Columnist Joe Delaney: ‘Spectacular’ becomes victim of chain reaction

Joe Delaney

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 8:58 a.m.

Joe Delaney's columns appear on Thursdays and Fridays. Reach him at 259-4066 or joe@lasvegassun.com.

"The Great Radio City Spectacular" closed on Monday, leaving the Flamingo Las Vegas showroom without an announced future occupant ... "Notre Dame de Paris" departed Paris Las Vegas on Saturday ... Neither hotel has announced a successor ... The Flamingo show was kept on too long while the Paris' rock opera deserved a much earlier interment.

Both hotels have certainly had enough time to have had a replacement show ready ... As of Sept. 5 the Caesars Palace Circus Maximus will be a memory ... Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme are scheduled to perform Aug. 31-Sept. 3; there is a private event on Sept. 4 and the demolition crew will be moving in very early on Sept. 5, a sad day.

We understand there are plans for a new Caesars Palace showroom in the future ... We hope so ... What do all three hotels have in common? ... Each is a part of Park Place Entertainment Corp.

That's not all

Old-timers will remember fondly the successful runs here for the Frank Loesser classic, "Guys and Dolls" ... In addition to being an ideal show for Las Vegas, each version had marquee star power ... "Chicago" at Mandalay Bay looked like it could be another "Guys and Dolls" until the powers that be took away the star power, reducing the show to a road-company equivalent ... "Chicago" closed not long after.

After a long dark stretch, Mandalay Bay is beginning to bring in star-policy attractions for two- and three-day weekends ... Bill Cosby, formerly at the Mirage, will perform there Aug. 11-12.

The Desert Inn Crystal Room may even close before Aug. 30 ... With entertainment now ranked No. 1 among the reasons people visit Las Vegas, our hotels seem to be going in the opposite direction ... Las Vegans built Atlantic City, but now LV is becoming more like Atlantic City every day.

Star-policy rundown

Both the Caesars Palace and Desert Inn showrooms are dark this weekend ... Elsewhere, it's Damon Wayans, Friday and Saturday (Flamingo Las Vegas); Marty Allen-Karon Kate Blackwell (Gold Coast); Clint Holmes (Harrah's); Def Comedy Jam (LV Hilton); Bill Acosta (Luxor); Penn & Teller, plus Rita Rudner, plus Tommy Tune starring in "EFX" (MGM Grand).

Also Siegfried & Roy, Danny Gans (Mirage); Lance Burton (Monte Carlo); David Cassidy-Sheena Easton (Rio); Sally Struthers-Rachel Ricca in "Always ... Patsy Cline" (Silverton).

And Wayne Newton, plus Bob Anderson (Stardust); and Melinda, First Lady of Magic (Venetian) ... For laughs, catch Wayans.

Thursday night jazz special: Chuck Diamond's Royal Dixie Jazz Band, 5-8 p.m. at the Farmer's Market in Henderson ... Diamond's band was the afternoon mainstay at the Barbary Coast and, later, at the Gold Coast.

More jazz notes

The present incarnation at the Gold Coast is the Kinda Dixie Jazz Band led by trombonist Jim Fitzgerald, an excellent ensemble, noon-6 p.m. weekdays, Gold Coast east lounge ... Both groups, Diamond's and Fitzgerald's, play big-band tunes and great song standards as originally written but using the Dixieland jazz two-beat format.

Reed instrument specialist George "Moose" Mosse, formerly with the Sorta Dixie Jazz Band, has teamed up with nearly peerless jazz pianist Ronnie DiFillips as the World's Smallest Jazz Band, Sundays from 1:30-4:30 p.m. at Swede's Corner on East Charleston.

Drummer Irv Kluger sets the tempo Fridays at Pogo's, and Don Menza should be returning to his Monday Jazz sessions (Riviera) ... Carl Lodico's Big Band makes Pepper's a good place to be on Thursday evenings ... The Joe Lano Trio (Napoleon's at Paris Las Vegas) is an every night musical treat.

About those ellipses

It was the summer of 1967 and we had just started this Sun column ... Ace columnist Walter Winchell had retired and was spending some time in Las Vegas ... We were chatting at the Silver Slipper, which is no longer there, and Winchell suggested I use "his ellipses style" with the three dots between sentences ... I thought it was a good idea.

Please give to the Sun Summer Camp Fund ... Make sure we send every deserving youngster to camp this summer ... See you Friday.