Sunday, February 22, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

LETTER: Entertainment cream will rise to the top in Vegas

Don't blame the location or the `older' crowd if you fail to make it

To the editor:

In his Feb. 15 column, "Hypnotists seek stability," Mike Weatherford made the following comment to explain why the hypnotist Anthony Cools could not "make it" at The Stardust Resort & Casino and finally had to fold his show after six months:

"Cools had the more ambitious business challenge of filling 800 seats and drawing the Hard Rock/Palms crowd to a hotel that brands itself with Wayne Newton."

First off, I don't know Anthony Cools and I have never seen his act. But I am familiar with the Stardust Resort and Wayne Newton and the value each has contributed to the Las Vegas community over the years and continues to do so. Both have become legendary institutions that any talented performer would be honored to align with.

For anyone to imply that he was handicapped because of this, and for Mike Weatherford to acknowledge this as a fact, shows a lack of understanding of what makes an entertainer or entertainment work in Las Vegas.

Using that idiotic logic, why doesn't Elton John fail when he plays Celine Dion's room -- or better yet, why didn't a Richard Burton and Liz Taylor fail when they performed at the legendary Helen Hayes theater on Broadway?

Everyone knows the idiom "cream rises to the top." Nowhere is that more true than in the world of Las Vegas entertainment. Nowhere else in the world do you find a high percentage of talented performers out of work, and a few extremely talented entertainers employed.

The simple fact is that you have to be better than good to make it here -- you have to be great. The ticket-buying public demands nothing less and our own self-lauded moniker as the Entertainment Capital of The World predetermines the caliber of talent that will survive here.

As far as Mr. Cools using the Stardust Resort & Casino as another reason why he couldn't make it here, (implying a Hard Rock crowd wouldn't come to a hotel that brands itself with Wayne Newton), again he chooses a "cop-out" instead of thanking the Stardust Resort for giving him a chance at working for a legendary Strip hotel and in a main showroom.

One has to look only at Las Vegas entertainment history to disprove these excuses for failure. Look at Danny Gans, who started at the near bankrupt Stratosphere and built a loyal following that survives for him to this day, or The Amazing Johnathan, who broke attendance records at the aged Golden Nugget where the Hard Rock crowd seemed to find him without a problem. Even Wayne Newton early in his career sold out every night working a bar lounge at the Fremont downtown way off the beaten path. Real talent finds their audiences, and audiences find real talent. Pure and simple.

Entertainment journalists could better serve our community by educating the many aspiring or seasoned performers in this town with this reality of the business, and also have them respect those who have worked hard to achieve the status that they currently work equally hard to maintain.

I for one applaud the Stardust, the Riviera and the Sahara, to name a few, for affording talent the consistent opportunity to still try to make it here. To all the talent I say try harder, work harder and be very thankful for the opportunities these legendary properties and legendary performers afford you.

JACK WISHNA

LAS VEGAS

The writer is president and chief executive officer of CP America Inc., which is involved in the local entertainment industry and helped broker Wayne Newton's contract with the Stardust.