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ent000888-019

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ent000888-019
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    rather than paid performers - the classic example of this high regard xviiich performers have for him is the fact that Red Skelton, plagued by unhappy business management for years, asked Entratter to be his personal advisor and manager. Entratter now handles all of Red's business, guides Skelton's career which nets Red more than three million dollars a year ?╜ but Jack refuses to take the usual personal manager's percentage. He feels Red is his friend - he plays for Jack at the Sands eight record-breaking weeks a year - that's the relationship which percentages and money cannot chip. As a result, when Entratter suddenly found himself without a show one night when his current star became sick 3 hours before showtime, it was Red Skelton who flew up from a heavy TV-making schedule in time to do the evening's performance. The ASSOCIATED PRESS found out about it, and the next day headlined their story "MILLION DOLLAR HOTEL GETS FREE BENEFIT PERFORMANCE." At the end of the 700 word story, when the AP reporter, John Flynn, asked Skelton why he did the benefit, Skelton replied simpl}>, "Jack is my friend." This relationship with the stars prompted Entratter to make Frank Sinatra a partner in the Sands 10 years ago. The same foresight by Entratter was used when Dean Martin split with Jerry Lewis - the industry and the "smart-money" boys believed both would fall on their acts. Jack signed each of the two stars to long-term contracts at the Sands, even made Dean a partner in the hotel. Perhaps that's why, when Dean was asked recently by a trade reporter where a certain outdoor movie he was starring in was going to be made, he replied, "In back of the Sands, where else?" The stories of the friendship between Jack and his stars are endless - many go way back to when Jack was the producer at the Copacabana in New York and helped some of todayfs great stars get their starts. He dealt gently with ~ 4 -