Casino Legends Hall of Fame continues to grow

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 | 9:15 a.m.

Pianist/vocalist Mafalda has given more than 15,000 performances during her 40-year career in Las Vegas.

Nelson Sardelli, a versitile entertainer, gained widespread recognition for creating Star Shine, a fund-raising event in which stars shine shoes in exchange for donations to help the mentally handicapped.

They are two of five entertainers who will be inducted into the Casino Legends Hall of Fame during an Oct. 11 ceremony at Tropicana, where the Hall of Fame Museum is located.

Other performers to be honored include singer Frankie Randall, actress and entertainer Mamie Van Doren and comedian Norm Crosby. Singer Jack Jones also was on the list, but museum curator and founder Steve Cutler said Jones withdrew from the event at the last minute because of other commitments.

On Wednesday, Cutler said blues legend Lou Rawls and multitalented entertainer Donald O'Connor have been added to the list of inductees. Both will appear at the ceremony.

Cutler said a new award has been created this year to periodically honor journalists. The first recipient will be the late Joe Delaney, entertainment columnist and reporter for the Sun for more than 35 years.

Delaney died in August. Cutler said the award will be named the Joe Delaney Award for Journalistic Excellence. Delaney's daughter, Kathleen, will accept the award.

"His name, via the award, will be kept alive in all perpetuity," Cutler said.

Mafalda, who is married to her manager, Lou Papp, has been performing for more than 50 years, most of them in Las Vegas.

"My dad got this old upright piano from the church and brought it home," said Mafalda, a native of Cleveland who has called Las Vegas home since 1961. "I would hear music on the radio and then go back and play it on the piano. I had a good ear."

She performed regularly at civic and social functions during her high school years, and after graduation studied piano at the Cleveland Institute of Music. While studying there, she began playing piano at local clubs and restaurants.

"I worked at a lot of the major hotels in Cleveland," Mafalda said. "At one of them, a man from Hollywood saw me and suggested that I go there. I worked a short while with the musical director at Warner Brothers."

From Hollywood, Mafalda began working gigs in Lake Tahoe, Reno and other cities in the early '50s.

"I had a lot of offers," she said.

Mafalda's future husband joined her and they were married in 1956. He wasn't a musician, which created some problems.

"I was traveling on my own a lot, and we didn't like that, so he decided to learn the bass," Mafalda said. "He practiced 14 hours a day, 'til his fingers were raw. Eventually, we worked as a duo or trio. He did very well."

In 1961, when they were performing in Oxnard, Calif., Mafalda became pregnant and the couple decided to move to Las Vegas, where there was enough work so they wouldn't have to travel.

"I worked every major venue on the Strip," she said.

Mafalda was at the Desert Inn lounge for six years, and at the old MGM Grand for eight.

"Lounges were really great," Mafalda recalled. "Louis Prima and the Mary Kaye Trio were in the lounges when I started. It was wonderful."

She said she hasn't done much work in lounges lately. She's busy working on a new CD, and once a year she performs in Florida.

"It's the condo circuit," Mafalda said. "They have beautiful showrooms."

She has turned down recent job offers in Russia and Turkey because she is reluctant to fly.

Mafalda said she would prefer to do a show in Vegas, something along the lines of Charo's "Bravo" at the Sahara.

"I'm not going to slow down," Mafalda said. "I love entertaining. It's my life."

Full Nelson

Sardelli is a performer who throws himself passionately into his work, whether it is a show, a charity or organizing something like CASTINC. -- a nonprofit association of local entertainers who do charitable work.

"I am very, very happy to be honored by the Casino Legends Hall of Fame," Sardelli said. "To be a part of it enhances things in a wonderful way.

"It's always an honor to get recognition in our business. We thrive on people's approval."

Sardelli, who speaks five languages, is an international performer who often appears in Europe and Australia. He is a comedian, singer, dancer and gun twirler -- a signature of his act.

He settled in Las Vegas in 1965 and became popular as an opening act as well as a headliner in many local venues, including the Flamingo. In addition, he has performed on almost every continent.

Although he has received many awards for his performing talents (including Atlantic City Entertainer of the Year in 1983), he is almost as well known for his work on behalf of charities.

Among the honors bestowed upon him over the years, Sardelli has twice received the Legion of Honor Award from the New York Police Department for numerous shows to raise money for families of policemen killed in the line of duty.

He received the Angel Award from Opportunity Village in Las Vegas; the Humanitarian Award from the Philadelphia Association for Retarded Citizens and the Gold Metal for his work on behalf of the Danny Thomas Saint Jude's Hospital in Memphis.

While Sardelli performs around the globe, he is proud to call Las Vegas home.

"To live in Las Vegas and to be in the entertainment business, it has a magic attached to it," Sardelli said. "The world is in awe of this city."

Sardelli believes in giving back to his adopted city.

"It's about being part of the community," he said. "We are all ambassadors to the city, whether we want to be or not. We reflect the city." It's my life."