Because Bela Tabak was only 12 when he first performed in "Splash," the third-generation motorcycle daredevil is the lone performer from the original Riviera revue to be part of the new, revamped edition. Photos by Ralph Fountain. The 15-foot cage originally known as the "Globe of Death" has become a signature of "Splash," through good times and bad for the show.

Bela Tabak remembers when "Splash" was the talk of the town -- his middle school included.

"I remember kids in my school going, 'Yeah, we went to go see "Splash." ' Or their parents did," he recalls. "It had things I had never seen in it. It had street dancing, sea lions. ... Just the way (producer Jeff) Kutash did everything. It was modernized."

But few classmates knew the 12-year-old was sometimes in the show, riding one of the four motorcycles inside the "Globe of Death." As it turned out, the bikes roaring circles around each other inside a 15-foot globe would become the one constant element in the show's 20-year history.

Tabak remembers keeping his exploits to himself. "Too many questions," he says now. School was an on-and-off proposition for him because the Budapest, Hungary, native and his daredevil family were always off to do a show in Germany or Alaska. And he didn't have much in common with guys who jumped their bicycles from plywood ramps in the cul-de-sac.

"When you grow up in the kind of world I did, you kind of mature a little quicker," he says. "It wasn't worth trying to strike up a conversation."

The stunt rider is now 31 and the only performer from the Riviera's original production still around to mark a new edition of "Splash." Starting in mid-1986, Tabak's stepfather, Doug Mac Valley, ran the act and would use him as a substitute rider. In 1988, the teen went into the show full-time for three years.

The new "Splash" debuted on Sunday and will be in revisions until a planned re-opening gala on June 21, 20 years to the night the first show opened. If things have changed onstage, they changed even more on the Strip around it.

In 1985, "Splash" was the rare breath of fresh air in a Las Vegas mired in the old ways, not yet awakened to the possibilities The Mirage would bring four years later.

Kutash, a choreographer with a street sensibility but no formal dance training, avoided older cliches and plugged straight into the vibe of the still-novel MTV. "I want 'Splash' to be the beginning of a new wave of entertainment on the Strip," Kutash told the Review-Journal when the show opened. "I want to prove that young people, with all their energy and drive, can have a piece of the Las Vegas pie and be part of today's audiences."

But within four years, what was novel had become derivative. Kitschy tributes to Michael Jackson, Madonna and Broadway shows such as "Cats" were weak competition on the Strip. By 2000, the show's signature 18-foot-wide water tank came out, replaced by an ice-skating surface.

Kutash and former Riviera owner Meshulam Riklis vied for control of the show in the '90s. When Kutash was tried and eventually acquitted in 1997, for trying to bribe former District Judge Gerard Bongiovanni, Riklis assumed full ownership of "Splash."

During all those lesser years, Tabak credits Riklis for realizing the heart-stopping motorcycle act's importance in pumping up the audience's adrenalin. "What you see us do, without him it wouldn't be possible. Mr. Riklis allowed us to grow and funded us money to build our crazy ideas and projects," Tabak says.

Tabak, of course, did some growing of his own over the years. In the early '90s, Tabak had a falling out with Mac Valley and went his own way to perform in the Excalibur's "King Arthur's Tournament" stunt show.

Riklis lured him back to "Splash" in 1997, after seeing him do his own version of the act in a show at the Plaza. Now he heads REV Productions, working with Mac Valley's original partner, Humberto Fonseca Pinto, and his son.

The globe is an old concept. Tabak says the degrees of separation come from the number of riders and the speed at which they criss-cross without colliding. "Like anything you do for a living, if you do it enough times you just kind of evolve and make it better and more exciting," he says.

"We're the only ones in the entire world where you will see us ride eight inches to a foot apart from each other," Tabak adds. "You will see us bumping tires sometimes. Nobody has our speed level with the technicality of the tricks."

In 1999, Tabak's troupe became the rare act to put five riders in the globe, all circling Tabak's ex-wife, Robin, for a Guinness World Records TV special. The quintet was the climactic act of "Splash" from 2002 until a few months ago, when Riklis asked them to cut back to four motorcycles.

"I'm sure he'll bring it back at the right time," Tabak says, figuring the owner is worried: "If these guys really do go down, what am I going to do tomorrow?"

It's a genuine concern. "From the minute you set foot in there to the minute you stop, it's dangerous. You can break bones very, very easily," Tabak says. "As a matter of fact, I've got a broken ankle as we speak."

On rare occasions, accidents have brought the curtain down. Soon after filming the Guinness special, "one of my guys was in intensive care for over a week."

"Riding in the ball is pretty much like playing music. You have to feed and read off one another. It's never the exact same," he says. "You have to listen to speed changes, the sound of the muffler ... I'm listening to three other machines around me maneuvering."

Tabak is confident the changes to "Splash" will spread the energy level beyond the motorcycle globe. Observers say there's a backstage enthusiasm and camaraderie that hasn't been seen in a long time.

"I'm sorry, but it's a high-energy dance show," Tabak says. "They somewhere lost that, and now (Kutash) is bringing it back. It's got a kick to it."