Booze means dough for show

"When you're drinkin' ... when you're stinkin', the whole world smiles at you," the great Dean Martin would sing.

And if that encouraged the Clydes to drink up, rolling out to the tables well-lubed, everyone was happy. Cash flowed back to the headliners, who were paid a flat guarantee. Frank Sinatra even had ownership "points" in the Sands.

Call it the circle of Jack.

Now, only Garth or Celine pull an iron-clad paycheck. When today's Dino in "The Rat Pack is Back" sings a love song to the bottle, any liquid courage he sells flows back to the host casino, the Plaza, and stops right there. Show producers don't get a cut of drink sales; they survive only on ticket revenue.

Most don't know it any other way. "Rat Pack" producer Dick Feeney says he actually has a great tenant deal compared to many rivals. "Four-wall deals are really hard now, everywhere in town," he says. "It's just getting wackier and wackier by the year."

But along comes "Absinthe," a new circus-tent show in front of Caesars Palace. It sets a boozy tone not merely with the name, but with gags: passing out shot glasses to Russian gymnasts, or hoisting a beer keg up to the high-wire act.

Moreover, there's a beer garden out in front. While it's staffed by Caesars employees and uses Caesars' liquor license, co-producer Scott Zeiger says the bar is one of the "ancillary revenue streams" that make up "a significant double-digit percentage of our overall business plan."

"We created the beer garden and it's part of our venture," Zeiger says. "The food, the beverage, the merch ... are all in the pot and part of our venture. We built the environment, and the drinking is part of the show."

This could be a game-changer for many producers who are getting clobbered by nightclubs.

"That's liquid gold," says Jim Hayek, whose "Striptease" at the Sahara closed before the hotel. He even pitched the idea of bottle service to the Sahara.

"It was wishful thinking on my part," Hayek says. "That was money left on the table. If these guys over at Caesars are doing that, that's awesome for them. That changes the whole break-even point."

Feeney was always told, "You can't share in liquor profits if you're not a license holder. That's been a no-no for years, unless somebody found a way around it."

David Saxe runs the V Theater and does have a liquor license. "People who buy show tickets don't drink like crazy," he says. But if a show could get them to, "that's a gold mine. That's the holy grail right there."

Producers could use some exotic booze. Maybe "Absinthe" will crack open the bottle.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.