Local entertainment veteran graces yet another stage with new show

Kirk Baird

Saturday, Aug. 26, 2000 | 3:22 a.m.

Bob Hope once said, "If you put a microphone in Sonny King's hand, it's like putting a cannon in front of General Patton."

King, 74, has happily held the mike a long time.

An entertainer in the truest sense of the word, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native has performed his mix of crooner-style ballads and self-deprecating humor for nearly 50 years throughout Las Vegas. During his career he's appeared on the same bill with numerous names, but it was his 28-year pairing with Jimmy Durante, which began in 1952 at the Desert Inn, for which he's best known.

In those days, as he pointed out, things were much different. When King first joined Durante he still had a contract at the Sahara and was performing with Louis Prima. So King performed eight shows a night -- two with Durante; six with Prima -- six days a week.

These days his pace is a little more relaxed; King plays three days a week in "When Lounge Shows Were King" at Addison's Lounge at the Regent Las Vegas.

In a recent interview with the Sun, King talked about his new gig and his life in show business:

Las Vegas Sun: How have your performances changed over the years?

Sonny King: I change the word "the" sometimes. (Laughs) I do what (audiences) want to hear. I do new songs and I do tributes (to) the people I worked with at the Copacabana (in the late '40s and early '50s) that people never saw. Like Sophie Tucker, Joe E. Lewis, Danny Thomas, Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, (George) Gershwin. I do a special tribute to Jimmy Durante and Louis Armstrong. And naturally, between the all-time favorites, (there are) some old, some new, some happy, some sad (songs).

Sun: Is there a difference in your audiences now vs. 40 years ago?

SK: No. I've always felt, and I'm sure that a lot of other performers feel the same way, that when I get up on stage my purpose in life is to serve those people humor, songs and stories just to make them forget their troubles for an hour and a half.

Sun: What's your preference: performing comedy or singing?

SK: Funny thing about a funny bone: Singing, you can go out there and sing your head off and if one song bombs you can get them back with the next song. But comedy? If you bomb with one joke, it's, "Oh, he stinks." There's nothing more terrifying than facing an audience with laughter; but there's nothing more gratifying than hearing that laugh. I think it's even more gratifying than singing.

Sun: Do you consider your style of performer a vanishing act?

SK: If you close your eyes you vanish. No. I always felt there was space for any entertainment, age-wise or generation-wise. I get the 30-year-old or older (crowd). And now, strange enough, I get the young people. And that's through TV. They watch me on A&E. I did a two-part thing on the Rat Pack, and E! ... on Dean Martin. (King roomed with Martin for 6 1/2 years in a New York City hotel.) Those people become interested in what you did and what it was like then. It's sort of like looking into history.

Sun: What are your thoughts about Frank, Dean and the rest of the Rat Pack?

SK: That was the beginning of the what friendship was about in show business. People never knew how performers felt about each other and the Rat Pack showed them; how a bunch of guys could get on stage, have fun, still perform and you could swear that they loved each other. And they did.

Sun: After sharing the stage with Jimmy Durante for so long, what are your memories of him?

SK: Nothing but fond. In 28 years we never had one argument. In 28 years when we walked off the stage Jimmy Durante had yet to say to me "good show" or "bad show." He never complimented me on my performance.

Sun: Did that bother you?

SK: No. It provoked me into doing a better job and show the next night.

He used to tell people at the end, when he was really getting sick (Durante died in January 1980 after a lengthy illness), he finally caught on as to why our act was such a success. The reason being I used to show up five minutes before show time, and he would worry that I wasn't going to show up, which I always did. I used to be there a half hour (before the show), but I would stay in the lounge outside. And then five minutes before (the show began) I would walk in, and he said, "Where the hell have you been? You dirty SOB, I'm going to get you for this. I'll get you on stage." And when I'd walk out (on stage) he was still mad at me. But not mad, mad -- like I said we never had an argument in 28 years. But that was to provoke him. And the reason I provoked him was because that would energize him.

Sun: It seems entertainers almost never retire, thereby falling into two categories: They can't quit because of financial woes or are unwilling to walk away from the spotlight. Which category do you fall under?

SK: The category I fall into is when I walk on the stage I become 25. (Performing is) a God-given talent (and) God pays you by making you feel young all the time. Not everybody wants to be Bill Gates, not everybody wants to be Donald Trump. (You) just want to keep your head above water, have a few extra bucks in your pocket, buy somebody a drink and have a good time.