Columnist Jerry Fink: After 50 years, Papp still at Mafalda’s side

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 8:49 a.m.

Generally, this column is about lounge entertainers.

But today we will meet the man behind legendary pianist Mafalda Papp, a member of the Casino Legends Hall of Fame, who has performed in Las Vegas for more than 50 years.

Eighty-two-year-old Lou Papp has been at her side every step of the way.

His story is one of love and devotion that spans decades, but it is a story that begins with war and peace.

Papp, a native of Cleveland, joined the Army National Guard in 1939 at age 17. War with Germany seemed inevitable. But it was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, that propelled the nation into war.

"When war was declared on Dec. 7, I heard a bugle call I had never heard before, a call to arms," said Papp, who was stationed at Camp Shelby, Miss., at the time, taking combat engineering training.

He joined the forces headed by troopship to Europe. Papp recalled that there were 97 ships when they left New York on Dec. 31, 1941.

"Only three made it to Belfast, Ireland," he said. "Most of them were sunk by German submarines."

Papp and tens of thousands of other troops spent 18 months training in Northern Ireland. He was among the more than 130,000 troops who boarded more than 6,000 ships to cross the treacherous English Channel on June 6, 1944, D-Day.

Papp's unit landed on a beach in Normandy code-named Omaha. He was in the first wave to enter the landing crafts. Their goal was to blow a path through barbed wire obstacles and mine fields so that the troops behind them could move inland.

When Papp leaped out of the landing craft he was carrying a 65-pound pack, a satchel with 50 pounds of TNT, a mine detector and a rifle. The boat did not reach the beach, so Papp went to the bottom with his gear, inflated a Mae West life preserver and floated to the surface, still carrying all of his equipment.

"I was very strong in those days," he said.

The troops came under heavy fire. For more than 18 hours they fought on the beach, trying to get a toe hold. Papp said at one point the bodies covered the beach, and to move inland, soldiers had to step on their dead comrades.

At one point he was helping an injured soldier. When he stepped back for a moment, a mortar shell landed directly on the fallen G.I. and blew Papp into the air.

Papp fought in two invasions and nine major campaigns.

Combat was a daily affair; if it wasn't small arms fire, it was being bombed or strafed by Germans. He didn't sleep in a bed, seldom had the opportunity to bathe and lived mostly on K-rations.

"Sometimes we would find a deer and eat it," Papp said.

Among his combat ribbons is one for the Battle of the Bulge, when German troops, in a last-ditch effort to win the war, broke through Allied lines in December 1944.

"It was winter in Belgium," Papp said. "We were out of ammunition and almost out of food. We were dug in in fox holes and German tanks rolled right over us."

When the war ended, he returned to Cleveland. Three days later he and a buddy went to a restaurant. There was a beautiful, 18-year-old pianist performing. She went by the name Mafalda.

"I told my buddy, 'I'm going to marry that girl.' "

It took more than eight years, but Papp kept his promise.

He said she came from an old-fashioned Italian family that was very protective of her, and so there was a prolonged courtship, during which she pursued her music career and he worked his way up to becoming terminal manager of Riss and Co., one of the country's largest trucking firms.

In 1956 she was offered a job in Los Angeles. Papp quit his own job and followed her to California, where he got a job selling cars to movie stars.

They got married, and then she was offered a job in Seattle. He quit his $4,000-a-month job and went with her to Washington, where for a time he delivered samples of the detergent FAB door-to-door, making $1.50 an hour.

"One night we were strolling around Seattle and we stopped at this pawn shop that had this big blonde bass on display in the window," Papp said.

He bought the bass, spent 16 hours a day for three months learning to play and then became one of Mafalda's backup musicians.

"I practiced until my fingers were bloody," Papp said.

He performed at Mafalda's side until 1974, when he accidentally sliced tendons in his right hand with a butcher knife and ended his music career.

Papp sold insurance for a while, and then went to work at the MGM as an assistant maitre d' and worked his way up to maitre d' in the Barrymore Restaurant. Papp stayed there until MGM was sold to Bally's in the early '80s.

Since then, he has focused on managing Mafalda's career.

Papp recalls giving up his own promising career with the truck company to follow Mafalda to California.

"I told them I had to resign," he said. " 'The other half of my life is in California,' I said. 'I can't live like this.'

"And I couldn't. We still are that close. We're very close."

Lounging around

Actor Pat Morita was thrown a surprise birthday party Sunday at the Plaza's Center Stage restaurant lounge. The 72-year-old Las Vegan had a double surprise -- the Las Vegas Zelzah Shriners presented Morita with its Helping Hand Award for the work he has done for the organization over the years.

Morita told the packed room that he was a Shriner's child. At the age of 2 he developed spinal TB and spent nine years in a Shriner's hospital.

Cafe Nicolle hosted an extraordinary evening of entertainment Tuesday. It was standing room only for vocalist Mark Giovi and his backup band, Woody Woods (on keyboards), Kent Suggs (bass), Cash Farrar (sax) and Chris Lukes (drums). Among several guest singers was JJ Holland, whose husband, Mark Holland, accompanied her on drums -- Mark just finished a gig performing with Little Richard in Atlanta.

Cheaza, who has a regular gig at New York-New York's Big Apple Lounge (9:15 p.m. to 2:15 a.m. Wednesdays through Mondays), dropped by on her night off to join the party. She sang a wonderful version of "Misty."

July's entertainment at the Cafe will include, on alternating Tuesdays, Terry Forsythe, Ron Knight, Laura Angelini and Bobby Rose. On alternating Thursdays it will be Freddie Eckstein, Alonzo, Giovi, Forsythe and JJ Holland. Lou Martinez continues his Friday and Saturday night slots at the venue, located at 4670 W. Sahara Ave.

Rico Diamante, who prides himself in his high-energy performances, entertained more than 600 fans during a free outdoor concert at Sun City Anthem June 25. The Vegas performer sings classic oldies and R&B.

If you enjoy classic swing music, you missed a great concert by the Vegas Valley Legacy Band June 25 at the Winchester Community Center. A disappointing turnout didn't stop the 18 band members from giving it their best as they played such classics as "I've Got a Gal in Kalamazoo," "Begin the Beguine," "Pennsylvania 6-5000," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," "Tuxedo Junction" and many, many more. The band is a nonprofit group of musicians who play for fun. For information about future concerts call Nick Carter at 523-5454.

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