Sunday, May 02, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MIKE WEATHERFORD: Showbiz breakup fuels gossip

This column usually tries to walk the line between entertainment news of interest to "civilian" readers and deeper coverage for those actually involved in local show business.

Once in a while, a development inspires a collective yawn from average readers while jolting showbiz folk like a bunker-buster.

Such was the recent news that impressionist Danny Gans had parted company with his manager, Chip Lightman. The two were seemingly joined at the hip during their dramatic and sometimes bloody ascension to a custom theater at The Mirage.

Managers usually keep a low profile. They work behind the scenes to protect the nice-guy image of their clients and conceal the raw truth -- please protect the ears of young ones -- that performers don't do what they do merely for the love of you people. Most of the time, it really is all about the money.

Lightman's name may be more familiar to readers than most managers. As Gans' mouthpiece, he routinely fielded questions about everything from business issues to whether Gans would introduce a George W. Bush impression into his act.

Lightman made news during a public 1997 battle with Rio executives over ticket pricing that included a lawsuit. Later, Lightman was a defendant in another lawsuit, by former musician Pat Caddick.

If you believe both of them, Gans has become the rare entertainer -- the rare person, even -- to decide he has as much money as he needs and the best job he would ever desire. That apparently means no jumping ship to Wynn Las Vegas. "What would be the benefit of him leaving?" Lightman says dismissively of the rumor.

Lightman, on the other hand, says the challenge is gone if Gans no longer wants to pursue, say, a prime-time sitcom discussed at many points in the past. Gans' Mirage show is "running itself now," Lightman says.

Native Las Vegan Melanie VanBurch will now assist Gans at The Mirage. She has worked with Tony Orlando and Christian star Carmen. Lightman will continue producing Gladys Knight's show at the Flamingo. He also owns the Gourmet Cafe downtown and office property in Henderson.

"It's exciting to not know what's happening next," says Lightman, a Las Vegan since 1990. "It's a good time for me, it really is."

Opinions are widely divergent on the shocked-and-awed entertainment grapevine. Some believe Lightman and Gans burned so many bridges clawing their way up that it would be hard for Lightman to get a meeting to pitch another client or project.

Others say the business that managers usually shield the public from is just that, and not personal. "Chip took a lot of hits on behalf of Danny," one observer notes.

Time will tell how painful that severing-the-hip operation will turn out to be.

Mike Weatherford's entertainment column appears Thursdays and Sundays.