Friday, Aug. 2, 2002 | 2:02 a.m.
WEEKEND EDITION: Aug. 4, 2002
Breck Wall is one of the most durable performers in Las Vegas.
For the past 43 years the 67-year-old entertainer has starred in "Bottoms Up," a raucous, titillating burlesque show he created and opened at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas in 1959.
You can catch the revue, which Wall brought to Las Vegas in 1964, at the Flamingo Las Vegas at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
Wall was born in Jacksonville, Fla., but his family left abruptly when he was but a week old. His father was a bootlegger who got out of town one step ahead of federal agents. The family then settled in Texas.
While performing in "Bottoms Up" in Dallas, Wall became acquainted with Jack Ruby, the nightclub owner who gunned down Lee Harvey Oswald.
Wall was one of the last people Ruby spoke about before dying of cancer in a Texas prison hospital in 1967.
Wall recently spoke to the Sun about "Bottoms Up," which has consumed his life, and about his place in one of the darkest periods of United States history.
Las Vegas Sun: How did "Bottoms Up" come about?
Breck Wall: I had this show I created based on slapstick vaudeville comedy. The Adolphus Hotel, a very famous, elegant hotel in Dallas, had a showroom that put in people like Sophie Tucker and Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy during the winters.
The showroom was going to close for the season in about two months, but the general manager gave me a two-week contract. We bought all our costumes at department stores like JC Penney, and we did the whole show for $900.
The two-week engagement sold out and they kept extending our contract. We ended up staying a year. Our total salary for 10 people was $1,200 a week, but we got to eat and sleep at the hotel.
Sun: Where did you go at the end of the year?
BW: We made enough money to open our own nightclub, which we had for about a year and a half. Then we got an offer from a man named Jack Ruby, who had a wonderful stripper club that he wanted to close and make it into the Sovereign Club, where we would perform.
So, we closed our business down after he gave us a six-month contract. We were all good friends, but Jack was like a real low thug, a Damon Runyon-type character. Eventually, we had a horrible fight, gathered up our things and went back to the Adolphus.
We were at the Adolphus Hotel when Kennedy was shot. It happened about four blocks away. My name was on the marquee. I was under investigation for three years as part of the plot to assassinate the president.
Sun: Why were you being investigated?
BW: Because Jack called me just before he shot Oswald.
Sun: What did he say?
BW: I was president of a union for nightclubs. After Kennedy was assassinated some nightclubs closed down. We closed our show at the Adolphus out of respect and I took off for Galveston to be with my family. Kennedy was shot on a Friday and I left town on a Saturday.
When I got to Galveston, my mother said Jack Ruby called and sounded really upset so I called him back. He was upset because a nightclub down the street from his didn't close for a period of mourning. He wanted me to call, as president of the union, to tell the owner to close. I said I couldn't do that, it's part of his business.
Jack was ranting and raving. And the next morning ... I was watching television and I saw the shooting. My phone started ringing immediately. I mean there was a bang -- count to 10, and the phone started ringing. The first person to call was The London Times. Then The New York Times called and The Washington Post. I was freaking out, so I wouldn't talk to anybody.
Sun: Why were you investigated?
BW: Jim Garrison, the district attorney in New Orleans, kept bringing my name up all those years. He wanted to keep the conspiracy-theory fire going. He had already ruined a guy in Louisiana and a guy in California. I was a nervous wreck for quite a while when he was using my name. But the Warren Commission investigated and proved there was nothing to it. My name is in the Warren Commission report.
Jack died of cancer in a prison hospital in 1967. We were friends. He wanted to see me real bad. I was going to go see him, but he died before I could get there. I was one of the last persons he talked about.
Sun: You brought "Bottoms Up" to Las Vegas a few months after the Kennedy assassination?
BW: Yes. What happened was, after the winter season the Adolphus closed, we got an engagement at the Continental Hotel in Houston. We went down for four weeks and ended up staying 16.
Meanwhile, in Las Vegas, at the Frontier Hotel, there was a show called "Tokyo By Night," which was produced by Shirley MacLaine's husband, Steve Parker. It was a huge success.
A rinky-dink casino called Castaways, which was where The Mirage now stands, decided to do a takeoff of "Tokyo By Night" called "Panty's Inferno." It was a disaster, an awful show. The owner of the casino was talking to the entertainment director, Bill Norvis, who happened to be a friend of mine. The owner told Bill he had to get out from underneath the show and Bill suggested "Bottoms Up."
Sun: When did you arrive in Vegas?
BW: The general manager flew down to Houston the next day and saw the show and bought it on sight. The next day we piled into eight cars, drove across the desert, arrived in Las Vegas on a Sunday and we opened at Castaways on Tuesday. We were a huge hit. On opening night the audience included Leslie Uggams, Jerry Lewis and numerous other stars.
The show took off like gangbusters. We played there for eight months. Our co-star, who had the other show at the casino, was an unknown comic by the name of Redd Foxx. We became great friends.
Sun: Where did the show go from Castaways?
BW: To the Hacienda. The star of "Bottoms Up" at that time was Marie Wilson, of "My Friend Irma" fame. We played there for eight weeks and then we started touring. Eventually we ended up in Hawaii, where we stayed for a year. Then we did the Playboy Club circuit for several months. We were at the Playboy Club in Atlanta when we got a call from my former partner, Joe Peterson, who had become the entertainment director at the Thunderbird. He asked us to come back and do an afternoon show, something that had never been done before in Vegas. So, we flew back and opened six days later.
Sun: How long were you there?
BW: For two years. I have seen hits, but we took it all. I used to get so excited. The theater seated maybe 800. I would come to work and the line would be the length of the casino and back around. Every day I had to go out there and see the line. It was thrilling.
Eventually, we became the night show.
Sun: Why did you leave the Thunderbird?
BW: This goes back to Dallas. A friend of mine from there named Jay Sarno had created a miniature Caesars Palace in Dallas. He came to Las Vegas, got the necessary financial backing and opened Caesars Palace here. Six months later my agent, Dave Victorson, called me and asked me if I would like to open at Caesars Palace. We were there for two years. Then we moved to the International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton). Elvis was in the main showroom. Our room was next door.
Sun: Where did you go after the International?
BW: Bill Miller, entertainment director at the International, came to the Flamingo in 1971. Back then, you always went where the bosses went. So we came to the Flamingo and did great business. We were here for two years.
Sometimes we would close in the fall for two or three months and we would take the show to places like the Bahamas, Canada and Australia.
A guy from Dallas hired us to do a play in his dinner theater, called Grannies. He gave us a whopping salary of $6,500 a week for 12 people, but by the time we put on two shows he increased our salary -- paid us real big bucks. We paid his rent for an entire year from a 12-week engagement.
Sun: You have done more than 15,000 performances of "Bottoms Up." What keeps you going after all these years?
BW: Doing this show is like a shot in the arm. It's like you take drugs. The adrenaline, even now, after I've done this same show all these years, I still have a blast. It's like a party every day. We're like a family. There's never an argument. I can't wait to get to work.
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