Fool Pool: Ambition, talent set many Vegas ‘fools’ apart

Thursday, April 1, 2004 | 8:37 a.m.

Entertainer Sonny King was born April 1.

Today he is 82 years old. Or 80. Or 78.

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure how old I am," King said. "I started performing when I was just a kid and I have used so many different dates over the years, I can't remember which year I was born -- 1922, '24 or '26."

Though born on April Fools' Day, one of Las Vegas' venerable entertainers is nobody's fool.

He is, however, a fool of sorts.

According to Webster's dictionary, among the definitions of fool is "a person especially devoted to or skilled in some activity."

That would make King a performing fool.

By that definition, there are a lot of fools in Las Vegas.

Charo is a guitar-playing fool. David Saxe, creator of many local and national shows, is a producing fool. Comedian/magician Jeff Hobson is a comic fool. David Brenner is a current events fool.

Breck Wall would be a "Bottoms Up" fool. He created the production in Dallas in 1959 and has been its star and driving force ever since.

All of our fools are driven by a variety of reasons to excel in their chosen field, and each has achieved success. But they continue to work hard, even though most of them could sit back and, if they desired, be a relaxing fool.

Performing Fool

King, for one, says he will never quit.

"What am I going to do when I quit?" he said. "Go in the garden and start growing tomatoes, or what? You need that audience. You need to show off."

Since childhood King has been in one spotlight or another, singing, dancing, joking -- pretty much what he has done almost his entire life, only a little slower these days.

In the early '50s King came to Vegas to perform in lounges and wound up becoming Jimmy Durante's opening act for 25 years.

Three years ago, when the Bootlegger Bistro moved from its former location on Eastern Avenue at South Tropicana Avenue to 7700 Las Vegas Blvd. South, King and the late Blackie Hunt became the co-hosts of "Off the Cuff" on Friday and Saturday nights.

The popular revue features a variety of entertainment by performers who drop by unexpectedly to participate in the fun.

King, of course, cuts up, singing and dancing, and joking with fans.

Friday night should be a memorable evening, when King celebrates his birthday (a day late) and Bootlegger owner, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, celebrates the third anniversary at the new location.

King describes his obsession with performing as an addiction.

"I have never been a dope addict," he said. "But I think it must be something like the rush you get when you perform -- without it, you're nothing. It must be like being on a high.

"I don't care if you're sick or have family problems, as soon as you get onstage, you forget about it."

King said there is nothing like the feeling you get when you hear your fans laugh.

"In a way you're serving God, making people forget their troubles for a couple of hours," he said.

Cuchi-Cuchi Fool

Charo, who maintains homes in Vegas; Kauai, Hawaii; and Beverly Hills, Calif., is an entertainer who has made a successful career out of singing, dancing and uttering that immortal phrase, "Cuchi-Cuchi."

The Spanish fireball has frequently performed in Vegas for decades, most recently in her production "Bravo." These days she spends a lot of time performing in Indian casinos around the nation.

Although she is a diverse entertainer, Charo's lifelong passion is for the guitar. It is a love that began when she was 7, staying on her grandparents' farm in Murcia, Spain.

In the summers, Gypsies often would camp in the fields, where they made music all night long.

"They were beautiful people," said Charo, who is busy these days performing concerts around the country. "One day I heard an old man, a Gypsy man, playing the guitar.

"He was a very nice man and he let me touch the guitar and to play it."

She was so fascinated by the instrument that by age 9 she was studying guitar while attending a Catholic convent. At age 14 she received a musical scholarship to a school in Madrid operated by the late Andre Segovia, considered one of the top classical guitarists in the world.

"Mr. Segovia did not teach one on one," Charo said during a telephone interview from her home in Beverly Hills. "He had an assistant."

But between trips to international engagements he would stop by the school and give pointers.

"I was the only girl against all these guys," Charo said. "He feel sorry for he. He has special kindness for me, he feels my passion and he took special time to pass to me a lot of knowledge that I never forget."

She graduated from Segovia's school at age 16 and was among a group of guitarists who performed with the legendary guitar master in a concert.

"That's when I came to the attention of Xavier Cugat in Madrid," Charo said.

The bandleader was looking for someone to replace Abby Lane to front his group.

"I was a young person who played the guitar," Charo said. "That's why he wanted to meet me. He interviewed me and my parents -- he was fascinated by the guitar."

She teamed with Cugat, but the guitar quickly took a back seat to her other talents -- her high-energy dancing, singing and comedy. Always, she practiced the guitar several hours each day while becoming world renowned as the "Cuchi-Cuchi Girl."

Today a major part of Charo's act consists of playing the guitar.

In 1995 she recorded the CD "Guitar Passion," which went platinum twice.

"I became 'Cuchi-Cuchi' because I needed the money," Charo said. "But I came to a point in 1994 when I said, 'No more. This is it. I was trained for the guitar and I am going to play the guitar.' "

Comic Fool

Jeff Hobson stars in "Money and Madness," which debuted recently at the Excalibur.

The madcap, hyperactive comedian and magician dashes around the theater, throwing money around like confetti while joking with fans.

Hobson's career began in Detroit.

"Where I grew up, gunshots were a common occurrence," Hobson said.

The neighborhood was tough.

"Bullies were everywhere," Hobson said.

So he became the class clown out of self-preservation.

"When I was a kid in the '60s, doing impressions of Nixon for the kids, everybody laughed," Hobson said. "I played some pranks on teachers, which got a lot of laughs."

He's been clowning ever since, inspired by such comics as Red Skelton, Danny Kaye and Paul Lynde.

Since arriving In Las Vegas in 1987 he has never been without work, performing in such productions as "Catch a Rising Star," "Spellbound," "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show" and the "World's Greatest Magic Show."

Hobson probably would be performing even if he wasn't as successful as he has been.

"I think what it is, it's a relentless pursuit to make people laugh," he said. "When I hear laughter, there is an adrenaline rush that gives me the energy to keep going.

"It's not an ego thing. It's a desire to make people feel better, to forget their problems."

Working Fool

Thirty-four-year-old David Saxe is a workaholic.

"It's the competition," he said. "Show business is like a big game, and to stay ahead you have to work harder than anyone else.

"I always played sports. I hate to lose. It's like Michael Jordan feeling like he has to win every game."

Saxe is the son of dancer-choreographer Bonnie Saxe (formerly of "Folies Bergere") and the late bandleader Richard Saxe.

He started working in the business at age 5, helping his dad set up for shows at the Tropicana.

In 1986, at age 16, he began helping co-produce a magic act at Bourbon Street featuring his sister, Melinda. When he was 20 he produced "Girl's Night Out" and "Ecstasy."

He produces "Showgirls of Magic" at the San Remo and is putting together a traveling version of the production that will go to Japan.

And he produces "V" at the Showroom at The Venetian, which is expected to close around April 30 -- but he has another production of "V" that will debut in San Francisco on May 1.

Saxe also is producing "Giddy-Up," a country-themed revue at the Tropicana in Atlantic City, N.J., and "Broadway Live," and has several other production irons in the fire.

Saxe has a staff of 25 in Las Vegas, but says he is detail minded and very "hands on" in his quest to beat the competition.

"It eats at me, knowing somebody might be gaining on me," he said. "With entertainment, you struggle so long that when you make it you don't want to lose it, so you work 10 times as hard to keep it."

Acting Fool

Breck Wall could retire and rest on his laurels.

"But I really enjoy what I do," said the 69-year-old actor, producer and director. "I have a great life. No once can have as nice a life as I have."

For 45 years the former Texan has starred in "Bottoms Up," a burlesque show he opened at the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas in 1959.

He brought the production to Vegas in 1964, where it has been seen at several venues. Currently it is at the Flamingo Las Vegas.

Wall says "Bottoms Up" gives him something to look forward to every day.

"The great pleasure I have right now is that I can take off from the show when I want to," he said. "Up until three years ago I never missed a performance. Even when I was sick."

He said several times when he was ill he would have a cot backstage and a doctor would attend to him until it was time to go on. He would do his part in the production and then return to the cot.

"No one could fill in for me," Wall said. "I would be so sick they would dress me, lay me down until my cue and then I would go onstage. I don't even remember three or four days.

"The show comes first."

When the production moved to the Flamingo in 2001, Wall said he hired understudies for all the principals in the cast.

"Now we can cover for other people," he said.

Though he may take off a little time here and there, he rarely does.

"I absolutely love to do 'Bottoms Up,' " he said. "Now if it was another show, something really heavy, then I might not enjoy it as much.

"But it's great fun for me to have people laugh. It's a wonderful life. I feel very blessed."

Current Events Fool

Westin Casuarina headliner and stand-up comedian David Brenner has a voracious appetite for news -- he reads dozens of newspapers, magazines and on-line Web sites every day, searching for material to keep his act fresh.

He relies on the day's headlines for the jokes that have kept him in business for more than 30 years.

What drives him?

"Look, if I had $10 million in the bank right now, you wouldn't be talking to me," Brenner said. "Entertaining is not in my blood. I'm driven to work because I have to do the driving."

He was riding high in the '80s when a bitter custody battle cost him his fortunes.

"I had everything locked in once," Brenner said. "But then I got into a major custody battle that depleted all my funds.

"Don't get me wrong. I love what I do. I love being onstage. But if I had my druthers, you can buy a lot of druthers for $10 million or $5 million."

Brenner was a successful documentary filmmaker before he turned to comedy.

"The reason I got into this was strictly an accident. I was a serious documentarian before comedy. I won 30 awards, including an Emmy."

But he wasn't making much money. Comedy was becoming a big deal, with clubs popping up around the country.

"I had always been funny so I thought, 'What the hell?'," Brenner said.

He saved his money until he had enough to last a year while he tried stand-up.

"Near the end of the year I got on the 'Tonight Show' with Johnny Carson," Brenner said. "It was my first time on TV. The next morning I had $10,000 worth of job offers, including with Buddy Hackett in Las Vegas. I hit the mother lode."

He works hard at his profession not because performing is in his blood, but because working hard is in his blood.

"I've been working since I was 8," Brenner said. "I worked hard when I was a butcher's assistant when I was 8 years old. I worked hard when I was a delivery boy at 12 and a stock boy at 14.

"It's a matter of self pride. I was raised with the work ethic. Any job, even if you hate it, you do the best you can."

He is working toward the day when he can step out of the limelight.

Brenner says he won't miss it.

"If I had the money right now, I'd be on a 65-foot sailboat, sailing the world, making people on deck laugh."

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