Columnist Joe Delaney: Platters among nostalgia acts making rounds

Joe Delaney

Friday, Jan. 19, 2001 | 9:07 a.m.

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

First there were ghost bands, representing the top swing and dance bands of the 1930s and 1940s ... The leaders were all deceased or retired ... The Glenn Miller orchestra still tours ... There is a Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey orchestra ... There was an Artie Shaw orchestra for some time ... Les Brown died recently at age 88 ... Brown and his orchestra played the Stardust in the fall of last year.

We have always had impressionists ... Danny Gans is the most successful today and responsible for the renewed popularity enjoyed by Bill Acosta and his "Lasting Impressions" show (Flamingo Las Vegas) and Andre-Philippe Gagnon (Venetian).

Elvis Presley impersonators prevail even today ... There are a "Legends In Concert" (Imperial Palace); "Stars of the Strip" (Lady Luck); "Legends of Comedy" (New Frontier) and "American Superstars" (Stratosphere) with stars depicted by performers using their own voices.

Ghost groups, duplicating the repertoire, especially the hits of top groups of the 1960s and later, are a more recent entertainment development ... The Four Tops still have three of the original cadre, but there is also a Four Tops Tribute group ... The Temptations have had many changes within the group and now it also has a tribute group working.

Tonight and Saturday the Stardust bill, in its Wayne Newton Theater, features the Original Drifters with Bill Pinkney, the Coasters featuring Carl Gardner, and Sonny Turner's Platters ... When Newton is off, the Stardust has had great success with shows featuring groups of the past, male and female, usually featuring someone with an actual relationship to the originals.

Turner was the lead voice with Buck Ram's Platters in the 1960s ... The original Platters format was created by songwriter Ram in 1953 ... It was based upon the original Ink Spots group, popular in the 1930s and 1940s, with Bill Kenny's soaring tenor in the lead, plus a deep bass voice doing narrations between vocal choruses.

The late Tony Williams was the Platters' lead on "Only You" and "The Great Pretender," the group's first two hits, both written by Ram, both topping the pop and rhythm & blues charts ... Ram then added a female singer Zola Taylor, a huge plus at the time ... "The Magic Touch" and "Twilight Time" were other Ram compositions for the Platters that were chart riders.

Ram and his associate, Jean Bennett, kept the Platters' name from being used by other groups, and were successful until Ram's death several years ago ... Turner does have validity in presenting "his" Platters, as he is represented on a number of its later hit records.

With regard to the Ink Spots, no attempt was made to protect the name when Kenny went on his own, and there was once as many Ink Spot groups working around the U.S. as there have been would-be Presleys since his death in 1977.

Palace Station has been doing great business weekends with bands that duplicate the great rock groups of the 1970s and 1980s, another trend ... If venues can't afford to book the originals, people will spend a reasonable amount to see the imitations ... Could this be another form of virtual reality?

Hail, Debbie

The "Unsinkable" Debbie Reynolds, currently appearing at the Orleans, will definitely make an appearance at the Nevada Ballet Theatre's annual Black and White Ball in Caesars Palace's Palace Ballroom Saturday, honoring her as Woman of the Year ... There may be a few surprises as well ... See you next Thursday.