' - , They admit that gambling pays excess entertain- * m?╟úBut>the cost accountants are taking over and now want everv hotel function to pay, says Deitch. ?╟úAnd we get the name of everyone who comes to town and doesn?╟╓t gamble,?╟Ñ quips Payne. ., j Draw From Midwest An estimated 50 million dollars is spent annually by the 15 top hotels on entertainment. Most of the customers in the theater-restaurants are middle aged couples, who get a show and dinner for from $6 to $11 apiece. Many fly JP tours from Arizona, Texas and the midwest. Some are ?╟úhigh rollers?╟Ñ jetted in by the hotels for some heavy gambling. Others make the 35 guteM flight from Los Angeles almost every weekend. Friday nights, Interstate 15 from LA resembles a luminous string of pearls as cars rushVf^s. A less affluent crowd?╟÷including many Vegas townspeople?╟÷watches the lounge shows. There, stars like Sarah Vaughan, Eartha Kitt and Erroll Garner are on display for the price of two drinks (about $2.50 total). .4W- .:!?╟≤ Both the theater-restaurants and lounges are roomy, air conditioned (of course) and comfortably appointed. None could be called ?╟úupholstered sewers i the derisive term cabaret performers fre- quently use to describe their places of employment. However, because of the demand for seats, some :i clubs crowd their customers so that carving a steak becomes a gymnastic triumph. V*? ?╜ By day, many of the showrooms are quiet. But others, and all of the casinos, go full blast around the clock. By 10 a.m., regiments of middle aged Turn to page 3, column 3