Saturday, July 1, 2000 | 2:12 a.m.
How do you cover entertainment in the entertainment capital of the world?
If you're the Las Vegas Sun, you do it without missing a beat -- or, for that matter, an opening-night performance, a world-premiere event or the latest show-business news.
The past half-century has been an exciting time on the local entertainment scene, punctuated by big names, big shows and big changes. The Sun has reported on the hallmark events that helped Las Vegas earn its star-studded reputation.
From the early years, when hotel lounges were the places to see and be seen with celebrities, through the '90s, when people packed sidewalks to be dazzled by pirate-ship battles, fireworks-filled hotel openings and building implosions, the Sun was there in force.
The Sun remains a force on the entertainment scene and will remain so in the future, with the up-to-the-minute entertainment coverage capabilities of the Internet.
Early days
Those early days were legendary times, regarded as the birth of Las Vegas' famed lounge era, when groups such as the Mary Kaye Trio and jazz greats Louis Prima, Keely Smith and Sam Butera defined the sound at the Sahara hotel-casino lounge.
Showgirls, the glamorous stars of production shows, became a staple on stages around town, including the French import, "Lido de Paris," which settled in for a decadeslong run at the Stardust in 1957. "Minsky Goes to Paris," one of the first shows to feature topless showgirls, opened at the Dunes in January 1957. It was followed by "Folies Bergere" at the Tropicana in December 1959.
A photo caption that appeared that month in the Sun read: "In a fabulous and sensational opening of Mons. Paul Derval's Folies Bergere at the Hotel Tropicana, a bundle of Parisian personality, Maria Lopez, was one of the outstanding features of the show."
The late '50s and early '60s brought the "Rat Pack" years when a group of martini-swilling, tuxedo-clad guys ruled the Strip nightly from their raucous roost at the Sands.
Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford were the epitome of Vegas cool and continue to inspire the current generation of hep cats. (Their legacy lives on in "The Rat Pack Is Back," a production show playing at the Sahara.)
"The Sun grew up in an era where there were superstars," Myram Borders, chief of the Las Vegas News Bureau, says. Not only did celebrities entertain here, "they were making news here. They were getting married, they were getting divorced, they were cavorting."
And it was great fodder for the Sun's entertainment pages.
Hank's touch
Borders points to the "strong character" of Sun founder Hank Greenspun. Because of "the contacts that he had both on the Strip and involving entertainment, (the Sun was) usually on top of it all.
"I remember when Frank Sinatra and Mia Farrow got married here at the Sands hotel (in 1966), who was the only media@the ceremony? Hank Greenspun. He just had phenomenal contacts with the people who owned the hotels, and as a result, I think the Sun coverage was very outstanding."
And, oftentimes, witty. When the Beatles visited Las Vegas for a pair of 1964 performances, the Sun reported:
"Honestly, you would have thought Khrushchev was coming to town. At least there was an iron curtain of silence at McCarran Field befitting an expected visit from the Soviet dictator when they sneaked The Beatles into town yesterday morning. ... The silent ones were deputy sheriffs, airport employees and public relations men who answered with negative shakes of their head all queries about The Beatles."
Another event -- the opening night of Elvis Presley's "Vegas Years" at the International Hotel (now the Las Vegas Hilton) -- forced Sun columnist Ralph Pearl to eat crow.
In July 1969 Pearl recalled an earlier column criticizing producer Bill Miller for hiring the King of rock 'n' roll, "a lad whose singing style is no longer popular."
"We also told Bill that Presley 'will never draw,' " Pearl recalled. "Luckily Miller wasn't discouraged by our 'astute' observations and signed Elvis to a long-term contract."
Joe's world
The Sun's coverage of such historical events has included columns by Joe Delaney, who has written for the newspaper for 34 years. He continues to write his "Joe's World" column twice weekly, in addition to reviewing local entertainment acts for the "Out & About" page that appears in the entertainment-intensive Accent section on Fridays.
"The Sun, over all those years, has always maintained the consistency of an entertainment columnist who sometimes got in fights with some entertainers, but that was OK," Borders says. "Delaney ... maintained a reputation through the years as being a fairly straight reviewer."
Segregation
But entertainment coverage isn't always fun and games. In 1955 segregation was rampant in Las Vegas, and local hotels were not spared from its grips. Black entertainers could perform in Strip showrooms but had to find lodging elsewhere.
Enter the Moulin Rouge, the city's first integrated hotel-casino, which opened on West Bonanza Road in May of that year. The place attracted such stars as Sinatra, Davis Jr. and Harry Belafonte. Its opening was heralded in the Sun:
"To assure the finest in entertainment Clarence Robinson, producer-director, and Benny Carter, musical director, have been contracted by the Moulin Rouge. Robinson has 35 years experience in show business and as a matter of coincidence directed the shows at the original Moulin Rouge in Paris, France. ... (Carter) plays saxophone, clarinet, trumpet and piano; well deserving his title of America's most versatile bandleader."
The Moulin Rouge closed six months after opening its doors. But the place wasn't done making entertainment history: In March 1960 it was the site where an agreement that abolished Strip segregation policies was signed.
Family fare
Las Vegas' entertainment climate has changed dramatically in recent decades, offering more family-friendly fare. Themed megaresorts and restaurants, sky-scraping roller coasters and white tigers are as much the norm as slot machines in this gambling mecca.
It's hardly a trick to find a multimillion-dollar magic act in town. Or a comedy club. There has been a proliferation of both in recent years. High-profile boxing matches are as much entertainment happenings as they are sporting events, often with a slew of celebrities seated ringside.
These days some of the world's biggest rock stars -- U2, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney among them -- now include Las Vegas on their tour stops. (So do nostalgia acts of the '70s and '80s such as REO Speedwagon and Pat Benatar.) Meanwhile longtime favorites, such as Tony Bennett, continue to grace Strip showroom stages.
Continued growth
As Las Vegas' population has grown, so has its cultural arts scene. Community-born dance, music and theater events are also covered in the Sun alongside top-name celebrity acts.
"The Las Vegas entertainment culture today is more diverse and multigenerational in its appeal than it ever has been," Features Editor Steve Bornfeld explains. The challenge for the Sun's feature section, Accent, he says, "is to do justice to every aspect of it. ... We have to be just as diverse to meet that challenge."
Among Accent's regular features is the Showguide page, which includes extensive entertainment listings; the Out & About page; and Weekend Arts and Datebook, both devoted to community arts and events. Bornfeld credits Delaney for keeping "a sharp eye on Strip developments" and music columnist Geoff Carter for being "right on top of the contemporary music scene" in his weekly "Sound Check" column. Gossip columnist Kate Maddox, he adds, "breaks a lot of entertainment news for us," while the features staff writers "sprinkle our slate of stories of community interest with interviews with the hottest acts coming through town."
Entertainment as big business is also tackled in the Accent section. In 1999 Las Vegas icon Wayne Newton signed a reported 10-year, $25 million-a-year contract to perform at the Stardust. The deal proved to be the biggest in the city's history.
Following the announcement in October, Newton told the Sun: "If you know anything about Wayne Newton, it is that Wayne Newton will never do the same show twice. ... Let's face it, the wonderful thing about the Wayne Newton Theatre (at the Stardust) is that it's practically the only nightclub left in town."
Without a doubt, entertainment will continue to be a force driving Las Vegas into the future. While the in-depth Sun coverage of related events and issues won't change, it will certainly evolve to meet the demands of its readers.
Bornfeld says: "We're planning on expanding our coverage even further in the months ahead as we anticipate Las Vegas entertainment expanding at a rapid rate. Our commitment to that is absolute."
On the Web
Breaking entertainment news is already just mouse clicks away on the Sun's website, www.lasvegassun.com. (The website links to www.vegas.com, which features online versions of Sun sister publications Las Vegas Life, Las Vegas Weekly, Showbiz Weekly and Vegas Golfer magazines.)
Bryan Allison, director of content for the website, points out that the site features "everything from (entertainment) calendars to (show) reviews to archived photos" culled from the various publications and generated by the Vegas.com staff.
Since its 1996 launch the site has been used to cover live events such as New Year's Eve festivities and resort openings -- including New York-New York, Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian and Paris Las Vegas -- as well as U2's "Popmart" tour, which kicked off in Las Vegas in 1997.
"We had somebody with a cell phone at the show ... calling back (with) the song lists," Allison explains. "We taped him and put him on the website and we got a lot of (Internet) traffic because people were interested" in the show. "It was an international event."
Plans are under way to make entertainment news coverage on Vegas.com "more interactive, more in-depth," Allison says.
"With downloadable music and those (types of) technologies becoming more adopted, we're going to be able to provide a richer environment for people when they visit the site," he says. "So, they may be able to listen to some of ('70s teen idol and Las Vegas headliner) David Cassidy's music and not just read about it or look at pictures.
"In Las Vegas, there are so many great things that happen here that are of interest to people all around the world. We'll just keep bringing information from all of the great content that we get from all of our different publications."
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