The family name remains Prima-nent

Friday, April 6, 2001 | 7:42 a.m.

Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at jerry@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4058.

Lena Prima joined me recently at the Sahara's Casbar Lounge.

I thought it would be fitting to launch one of my first voyages into the sea of Las Vegas lounges where, in 1954, Louis Prima began his own journey -- one that set the standard for lounge acts for years to come.

And I felt that it would be appropriate for my first lounge interview to be with Louis Prima's 38-year-old daughter, who had a lounge career of her own for many years before developing a tribute show to her father last summer.

"It's been hard for me, making the transition from a standard lounge act," Lena said. "The guys running things now don't remember my dad. So I thought I would start off with Italian festivals -- the Italians still remember him."

She will perform at festivals in Chicago in June and Milwaukee in July.

Believe it or not, lounges pre-date even Prima. By 1954 the Mary Kaye Trio at the Last Frontier had made lounges respectable, but Prima and his group (Keely Smith and Sam Butera and the Witnesses) made them exciting.

It all began at the Casbar -- but not the Casbar that now hunkers down behind a wall of curtains at the rear of the Sahara casino, where I talked to Lena while a group of aspiring country singers showcased their talent (or lack thereof) during the Sahara's weekly Monday-night Country Showdown.

"Dad hated lounges," said Lena, a tall, stunning blond with a smooth singing voice who inherited her father's zeal for entertaining but not his looks (he was no Ricky Martin). Fortunately, she got those from her beautiful mother, Gia Maione, a great singer in her own right who joined Prima after he and Smith split up.

Actually, it was not the lounges themselves Prima hated.

"He didn't like the stigma attached to lounges," Lena explained, "the parodies, with tired entertainers in sparkling suits."

She said he hated the word so much that, eventually, whenever he signed a contract to perform in one he made sure the lounge was called a "theater" while he was there.

But he loved the intimacy of the lounges, where the Rat Pack, Elvis and most other major entertainers of the day would drop by to see what Prima would do next -- and often to join him onstage.

Lena was 5 years old when she first performed with him in 1968 at the Sands' lounge (then the Celebrity Theater), singing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town." The love of entertaining has been with her ever since.

"If I could follow in my dad's footsteps, it would be a dream come true," said Lena, who will release a CD this month called "Reminiscing," on which she sings several of her father's songs, along with a few of her own.

She said she developed the tribute and the CD out of love for her father and his music.

"Whenever I do my dad's songs, the response is great," she said. "Everybody's got stories for me about him. It's exciting for me. It takes you back."

She remembers as a child her father driving her around Las Vegas in a convertible when he was still at the top of his lounge fame.

"Dad would turn to me and say, 'Look around. Look where you are. You don't know how many kids would love to be where you are.' "

Smooth is smooth

Performing regularly at the Casbar are two diverse groups -- Area 51 and Smooth.

Area 51 appeals to the younger crowd (many of its fans are pierced and tattooed). It's billed as a six-piece party-dance band that performs R&B, disco, pop, rock and classic rock. Shows are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 11:45 p.m.-3:45 a.m. and Sundays, 10 p.m.-2 a.m.

Smooth also is an R&B group that will do pop, rock and other styles from the '60s to today, but the band draws an older audience. Performances are Tuesdays through Saturdays from 7-11 p.m. and Mondays from 10 p.m.-2 a.m.

"We used to do a Tribute to the Temptations as part of the 'American Super Star Show' at the Flamingo years ago," Smooth vocalist Kenny Ransom said.

The Tribute cast also crisscrossed the country for several years, performing in showrooms and other venues.

Since giving in to the temptation of developing their own act last year, Smooth has been a popular attraction at the Casbar.

"We're developing our act for showrooms," Ransom said. "When it's tight enough, we'll make the move. But right now, we like the lounge scene, the closeness to the people."

Until they make their move, you can catch their class act at the Casbar. Prima would approve.