Producer, choreographer Belfer dies

Tuesday, March 9, 1999 | 11:16 a.m.

Producer, director and choreographer Harold "Hal" Belfer died Sunday in Las Vegas. He was 77.

He was an entertainment director for local hotels and most recently ran Hal Belfer Associates, a local talent agency.

"He did a lot of good for people in show business," longtime friend Paul Szigety said. "He was the most decent person I knew. A handshake with him was as good as a contract."

Born Feb. 16, 1922, in Los Angeles, Belfer, who worked with such names as Bob Hope, Tony Martin and Frank Sinatra, has had a lifelong career in the entertainment industry.

At the age of 3, his mother enrolled him in dance classes. Before long he was singing, dancing and playing guitar. His father, a violinist and oboe player, rounded out Belfer's musical background.

Tap dancing led him to choreography, which opened up a lifelong career. He garnered more than 200 motion picture and television credits for choreography, producing, directing and staging.

In the early 1950s Belfer was called to Las Vegas to help out on a Lena Horne show.

"Whatever Hal did, they liked it. He stayed for a while," his wife, Bernice, said. "He had the knack of making anyone -- even if they had two left feet -- look good."

Belfer worked as the entertainment director at the Riviera and the Flamingo hotel-casinos before returning to California to become a personal manager for celebrity entertainers.

Longtime friend Maynard Sloate later brought him back to Las Vegas to be stage manager at the Sahara hotel-casino.

"He was as nice a man as I ever met," Sloate said. "He knew everything there was to know about show business and he did everything there was to do in show business."

Belfer also worked on movies with Elvis Presley and staged dance numbers for the television shows "Saturday Night Review" and "Colgate Comedy Hour." He produced the first live Liberace television show from Las Vegas.

Yet he never forgot his tap moves, friends say. He could be spotted "tapping" around town for impromptu appearances.

"From time to time he would hoof for fun at places like Debbie Reynolds, where he would just show up," Sloate said. "Once in a while he'd open a show for Tony Martin, but that was just for kicks."

Belfer was a member of the Director's Guild of America, the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences and a World War II Army veteran.

He is survived by his wife and one cousin, Judge Maxine Chesney of San Francisco.

Arrangements were handled by Palm Mortuary, 1600 S. Jones Blvd.