Columnist John Katsilometes: If you can’t beat ‘em, root for ‘em

Tuesday, Sept. 21, 1999 | 9:19 a.m.

John Katsilometes' column appears Tuesdays and Sundays. Reach him at 259-2327 or kats@vegas.com.

For the estate of Frank Sinatra, the show must go on. The show in question is the popular tribute "The Rat Pack Is Back" at the Desert Inn.

Contrary to reports in major newspapers from both coasts, Sheffield Enterprises, which is owned by Sinatra children Tina, Nancy and Frank Jr., does not want the show to halt production after filing a federal trademark infringement lawsuit earlier this month.

The reason is simple -- the Sinatra estate is seeking what in legal terms is known as "compensatory damages" (in other words, money) for alleged infringement upon the Sinatra name and likeness. Obviously the most effective way to reap financial reward from a lounge show is to have that show remain in production. So in a contradictory bit of strategy, the Sinatra estate is planning to take the show to court while concurrently hoping for sellouts in the 330-seat Starlight Lounge.

We'll root for ya, then we'll sue your brains out.

Sinatra's estate is flying solo so far, as the estates of the other Rat Packers depicted at the D.I. (Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Joey Bishop) have yet to file suits independently and are not part of the Sinatra lawsuit.

Sheffield Enterprises is represented by Las Vegas attorney Mort Galane, known as a savvy and experienced trial lawyer. Through Galane, Sheffield filed suit not against show producers David Cassidy and Don Reo, but against the hotel itself for using names like "Old Blue Eyes" for drinks and marketing souvenirs bearing "The Rat Pack Is Back" logo, which is four silhouetted figures that look like Sinatra and the boys circa 1960.

There is a chance the hotel will be represented by Cassidy and Reo attorney Mark Tratos. Tratos is familiar with estate litigation and is the author of the Nevada "right of publicity" statute that protects tribute shows throughout the state. Retaining Tratos, who represents the estates of Malcolm X and James Dean, would be a good move for the D.I., but that decision won't be made until the end of this week at the earliest.

Cassidy has been busy defending the show since Tina Sinatra first threatened litigation back in July. His only comment last week, made through an assistant, was "This is somewhat sad."

Both sides are free-floating at the moment with no time frame in place as to when the suit might reach court. But Galane has said the case could set precedent in Nevada, and if the Sinatra estate indeed winds up winning the case (which legal experts say is a long-shot proposition), performers ranging from Rich Little to Danny Gans to Kenny Kerr can feel a bit uneasy.

The Sinatra-Desert Inn legal wrangling could prove to be as entertaining as anything those performers produce on stage. If the Rio had rights to the trial, it'd be selling tickets at $99 a pop.

Just when I start to believe no city can be more obtuse than Las Vegas, my brother from Davis, Calif., visits with an update of his weird place of residence.

Davis has enacted one of the most stringent anti-smoking policies in the United States. Essentially, a Davis citizen is not allowed to smoke in any public place and if a smoker wants to duck outside for an unfiltered Camel, he must be at least 20 feet outside the business's entrance.

Bicycles far outnumber automobiles in Davis, with bike lanes as wide as car lanes and helmeted, Spandex-clad bicyclists clogging the roadways. Mayor Julie Partansky, a member of the Green Party, does not own a car and has resisted filling potholes because they serve as natural bird baths.

(They also serve as pretty good human baths for really small people.)

Davis has also constructed a thoroughfare for frogs stretching underneath the freeway leading out of town. It turns out a new stretch of highway has upset a natural frog habitat and the little varmints were regularly being squished into little frog cakes by inattentive motorists. The City of Davis addressed this crisis by building an underground tunnel specifically for the frogs so they can safely make their way across the busy freeway.

Sadly, as with any government project, the Kermit Tunnel was fraught with unexpected problems. Chiefly, the confused frogs refused to use the dark, dank and impersonal thoroughfare. So city officials smeared frog blood throughout the tunnel, attempting to entice the frogs to hop across.

Las Vegas has white tigers. Davis has flipped-out frogs.

A few weeks back I wrote that nothing was happening at the subdued Resort at Summerlin that would keep neighbors up at night.

I might be wrong.

The hotel's J.C. Wooloughan's Irish Pub has opened, and the place rocks on weekend nights. The food is authentic Irish fare and the atmosphere is purely authentic -- televisions and gaming are forbidden, and the hard-wood decor makes for a loud and bawdy ambience where patrons must shout to be heard.

Most of the Paseo de Vida shops and restaurants have been opened (the latest, Hamada of Japan, made its debut Monday night) and the Regent Grand Palms wing of the hotel is set to open in early November. Locals are being offered a rate of $109 per night during the week and $129 on weekends, which means either the hotel is cozying up to its Las Vegas patronage or is suffering so-so business. Room rates for visitors are set at $345. The rate for locals is good until the end of the year.

Not that we want to turn Urban Scrawl into a media critique column, but I must vent about a couple of commercials that have been airing recently: there is nothing about sportscaster Dan Patrick waxing rhapsodic about John Elway's football career that makes me want to drink Coors, and there is nothing about catatonic (and seemingly malnutritioned) models lip-syncing Madonna's "Dress You Up" that makes me want to buy Gap pants.

Let's try a new approach, gang.