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ent000900-005

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ent000900-005
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    5 friends, and they?╟╓ve been making 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 Entratter's fabulous connections with the kings and queens of the stage and screen. Chartered planes flew into Las Vegas from Hollywood, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and other cities ?╟÷ bringing 146 newspapermen and 21 guests including Terry Moore, Esther Williams, Jane Powell, Fernando Lamas, Richard Widmark, Arlene Dahl, and Corinne Calvet, all of whom were presented with chamois bags - full of newly-minted silver dollars. Howard Hughes lent Jaok his personal Constellation for a flight that delivered columnists Earl Wilson, Hy Gardner and other New Yorkers, and overseas planes brought in $10,000 worth of Dutch asparagus, Italian chestnuts, Brazilian palm hearts and similar hors d?╟╓oeuvres delicacies which, by the way, are still given away to guests. Jack personally dedicated 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 Entratter about $35*000 had such an emotional impact on Danny Thomas that he lost.his ?√ßmore-