Friday, April 4, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
The Tropicana Resort and Casino opened April 4, 1957, 40 years ago today. To commemorate its anniverary, the Tropicana is revamping Las Vegas' longest running production show with a new edition called "The Best of the Folies Bergere ... Sexier Than Ever," which will open April 18. To honor that longevity, here are some of the "Best of the Folies Bergere" memories.
Maynard Sloate, "Folies" producer, 1968-71: "Las Vegas has some very large holes in the desert filled with the most beautiful sets and costumes in the world. Back then, the costumes were made by little old ladies around Paris, and then shipped over to Las Vegas. Now, the law said you could bring it in duty-free -- but only for three years. After that, you had to either pay duty -- which was half its value -- or get rid of it. You could either send it back, or you could bury it. So with a customs agent watching, every three years we'd go into the desert to bury them. My co-producer, who produced the "Folies" in Paris, watched once and cried."
Don Martinez, stage manager, 1982-95: "They say you weren't a showgirl until you fell down the stairs. That was the most dangerous thing in the show. The lead singer, in the opening number piece, comes down these big gold stairs, singing. Her costumer was a big feather piece, with feathers trailing behind her. She tripped at the top and rolled down stairs, doing somersaults, her feathers flying. She kept singing, but you could only hear every third word, cause her arms were flying around. She looked like peacock hit by a car."
Lance Burton, "Folies" magician, 1982-91: "Most of my stories involve birds flying away and me having to go after them. One time, we were doing a "Folies" road show in Phoenix. This was back when Ramada owned the Tropicana. There was a big Ramada function with all their executives. One of my birds flew into the audience. This huge roar of laughter came from the audience. I walked into the audience. My bird was perched on the head of man in the front row. The audience was screaming in laughter. So I retrieved the bird and apologized. Later, people came up to me and said, 'Do you know who that was? That was the chairman of the board!' After the show, that's all everyone was talking about -- they all thought I trained the bird to do that. Fortunately, he had a good sense of humor."
Burton: "Siegfried and Roy played their first gig in Vegas at the Tropicana. They had this cheetah. One time it jumped into the musician's pit. The musicians all went diving for cover. And Siegfried said to the piano player, 'Keep playing -- he likes the music.'"
Roger Ray, "Folies" comedian, 1967-69: "That cheetah used to poop all over the stage."
June Vantrimpont, showgirl, 1990-present: "I was the line captain and dancer. While performing, I had a sudden heart-rate episode. I needed surgery to repair the mitrovalve or replace it. As a dancer, in all shows, when we are injured, we have no disability compensation -- I would have no money coming in. I had to deal with the ailment itself, and deal with affording to be off for three months. The girls decided to hold a fund-raiser for me, all on their own time, in between shows and numbers. They held bakes sales, dinners, they made different things and sold to all the shows and raised $4,600 for me. This was in October '94, and I was back at work January '95."
Moire Lynch, dancer, 1980-85: "One of the guys in the show, Randy, died of AIDS, and they made a quilt for him."
Jamey Gallagher, dancer, 1984-93: "I just started as an adagio dancer in "Folies," and I was putting acts together for 'Star Search.' We had a group called Triple Threat, but we needed a third girl, a tumbler. Dawn, my present wife, had just come into the show. We asked her to join, and we ended up dating for some time. They went on 'Star Search,' they did well, but didn't win. I guess you could say our marriage was far more successful than the act was. Now, it looks like we have our own show-biz kid: At 2 1/2, Keeley is tumbling around already, and we have another due this week."
Sloate: "We had a new set, with showgirls topless in the cathedral. I recorded a choir singing 'Ave Maria.' But we got a lot of letters about how sacrilegious is was to using 'Ave Maria' with topless girls. The solution? We re-recorded the act to 'Climb Every Mountain' from 'The Sound of Music.' We were no longer sacrilegious."
Martinez: "One time, we had a comedian that came backstage, went up to his dressing room and fell asleep. I already introduced him, went running up to say, 'You're on right now!" He ran down with no shoes and only a T-shirt. He told audience he was in the casino and had lost his shirt."
Burton: "One time in the mid-'80s, the electricity went out in the showroom -- they couldn't raise the curtain or turn the lights on. There were 1,000 people in the audience, expecting a show. I told the stagehands, 'You guys go out in audience with flashlights.' They shone them on me and I did my act. They still had to comp all 1,000."
Martinez: "After Lance, Barkley Shaw, the comedian, went out (in the darkened theater). He said, 'You can take your billion-dollar production numbers with sets and drops and costumes, but it's the stars that make the show.' So, the stagehands turned the lights off on him, and the soundman turned off the sound."
Harvey Dietrich, director of publicity, 1961-72: "I went to work there February '57, we opened in April of '57. Rex Bell, the lieutenant governor at the time, unlocked the doors and threw away the key -- that was my idea. Eddie Fisher was the opening star. And I was there the night Eddie Fisher and Liz Taylor announced their wedding. But the location hindered the success -- it was considered 'halfway to Los Angeles.' One day, the shift boss closed the casino, claiming they did not have enough cash in the cage. J.K. Houssels Sr., the casino manager, took $50,000 out a paper bag and replenished the cage and reopened the casino. He subsequently became president and chairman of the board."
Sloate: "The funniest animal act that ever happened was Gus Augspurg's. He had two monkeys. One nice monkey and one evil monkey. The nice monkey walked around, the evil one stayed in a cage backstage. They were brilliant. When Gus did a little drinking -- these animals were so smart, they were almost human -- when he was a little juiced, they could cover for him. They could almost do the act without him. One night, he, the good monkey and the stage manager stayed at the bar until dawn. I still have this picture of them crawling out the door at 5:30 in the morning..."
Alan Clancy, gymnast: "I think I was longest person there -- from the '70s onwards until seven years ago. One thing about being a man in the show, they wanted you to blend into the sets -- we were there to support the women. Whenever you went into casino, we were the backdrops. We were not allowed to be photographed. It's a bit sad when you work so hard and never have much acknowledgement. But that's OK. I remember how wonderful the showgirls were. On my birthday, they would come in with candles on their pasties. They used to stand them up and melt them on."
Martinez: "One night, around 1990, Lance Burton called me early and said two of his pigeons were dead, decapitated. He asked, 'Does the hotel have rats?' No, but but it had mice, so he set a trap. He called me back, he said, 'I have a problem.' Alive in the trap was a civet cat, a desert skunk. A man from animal control went into the dressing room and was squirted -- he was asphyxiated, had to go to the hospital. You could smell it all the way to the parking lot. We put fans in the hallway, we had to pull the carpet out and wash it with Lysol. There's a draft, the smell goes from backstage right into the audience. But the show must go on. It ended up, one of the casino guys had gotten fired, so he released it to disrupt the casino. But it made its way backstage, and was living there a couple of weeks -- until it raided the chicken coop."
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