Monday, Oct. 22, 2007 | 7:14 a.m.
Who: Fred Travalena
When: 7 p.m. Friday-Sunday
Where: Suncoast showroom
Tickets: $19.95 and up; 636-7075
Fred Travalena is a man of a thousand voices and a million stories.
The impersonator, comedian and singer was a Las Vegas fixture in the '70s and '80s . He rubbed elbows with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine and many of the other performers who made this the Entertainment Capital of the World.
He can talk for hours about his life in Las Vegas, about attending private parties thrown by Sinatra, about Elvis and Engelbert Humperdinck and Sammy Davis Jr. and countless other Vegas icons.
"I first came here in 1971. I had five minutes in the David Frost Revue at the Riviera," says Travalena, who's 65 but still has a youthful look and enthusiasm.
He hasn't performed here in six years but returns this weekend at the Suncoast.
"I was here in 2001," he says. "I asked my friend Wayne Newton, 'Can you do me a favor and bring me in? I can't seem to get a floor in town.' He brought me into the Stardust, let me replace him for a weekend. They promoted the heck out of it and I did very well."
He blames his long absence on changes in the Vegas scene. He said he'd even heard the rumor that MGM Mirage had a policy against hiring impressionists who would compete against Danny Gans at the Mirage. When the issue has come up in the past, MGM officials have denied such a policy.
"I'm not slamming anybody, I'm telling you the truth," Travalena says. "I couldn't understand why I couldn't get anybody to call me, and then someone said there's an impressionist in town that has nine hotels sewn up and they're not allowed to hire impressionists - not in the main room, not in the lounge , not in the piano bar. It knocked a lot of us out, and there's a lot of great impressionists in town. Bill Acosta. Rich Little, who just got a deal at the Golden Nugget. It's starting to come back."
He would like to be a part of that comeback. "I'm looking for a deal," he says.
There was a time when he worked here so often most people thought he lived here, even though his home was in Southern California.
"Vegas was the main foundation of my career," he says. "From that I got a lot of TV talk shows, which made me even more valuable because when I went on the shows I would talk about Vegas. So the hotels knew if they hired me I'd be on 'The Tonight Show' or 'The Merv Griffin Show' or 'The Mike Douglas Show' and talk about my engagement at the hotel."
Travalena, a New York native, set out to be a commercial artist and ended up selling paper. He would pick up extra money on weekends singing and doing impressions at weddings. He landed a nightclub gig, got a mention in Variety and was picked up by the William Morris Agency.
The talent agency landed him a spot on Rich Little's TV show "Kopykats," part of the ABC "Comedy Hour." Travalena was one of the regulars, along with George Kirby, Frank Gorshin and Charlie Callas.
"I was 28 years old and on national television. I didn't know what that meant," Travalena says.
That led to gigs in Las Vegas. "I became the opening comedian for most of the ladies - Shirley MacLaine, Ann-Margret, Helen Reddy, Bobbie Gentry," he says. He worked with Julie Andrews at Caesars Palace. "It was really the only time she worked here," he says.
Travalena tells about one time when he wasn't so lucky.
In August 1974 "The Tonight Show" producer pressured him to scrap an impression of beleaguered President Nixon. He changed his act for the taping with Johnny Carson, returned to the hotel and discovered the show was cancelled because Nixon had announced his resignation.
"The next day we were flying back to Virginia, where we lived at the time, and we met Air Force One coming this way," Travalena said . "The pilot said, 'That's Air Force One carrying Richard Nixon back to California.' I envisioned him looking out the window at me and saying, 'I'll teach you to do an impression of me.' "
Even though Travalena hasn't been working in Las Vegas in recent years, he has been busy working on a musical and performing at corporate events, fundraisers, concerts, cruises and USO shows.
"I'm just lucky," he says.
From Travalena's upbeat attitude you wouldn't know he had brushes with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in 2002 and 2003.
"When (the doctor) told me I had cancer , I left the room," he says. "I was physically still in the seat, but I left the room mentally. You can't believe he's talking to you, telling you you have cancer."
He say's he's healthy now, beating the disease with a combination of chemotherapy and diet.
"Thanks to God I beat them both," he said. "People should know cancer is not a death sentence."
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