Thursday, Dec. 30, 1999 | 9:16 a.m.
Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4066.
The day before the day before the start of the new millennium. ... It's hard to believe that I have been alive for just nine days short of 78 years as the present century departs. ... Radio was the big thing in the late 1920s and the 1930s. ... Grandpa had a large Philco radio console and on Sunday nights at 8 o'clock, we'd sit in front of it, "staring" at the voices of Eddie Cantor, Rubinoff, Parkyakarkas, and Jimmy Wallington.
Jimmy Durante was Cantor's summer substitute in the early 1930s. ... He was off to a slow start when it was decided that, being of Italian descent, Durante should write an opera. ... The classic result: "Inka Dinka Doo."
We collected bottle caps and cereal box tops for membership in Skippy's SSS Club, for Chief Wolfpaw and his Wrigley's Gum tribe, and for magic tricks from Chandu, the Magician. ... Adults listened to Amos 'n' Andy, Easy Aces, the Goldbergs, Lowell Thomas and mystery dramas.
Then came television
Television got its start back east during the 1940s, hitting its first peak after World War II with Milton Berle and his Texaco Star Theatre. ... Uncle Miltie was "Mr. Television." ... NYC theaters, both film and legit, closed on Tuesdays with signs in box office windows that read, "Closed on account of Milton Berle." Berle was deposed early in the 1950s by Monsignor Fulton J. Sheen. ... Berle later told us why.
In the late 1970s, on our KLVX Channel 10 program, Berle explained that he could not compete with Sheen's writers, naming Peter, Paul, Matthias, Matthew and the rest of Jesus' disciples.
My interest in jazz started at a very early age, listening to remote big band broadcasts on radio. ... Sam Taub and Angelo Pulangi played Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and small jazz groups on a local radio station and Doug Arthur was Philadelphia's No. 1 disc jockey.
Anent Louis Armstrong
At age 17, in 1939, I was introduced to Armstrong, backstage in Philadelphia's Earle Theatre. ... In 1952, I emceed Louis' "Homecoming Concert" in New Orleans' Municipal Auditorium and introduced the original Dukes of Dixieland to him. ... In 1960, for Audio Fidelity, I produced two best-selling "Louis and The Dukes" albums.
In 1971, at the Tropicana, Armstrong's last appearance in Las Vegas, I put together a "Tribute Night" with Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Red Norvo and Monk Montgomery onstage. ... Ella asked Armstrong to play "Blueberry Hill." ... The All-Stars complied and Duke danced with Ella, one of this columnist's all-time great Las Vegas moments.
That first visit to Las Vegas was in 1946, just out of the service, and I spent part of each year here until moving here permanently in 1962. ... The Sun column, now in its 33rd year, was begun in June, 1967.
Anent Las Vegas
Las Vegas has changed drastically in the last half-century-plus since that first visit. ... It was once a people town, very friendly, everyone knew everyone. ... It pretty much remained that way until the 1960s with Howard Hughes and the change to a corporate form. ... While this did bring on a period of tremendous growth, it also meant that the person-to-person aspect had to be sacrificed for industrialized efficiency.
Life is change but certain things do remain the same. ... The hospitality business is still a people business. ... It is hard to give personal service when a hotel has 10,000 people occupying 5,000 rooms.
As we enter the new millennium, we would like to see more emphasis on the personal touch, on courtesy, which has to start at the top and cannot exist when management and its employees have an adversary relationship. ... LV will become even bigger; let's do it more gently.
Looking ahead
It's good to know there will be greater emphasis on entertainment in 2000 and beyond, especially on the development of name talent and identification of those names with particular hotels. ... This was such an important factor in LV's early growth. ... According to recent surveys, it is even more important today. ... When people inquire about Las Vegas, they ask "Who is playing there," not "What is playing there?"
If you have the fortitude to brave the New Year's Eve crowds, start early enough -- and can afford it -- you should be able to get in to see almost any show. ... Have a safe and sane New Year's weekend. ... There will be a special Joe's World column in the news section of Monday's Sun, and we will see you here again next Thursday.
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