‘Titanic’ displays a long-lost piece; Sammy Shore splashes down at Laugh Factory

By John Katsilometes

Friday, Feb. 6, 2015 | 11 a.m.

Ah, if the cherub at the Luxor’s “Titanic” exhibit could talk. He’d be saying, “What the heck happened to the lamp I was holding?

For the story behind that little fellow, and other happenings on the scene, read further:

• A rarity among rarities has been installed at “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition” at Luxor. A cherub that was one of two such pieces flanking the grand staircase leading to the ship’s first-class deck has been restored and was set into position Thursday night.

“This is a very important piece in the ship’s history because it speaks to the opulence of the Titanic and the way first-class passengers were greeted and walked up to the dining saloons and the library,” says Alex Klingelhofer, vice president of collections for Premier Exhibitions of Atlanta, which operates the exhibit. “We are lucky to have it.”

The bronze cherub originally was gripping a lamp with both hands, and the piece was obviously damaged during the sinking of the ship on April 15, 1912, and spent 75 years 2.5 miles below the ocean’s surface before being retrieved.

Late Thursday, Klingelhofer was joined by “Titanic” General Manager Matt Snyder and Floor Supervisor Roowegie Del Rosario in placing the piece on a wooden platform and a heavy glass case at the top. That was the only step in the process that was not photographed, as Klingelhofer needed full concentration as to not damage the piece as it was put on exhibition. The piece is on display at the exhibit, on the second floor of the hotel across from Atrium Showroom and next to the “Bodies” exhibit, through Feb. 28, and without his lamp, the little guy looks like he’s about to catch a football.

• Set for tonight and Saturday at Laugh Factory at Tropicana is Sammy Shore’s 88th birthday celebration. He’s the “special guest” there for his old friend, club operator and longtime comic Harry Basil. Shore is famous as co-founder of the Comedy Store in Hollywood, which he subsequently lost in his divorce from his wife, Mitzi; and also as the opening act for Elvis during his years at the International and, later, Las Vegas Hilton.

An avid dog lover who hosts his “Funny Bones” fundraiser each year to provide care and homes for orphaned pooches, Shore once told me, “I got a pit bull and a collie. After it mauls you, it runs for help!” He also joked about Elvis complaining that too many women were blocking his entrance to his backstage dressing room at the International. “Stay in my dressing room,” Shore offered. “There are no women in there.”

• Clint Holmes is back at Smith Center at 8:30 tonight and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday for a romance-laden performance at Cabaret Jazz. Holmes has been touring the past several weeks, and he continues to work on his upcoming jazz CD. The latest contributors to that project is Take 6, who appeared last fall with Holmes in the “Georgia on My Mind” shows at Venetian Theater. Jane Monheit, Dee Dee Bridgewater and the Count Basie Orchestra also are on the recording, which hopefully will be issued by the summer.

• I ran into Jen Romas of “Sexxy” just before Andy Walmsley’s “ENTSpeaks” show Monday night at Inspire Theater. Romas was about to step out of her car, and I noticed her unwrapping an ice pack from her left knee. Romas, who built “Sexxy” at Shimmer Cabaret at Westgate in less than a month and stars in the show, has overcome two serious knee injuries in her return to the stage.

She was badly hurt in a fall three years ago during iCandy Burlesque at Saxe Theater in Miracle Mile Shops, fracturing both knee caps and requiring multiple operations over several months. It’s the kind of injury common among NFL players, and the fact that Romas is even able to walk a red carpet — as she did at Inspire — is remarkable. Inspiring, even.

• The Tropicana is adding a wrinkle in its promotion of “Raiding the Rock Vault” with a Rock Star Wedding Package at the hotel’s chapel. Paul Shortino, a minister of rock ’n’ roll if there ever was one, officiates the services (don’t fret, he’s ordained). Couples receive VIP tickets to “Raiding the Rock Vault,” where they meet the band before the performance, and included in the package are a rose bouquet and boutonniere, a set of 18 ceremony photos, wedding DVD, Internet broadcast of the event, limo service to and from the ceremony, and (in the case Wednesday night) an acoustic guitar soundscape by “Rock Vault” guitarist Doug Aldrich.

Away from the ceremony, Shortino says his wife Carmen’s 2008 Cadillac CTS, with the familiar DUKFAME license plate, is likely gone forever. The car vanished Jan. 28 at Sixth and Carson streets after the Shortinos took part in the NSPCA’s sendoff of the puppy Keno to the annual “Puppy Bowl.” That event was at City Hall, and the couple hit Carson Kitchen afterward. The car vanished then, and they are now looking for a great deal on a Caddy to replace what is likely irreplaceable, as the car was given to Carmen by her mother. “We will find something,” Shortino says. “But I doubt that we’ll ever see that car again, and I’m sure the plate is gone, too.”

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