Columnist Jerry Fink: Dummkopfs leader plays through the pain

Friday, Nov. 2, 2001 | 9:08 a.m.

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

The stage has become a refuge for Brian Firth.

For almost 50 years the comic/musician has stood in the limelight and entertained people all over the world.

Now the limelight protects him from the pain of the loss of his wife and partner in entertainment, Suzy Firth.

Two months ago Suzy, 50, died unexpectedly following back surgery. The cause of death still has not been determined.

Brian Firth, 70, was devastated.

"It was the strangest thing," Firth said. "She was having trouble with her leg. She would have a burning sensation and she would fall down and couldn't get up. She went into the hospital for back surgery and did well. The doctors said she could come home ... (but) she was in real pain. The next day I called and insisted that they take her into the rehab hospital, which they did.

"I took her in at 3:30 in the afternoon. At midnight they called and said she was dead."

Firth and his wife founded the zany comedy band the Dummkopfs 18 years ago. For most of those years the five-piece ensemble has appeared on Sundays at the Mount Charleston Lodge as well as at other venues all over Southern Nevada.

"She was dynamite," Firth said. "She was great on the mike and she could read a crowd. She knew exactly what to do. We're missing her a lot."

The Dummkopfs took a week off from their busy schedule and then got back into their bizarre costumes and resumed performances, skillfully mixing burlesque and fine musicianship.

"It's been really rough," Firth said. "But I think it's been the best thing to do. I'm scared to death of just sitting in my home. The whole band is staggering. We're out just about every night performing."

They have a four-month arrangement with Silverton, where they appear in the lounge 5-9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Between the casino and the lodge on Mount Charleston and their heavy schedule of one-night stands, the Dummkopfs have had little time to rest or to dwell on the loss of their beloved Suzy.

Being a band known mostly for its takeoff on German music (even though that is a very small part of their act), the Dummkopfs are always the busiest in October when it seems everyone is hosting a beer festival.

"When Suzy died (in August) I knew we had a tough month in front of us," Firth said. "Really, it was the best thing for me ... to stay busy."

His wife was the detail person.

"She did everything -- bookings, contracts, everything," Firth said. "I've found contracts that I didn't know existed. It's just been murder trying to get organized."

His daughter from a previous marriage, Beverly Murphy, has pitched in.

"She's great. I don't know how I would have managed without her," Firth said.

Trying to find someone to replace Suzy onstage has been difficult. Several women have been wearing the Viking cap she once wore while playing keyboards, singing and cutting up.

Timing is important in comedy. After 18 years, Suzy and the other band members were a finely tuned machine that could dispense more corn in one evening onstage than the entire state of Nebraska in a growing season.

"Do you know the difference between sex and a salad?" guitarist Ronnie Gouge shouted over the music. "Do you want to have lunch with me?"

Firth said set routines have evolved over the years, though everything is supposed to appear spontaneous.

"There is a lot of winging dialogue, a lot of banter that goes around," he said, "but there are set programs. We're having trouble right now with stepping on lines. If two people speak at once there might as well be no one speaking. We get that a bit. When we were a unit, with Suzy, we had a little pecking order ... it was real organized ad-libs."

Loretta St. John seems to be the favored replacement for Suzy.

"I would like to talk Loretta into staying," said Firth.

For now, she has other obligations.

If St. John does become a Dummkopf, she will join a talented group of musicians. Gouge has performed with the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival; Jim Hemming, who plays tuba and trombone (among other instruments), studied with the Chicago and Minneapolis symphonies; and drummer Jim Horejsi has extensive experience performing every type of band imaginable

And there is Firth, a trumpeter who began performing in England at the age of 21 with a group called the Nitwits. The Nitwits came to Las Vegas in 1967 to perform in the Stardust's "Lido de Paris."

"We had top billing," Firth said. "Siegfried and Roy were on the bottom of the bill."

After a couple of years the Nitwits went their separate ways, and Firth eventually joined the Mickey Finn band, which mixed comedy and dixieland jazz. He was with Mickey Finn for 15 years until the group's leader retired and then Firth and his wife created the Dummkopfs.

Firth met Suzy when he was performing with Mickey Finn at Union Plaza and she was a cocktail waitress and an amateur singer and keyboardist.

"She evolved pretty quick," Firth said. "She was with the Dummkopfs from the very beginning and quickly became the front person."

Suzy was a trouper who would have wanted the band to carry on without her, Firth said.

"I'm going to do it till I get it right," he quipped.

Lounging around