Friday, Oct. 29, 1999 | 10:02 a.m.
Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joem
Wayne Newton, at age 57, has been a major contributor to the Las Vegas entertainment scene for more than four decades. ... His new 10-year commitment with the Stardust hotel, flagship of the Boyd Group, is a win-win arrangement. ... Wayne will perform in the renamed and about-to-be refurbished Wayne Newton Theatre 40 weeks a year and the Stardust has a major attraction to better compete with the newer hotels.
Wayne and his brother, Jerry, as teenagers, began their LV careers as a lounge act, working six days a week, six hours a night, 45 minutes on and 15 off.
Comedian Jackie Gleason gave the Newtons their first national television break. ... Singer Bobby Darin saw them and was so impressed with Wayne he gave him the song "Danke Schoen," Wayne's first million-selling record.
Newton, continued
Darin not only gave Wayne the song that was to be his follow-up to "Mack, the Knife," he actually produced the recording date plus subsequent hits including "Red Roses For a Blue Lady." It was Darin who was responsible for the act's name change to Wayne Newton. Jerry Newton left the act early in the 1970s.
Jack Benny was the next star to recognize Wayne's potential and raised the act to main showroom level, working with Benny up north. ... Benny featured Wayne on his television show and set up appearances with Lucille Ball and other major TV headliners.
What Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and the rest of the Rat Pack meant to Las Vegas (capacity crowds) in the 1960s, Wayne, along with Elvis Presley at the Las Vegas Hilton, meant in the 1970s. ... Wayne and Presley in town together was equivalent to a second convention in town.
Into the 1980s
After Presley's death in 1977 Wayne was working 40 weeks a year, seven nights a week, two shows a night, doing two hours at 8 p.m. and three hours or more at midnight, rotating between three Hughes hotels, the Frontier, Desert Inn and Sands. He continued doing capacity business through the 1980s. ... He later starred at the LV Hilton, Caesars Palace and, most recently, the MGM Grand. ... His Hughes hotel mentor was Walter Kane.
There was a post-Hughes hotel interval when Wayne reunited with Ed Torres as co-owners of the Aladdin hotel. ... This was short-lived; Torres still regarded Wayne as the teenager who worked for him at the Fremont.
Wayne's performance time and attendance records in Las Vegas belong in the Guinness World Book of Records, never to be equaled. ... During the 1970s and 1980s Wayne never played to an unsold seat. ... The Newton-Boyd Group marriage also continues a trend.
What is happening
With Danny Gans moving to his own showroom at the Mirage, Clint Holmes taking over the main showroom at Harrah's, Wayne at the Stardust and Steve Wyrick settling in at the Sahara, Las Vegas will have four more star-policy showrooms, one star -- full time -- in each. ... People elsewhere in the world have never asked me what is playing, it's always who is performing in Las Vegas.
We're returning to what made Las Vegas a major destination originally, stars being identified with certain hotels. ... Despite the proliferation of production shows featuring magic and illusions, visitors still refer to these shows as Siegfried & Roy, David Copperfield, Lance Burton, etc., rather than by secondary titles.
There will always be production shows and, hopefully, a return to Broadway shows, but star-powered entertainment put Las Vegas on the map originally and it's good to see it coming back strong.
Now, the lounges
Lounges will make a similar comeback if hotels will develop lounge acts as permanent attractions, building an identification with that hotel. ... Lounge acts like Sam Butera, Freddie Bell, the Irish Show Band and the Treniers should have one place to perform regularly, not two weeks here and there. ... Go back to building that hotel-performer identification.
The Stardust and Harrah's have created a viable way of competing with entertainment at the new mega-hotels. ... Meanwhile Steve Wynn has two major star-policy attractions at the Mirage, Siegfried & Roy and Danny Gans, as we enter the new millennium. ... Have a safe and sane Halloween. ... See you next Thursday.
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