SEEING STARS

Quick, which of these singers is the only one with a star on the Las Vegas Strip: Frank Sinatra? Dean Martin? Tony Sacca?

OK, so you looked at the picture first.

But photo evidence might be required as proof that the "Entertainment Las Vegas Style" host beat the Rat Packers to sidewalk immortality. Sacca acknowledges it can raise questions about the Las Vegas Walk of Stars, an effort to line four miles of the Strip with sidewalk memorials similar to those in Hollywood.

In the nearly four years since the nonprofit entity was sanctioned by Clark County commissioners, pedestrians have sauntered by plaques celebrating obvious local heroes: Wayne Newton, Siegfried & Roy, and Sammy Davis Jr. among them.

But other names might be cause for a tourist to stop and rearrange the fanny pack. They include:

• Dick Jensen, the late Hawaiian nightclub star who performed in Las Vegas in the 1960s and 1970s, but was far from synonymous with the Strip.

• Wayne Allyn Root, an entrepreneurial sports handicapper, author and aspiring Libertarian presidential candidate.

• Los Tigres del Norte, a veteran Mexican band with more than 30 years in show business, but few of them devoted to establishing a significant presence on the Strip.

"People have a misconception of what it's all about. They don't get it," says Sacca, who also is on the organization's nomination committee. "Bottom line, it's a business."

Robert Alexander, president of the Walk of Stars organization in Las Vegas -- and who oversees parallel efforts in Palm Springs and Anaheim, Calif. -- says the stars are selected less by prominence than by the order in which supporters come up with the required $15,000.

Stars also are purchased in other cities with star walks. In Hollywood, home to the first and most famous such sidewalk, movie studios often pick up the tab as a promotion for an actor's current release.

But if in Las Vegas, undisputed greats such as Ann-Margret, Tony Bennett and Robert Goulet remain on a list of future honorees, "the cold, hard reason is no one has stepped forward to sponsor their stars," Alexander says.

He defends the honorees thus far: "The nomination committee feels like those people meet the criteria." And, Alexander adds, "if we waited until our wish list of the top 100 were installed, it would take a long time for the program to really get off the ground. It has taken a considerable amount of time as it is."

The Walk of Stars is a branch of the nonprofit Motion Picture Hall of Fame Foundation, which also is helmed by Alexander and is dedicated to film preservation. Alexander signed a revokable licensing agreement with Clark County in September 2004.

Practicalities result in the fast-tracking of contemporary names who come through with the funding, including "An Evening at La Cage" drag comedian Frank Marino and former "Legends in Concert" producer John Stuart. (For each star, $750 goes to the United Way's homeless shelter fund.)

In Sacca's case, "I sent letters out to all my friends, and I was able to generate the funds for a star through my fan base and my friends," he says. "That's what it's about."

By contrast, the Sinatra family was contacted, but "didn't have the motivation," Sacca says.

Charles Pignone, archivist for the Sinatra family, doesn't dispute that. Sinatra "has got to be one of the most honored celebrities in the world," he says, but "never did anything on his own in order to get an award."

Therefore, Pignone says, family members are keeping with that practice of cooperating with efforts to honor the singer, but not to initiate them.

Bobby Darin's star is the result of a coordinated fan drive -- the "Bobby Darin Star Fund Team" -- and the effort was worked into a Las Vegas fan gathering last year.

A local Elvis Presley fan club, All Shook Up in Vegas, is part of a fundraising effort for an Elvis star scheduled for installation in September. The club will throw a May 18 family hoedown at the Sagebrush Ranch; call Judy RiChard at 379-1680 for details or check www.aStarforElvis.com for background on the star campaign.

Other Vegas icons might be expected to have similarly devoted followings. But Alexander says the stars for both Liberace and Sammy Davis Jr. were funded by the organization itself; each year, the committee pays for one star based on pure merit. Neither performer has an organized fan base.

Hawaiian personality Jensen was "a very good entertainer but not a very well-known one (in Las Vegas)," says Ken Hanlon, a University of Nevada, Las Vegas instructor who is on the nomination committee but has not been actively involved of late. "(Jensen's) wife wanted him to have a star and she found the money."

No one strongly opposed the move. "While the guy didn't work here an enormous number of times, he certainly was very good at what he did," Hanlon says.

Does that make the honor all about who can raise the money? Can anyone buy a star?

"We actually turn people down," Alexander says. He doesn't want to name names, but says committee members have vetoed "a couple of people each year." The written criteria for a star calls for honorees who have "contributed to the charm, worldwide prominence and name recognition of Las Vegas."

Alexander notes the star project reaches beyond show business, with categories for civic pioneers, athletes, authors and composers, and military figures who received the Congressional Medal of Honor. Sidewalk stars have been installed for developer Richard MacDonald, Circus Circus executive Mel Larson and Flamingo Las Vegas manager Chester Simms.

The Walk is "a great idea, but the practicality of it presents a problem," says David Schwartz, director of the Center for Gaming Research at UNLV. He resigned from the nominations committee two years ago, primarily because of time constraints. But, he says, "I don't think they really want a historian in the group."

The star program is "a building process," Alexander says. Palm Springs has installed 310 stars in 17 years, while Las Vegas has put in 23 since late 2004.

And there is a lot of ground to cover on the Strip, with room for a lot of stars. The Hollywood Walk of Fame has more than 2,400 stars in a denser area.

"These kinds of things are always debatable," says Hanlon, "but it's very obvious tourists love them."

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