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ent000898-026

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ent000898-026
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    FREEMAN COMPANY ?╓¬ pubf/c/sts 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 making show business history - in a desert oasis 33>0 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, Ghlcago, Mew York and other cities ?╟÷ bringing H4.6 newspapermen and 21 guests including Terry Moore, Esther Williams, Jane Powell, Fernando Lanas, Richard Widmark, Arlene Dahl, and Corinne 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, Brasilian palm hearts and 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* cl Info to fame. The whole spectacular premiere - it cost Intratter about I3?*000 - had 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 saidi "Danny Thomas will not appear tonight but we have found some friends in the audience who will take his place* The "friends?½, as an astonished audience soon discovered, were Jimmy Durante, the Rltz Brothers, Denise Darcel, Frankie Lalne, Spike Jones, Jane Powell, and Ray Anthony, all of whom went on stage and performed without charge for their old pal, Jack Entratter. - more- 95 0 8 WILSHIRE BLVD. ?╟≤ BEVERLY HILLS, CAL. ?╟≤ BRADSHAW 2-8 6 1 1