Columnist Joe Delaney: Gans’ success might mirror Siegfried & Roy impact

Joe Delaney

Friday, Dec. 17, 1999 | 10:07 a.m.

Joe Delaney's column appears Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@vegas.com.

Danny Gans may be doing for fellow impressionists what Siegfried & Roy have done for other illusionists: make that performance genre a major entertainment factor in Las Vegas. ... Siegfried & Roy began here as a featured act in a production show, then had their own production show at the Frontier, before emerging as a No. 1 attraction at the Mirage.

Thanks to the duo, there are times in town when David Copperfield (Caesars Palace); Steve Wyrick (Lady Luck, soon to move to the Sahara); Penn & Teller (MGM Grand) and Lance Burton in his Monte Carlo theater will be doing capacity business all at the same time. ... In addition, magic acts are being prominently featured in many production shows.

Danny Gans developed his talents and a following as a featured performer at conventions and trade shows and came to Las Vegas first as an opening act for Bill Cosby, then Joan Rivers.

Gans is discovered

Tom Willer, now marketing chief at the Stratosphere, saw Gans at the Las Vegas Hilton with Bill Cosby when Willer was at the Hilton. ... This played a part in getting Gans to open at the Stratosphere. ... Gans built a strong local following in the showroom, really the only successful area in that hotel's first year. ... This led to his move to the Rio and, finally, to his own theater in the Mirage in 2000 and beyond.

Bill Acosta's "Lasting Impressions" has become a hit at the Luxor, priced at a modest $24.95, tax included. ... Gans' Rio starting price was in the mid-$30s and has since escalated to $99, including tax, gratuity, and two drinks. ... He's still selling out nightly.

Andre-Phillippe Gagnon impersonates stars from Sinatra to Guns 'n' Roses in the Venetian's C2K Club at 7 p.m. for prices that range from $45 to $75. ... Gagnon played LV first at the Dunes Comedy Store.

Impressionists do well

Impressionists have always done well. ... Most of the earlier comedians did movie star impressions as part of their act with bits of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, along with Cary Grant and Charles Boyer. ... Don Rickles still does Tony Bennett, Dean Martin and a tribute to James Cagney as George M. Cohan singing "I'm A Yankee Doodle Dandy," one of his Desert Inn performance highlights.

We've just learned that Cybill Shepherd will be co-starring with Rickles in the Desert OInn Crystal Room, Dec. 29-31. ... Bob Anderson, our favorite singing impressionist when it comes to nightclub singers, opened Tuesday in the D.I.'s warm Starlight Lounge.

Billy Crystal and Robin Williams are brilliant impressionists. ... It was Rich Little and Frank Gorshin who opened the door for Gans and the others as LV headliners in the 1960s and 1970s.

Anent Shecky

Shecky Greene, a natural, an authentic comedy original, did dead-on carbons of early greats like Al Jolson, Sophie Tucker and Harry Belafonte. ... Jonathan Winters, forerunner of Robin Williams, did impressions of characters, everyday people, while a vaudevillian headliner named Rufe Davis imitated sounds of animals plus cars, trucks and airplanes.

Older fans may remember the syndicated series, "The Kopykats," which featured Rich Little; Sammy Davis Jr., one of the finest impressionists; Shecky and Marilyn Michaels, among others. ... Question: Couldn't an impressionists show using a number of them work?

With a presidential election campaign in full swing, this would be a good time to give Little his own room here to develop his cast of candidates and update his presidential press conferences. ... Little, born a Canadian, is one of our most astute -- and very funny -- political commentators.

Friday addenda

We also learned via KNPR-FM 89.5 that conductor Harold Weller and the Las Vegas Philharmonic will have a 100-voice choir for the holiday spectacular, Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., UNLV's Artemus Ham Hall. ... Tony Sacca's "Merry Christmas, Las Vegas" TV special airs Sunday at midnight, KTNV Channel 13, and at 6 p.m. on Christmas Day, KFBT Channel 6 on cable.

Sacca's guest list includes Buddy Greco & Lezlie Anders, Bill Acosta, the Checkmates, Steve Rossi & Sandy Hackett, Denise Clemente and The Walkers, among others. ... See "Doo Whop Ditty" at the Riviera this weekend, enjoy yourself and help M.A.S.H. Village, locally, at the same time. ... See you next Thursday.