Image
Copyright & Fair-use Agreement
UNLV Special Collections provides copies of materials to facilitate private study, scholarship, or research. Material not in the public domain may be used according to fair use of copyrighted materials as defined by copyright law. Please cite us.
Please note that UNLV may not own the copyright to these materials and cannot provide permission to publish or distribute materials when UNLV is not the copyright holder. The user is solely responsible for determining the copyright status of materials and obtaining permission to use material from the copyright holder and for determining whether any permissions relating to any other rights are necessary for the intended use, and for obtaining all required permissions beyond that allowed by fair use.
Read more about our reproduction and use policy.
I agree.Information
Digital ID
Permalink
Details
Member of
More Info
Publisher
Transcription
i*l ?║UJb ?√ß AMERICAN Press Clipping Bureau. Inc. Tel. WOrth 2-3797 NEWS Dallas, Tex. After Dark: 'Pzazz' Bright With Talent Bv FRANCIS RAFFFTTO xi:.t-??. ?╜, Lillian d'Honou ... A bit of "Pzazz Hollywood" for new Las Vegas Show. By FRANCIS RAFFETTO News Staff Writer LAS VEGAS, Nevada ?╟÷ "Pzazz! 68" which opened last weekend aT the Deser^ fnn js one of the plushest variety revues in contemporary memory, replete with glossy costumes, fresh talent and quick moving fun. The casino show recalls the various Hollywood, Broadway and Tin Pan Alley eras, complete with authentic costumes and stage business, but it adds a modern beat and vernacular. This is probably the most extravagantly costumed spectacle on The Strip. For the "Fred Astaire Tribute" scene alone, 500 yards of feather boas and 275 hats were designed for the 70 dancers, singers and showgirls. THE SHOW, put together by the veterans Frank Sennes and Donn Arden, includes segments of Hollywood "high camp," (spoofing Mae West, Carmen Miranda and Julie Andrews); movie queen satire; Boomtown sequence with authentic sized oil rigs onstage and a real stage fire; a Polynesian Paradise scene with a waterfall 20 feet high; and a "Beau Geste" finale with showgirls in kepis and boots reflecting a different kind of French Foreign Legion. Bambi McCormick, 'grand niece of the late singer John McCormack, (she changed the spelling) is a striking, slender blonde with the family voice intact. She has two vocals: "Quando Caliente del Sol" and "If He Walked Into My Life," in which she scored The show starts off with a clever touch, with "fractured flicks" (Harry Langdon, William S. Hart kissing his horse, Bebe Daniels were recognizable). In the movie spoof, Julie Andrews (Janice Hague) floats through the air suspended by wires a la "Mary Poppins." Lainie Nelson as "Miss Come On Up," does a broad burlesque of Mae West; and Lillian D'Honau, with elaborate headdress, revives Carmen Miranda. The latter has a really comic number, with ostrich plumes, "Born a Star." THE WHOLE SHOW is almost stunning with girls, lights, costumes and scene changes, but it could easily be trimmed of a couple of slow spots. The Snyder Brothers are a talented pair of Ed Sullivan alumni working mostly out on the West Coast but who would be a real treat for Dallas. Bob does startling impersonations of Robert Goulet (elsewhere on The Strip), Johnny Ray, Dean Martin, et al and then scores with his own style. Brother Ken, a bat-eared pixie, is a good comic, talented dancer, and plays the trumpet and clarinet and bones passably well, too. Coming on stage as Lester Maddox, Georgia governor, Ken wears a Klan pillowcase and whines; "If I didn't git to school, they ain't goin' to school." The word for juggler Rudy Cardenas is fantastic. His parents were trapeze artists and at age 4, Rudy joined his two sisters in a juggling act. He must be the finest in his profession. The show's Astaire number is nostalgic, with 16 youths, in top hats, canes, evening clothes, "Dancing in the Dark" before mirrors and candles. For "I Concentrate on You," there's a sea of pink lights and a pretty ballerina. Some of the melodic songs were "Dancing Cheek to Cheek," "The Way You Look Tonight," "Lovely to Look At," For this, there were even floats and colored doves. JEREMY VERNON, a young comic, was an added attraction, not listed in the program. He has a good routine about the complexity of being half German-half Jewish. Howard Hughes, the remote industrial titan who owns both Desert Inn and the Stardust, and now the Sands, sent an emissary onstage for the "Pzazz! >'68" opening. "Mr. Hughes asked me to extend you a personal and warm welcome," Bob Mayhew told his formally dressed audience in the plush Crystal Room. "We early decided we would leave . this show to the professionals. | And I am glad we did.'