ent000829-022

Lights of Las Vegas by PHIL SOLOMON Donn Arden Top Choice To Replace Flo Ziegfeld WE ASKED Donn Arden who he thought has replaced the late and great showman Flo Ziegfeld, assuming someone did. This pillar found Donn up to his ears rehearsing the 8th edition of Lido de Paris, "Tout Paris," opening May 16 at the Stardust Hotel. "Oh Lord," he commented, "there is no easy or pat answer to this you know, Phil." "In the Ziegfeld era," Donn continued, "his staging, lavishness and use of those gorgeous girls were more or less an innovation. The people had seldom seen such a spectacle. And of course his legend grew. Many people knew of Ziegfeld but had never seen one of his shows on Broadway. It wasn't easy to get to New York from the West Coast as it is now." "Few could compete with him. Sure George White and Billy Rose put on great shows, but there was only one Ziegfeld." "Until Las Vegas decided to go into the spectacular nightclub revues, no one dared go into productions of this nature. I began staging Las Vegas shows for the Desert Inn in 1950 when it opened and when the Stardust opened in 1958, I put in the first Lido show. In 1946, I staged my first Lido show in Paris and have been there doing its shows for 22 years." Donn has always led the way here with his 18 years of shows. His revues cost approximately $750,000, probably a lot more than Ziegfeld spent in the 1920's and 1930's. David Merrick, on Broadway, has had as many as four shows going at one time, but they were not all in the spectacular vein. Barry Ashton produces nitery shows but with small APRIL 13, 1968 casts of 10-18, as compared to Donn's 60-80. Other show producers as the Dunes' Frederic Apcar and Tropi- cana's Tony Azzi produce one or two shows, while Donn always has three going at one time. Even Earl Carroll did not produce as many as Donn altho for his day I'm certain they held up to the Ziegfeld tradition. "I like to think I'm following in the Ziegfeld tradition," says Donn. "I sometimes spent $1,000 to dress a nude showgirl. I have my costumes designed in Paris, use five revolving stages at one time and I firmly believe I use my showgirls in the Ziegfeld manner." If you are to make an educated guess as to the successor of Ziegfeld, the name of Donn Arden has to head the list as the top man. He has used over 1,000 people in the Stardust shows alone during the past 10 years and spends more money for his shows than any other person in show business. In my opinion, Arden will never surpass his "Pzazz, '68!," currently ap- (Continued on Page 33) LIGHTS OF LAS 'VEGAS (Continued from Page 13 pearing at the Desert Inn Hotel. This show, without any doubt, is the greatest spectacular revue ever put gether. There is no equal. I "COME UP AND SEE ME SOMETIME BIG BOY!' That j memorable line brings to mind the one and only Mae West and "Pzazz '68" star Lainie Nelson gives audiences the full treatment in her portrayal of the fam- ! ous star in the Desert Inn musical spectacular. This I is only one of the exciting sequences as"Pzaaz" j pays tribute to the great movie making days of Holly- ! wood from the early '20's, into the great musicals I of the '30's, right up to the present mad, mod psyche- I delic trends that grace the silver screen. For musical entertainment at its exciting best, "Pzazz 68" is the most dazzling production to ever appear in Las Vegas.