|
 |
| |
Shecky Greene
August 27 – 29, 2010 • 7:30pm
Must be 18 or older
$55/$50/$45
Get Tickets Now
Shecky Greene is considered by many to be the ultimate, consummate nightclub performer. He is on of less than half a dozen comedians who has headlined Las Vegas hotels and been paid in the six figures a week to do so (the others being Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, Bill Cosby and Johnny Carson – a rare fraternity indeed).
Shecky admits that all this success has come to him with no pursuit on his part. Rather than help his career along, he’s probably been his own worst enemy. Tales are legion of his drinking, carousing, gambling, turning over crap tables and busting up entire casinos; many of the stories are even true.
However, Shecky has a different attitude about himself and his career today. He is a new, much better Shecky, deeply loved and respected by his audience, peers, friends and family.
Several years ago, he stopped drinking. Then he had surgery for his throat and lost his voice for a year. He was told he would never perform again… Shecky was devastated. He had tremendous faith and through his own courage and the support of his many friends he completely recovered. Later, he went through cancer surgery and was completely cured. During this recent period of his life he discovered that he loved to perform and enjoyed being a headliner. Shecky decided he’d do all he could to protect, enrich and encourage his talent.
|
|
Not to say Shecky hasn’t paid his dues. He began his show business career nearly fifty years ago – his second choice of career following a Navy discharge in 1944 after three years of service aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard based in the Pacific.
“I enrolled at Wright Junior College in Chicago and planned to become a gym teacher,” Shecky recalls. “I took a summer job at a resort near Milwaukee called Oakton Manor. The paid me $20 a week and gave me a fancy title, ‘Social Director’. We couldn’t afford to bring in acts so I’d get up and tell a few jokes, do pratfalls and whatever came to mind. I wasn’t Red Skelton, but I got a few laughs. I went to college that September and spent a year working toward my degree. In between, I kept doing club dates and trying to put together an act.”
In the late ‘40’s a mutual friend recommended him to a club owner in new Orleans who was in desperate need of a comedian.
I was booked at the Prevue Lounge on the corner of Canal Street and University.” The contract was for two weeks and I stayed three years. The band leader was a shy, fat kid named Al Hirt who played the greatest trumpet I’ve ever heard.”
Greene eventually wound up owning a share of the Prevue and planned to settle permanently in New Orleans. The the club burned down, so he went back to Chicago and Wright Jr. College.
“I was in the dorm one night when Martha Raye called from Miami and asked me to play her club down there. I quit school again when they held me over for six weeks. This time, I made up my mind, I would stick with show business. I was only 25 years old and making $500 a week. Besides, I had a silent partner to support…. I had discovered how to bet the horses!”
The turning point of Shecky’s career came in 1953 when he was signed to play the famed Chez Paree in Chicago as opening act for Ann Southern. “I cannot describe the feeling I experienced when I became a hit in my hometown. The Chez was one of the top nightclubs in America in those days.”
Those were the days headliners like Joe E. Lewis, Sophie Tucker, Harry Richman and Ted Lewis were mining gold in the fast expanding Nevada gambling casinos. Salaries as high as $15,000 a week were
Being paid in Glitter Gulch. When the Golden Hotel in Reno offered over a thousand a week, Shecky made a beeline for the Wild West. The owners tore up his four week contract on opening night and made a deal which insured him $20,000 a year.
Shecky responded by taking on another silent partner – craps!
Las Vegas, the gambling mecca in the southern tip of the state was a comparatively rusting village in those days. The legendary Strip was a two-lane stretch of asphalt heading south towards Barstow, San Bernardino and Los Angeles. Shecky signed with the Last Frontier, one of the hottest casinos in town.
His original four week engagement in the main showroom was extended to 16 weeks. Sammy Lewis, an astute entertainment buyer representing both the fledgling Riviera dn New Frontier Hotels, made Shecky an offer he could not refuse. He would play both hotels over aperios of three years at a salary which would eventually total $3,500 a week. Shecky added another silent partner – Jack Daniels!
Thee was a booking conflict at the Riviera later in the year and lewis asked Shecky to postpone his engagement. “It led to one of the biggest breaks I ever had,” Shecky noted. “Louie Prima and Keely Smith were breaking it up in the lounge at the Sahara Hotel. Lounges in those days were nothing like the elegant rooms you see today. There was an openspot in the casino with tables and a long bar stretching in front of the stage. Sometimes, the cash register would drown out the trio. If you would keep a crowd’s attention in a lounge, you were good. Louie and Keely were the best.”
The Riviera apprehensively agreed to switch Shecky to the Starlight Lounge, where he turned out to be an immediate smash, staying 18 weeks at $3,500 per week.
It led the Tropicana to offer him a deal which included five points in the hotel or $5,000 a week salary. Shecky chose the csh and says it was the biggest mistake of his life. “The $5,000 was a tremendous amount of money in 1959,” he said, “but I did not realize that five percent of a Las Vegas casino was worth millions. Almost every act in the business has made the same mistake.”
By that time he was the biggest name in the lounge entertainment in Nevada. He was being offered film roles, TV shows, bookings in the best cafes. Shecky turned them down.
“I was too busy trying to figure out the daily double and the odds on a hard 10,” he admitted. “Besides, I loved to wing it….improv, that’s my style and I was making enough in nightclubs so I could down the offers. I can truthfully say money has never been that important to me….only to my bookies.” Actually, he did say “yes” over the years to a co-starring role in the TV series “Combat” and to many talk-variety show appearances.
When the Rivieria decided to shutter the Starlight Lounge in 1972, Shecky switched to the main showroom. Along the way he picked up numerous awards for nightclub performances including the Las Vegas Entertainment Award for “Best Lounge Entertainer” and nominations three years in a row for “Best Mainroom Entertainer in Las Vegas” from the Academy of Variety and Cabaret Artists.
Shecky won the first Jimmy Durante Award for “Best Comedian.” He also won “Male Comedy Star” from the Las Vegas Acedemy of Variety and Cabaret Artists and “Comedy performer of 1978” from the South Florida Entertainment Writers’ Association.
Shecky’s film roles include work in major pictures as “Splash” for Ron Howard and Mel Brooks’ “History of the World – Part 1”. He also performed in “Tony Roma”, which starred Frank Sinatra and starred in “The Love Machine”. Shecky has appeared on many game shows and was a substitute host on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show”.
In recent years Shecky has proven very adept as an actor and his talent has become very evident, with roles on series ranging from the comedic (“Laverne & Shirley”) to action (“The A-Team”) to drama (“The Law and Harry McGraw”, “Northern Exposure”).
Shecky spends several hours a day helping fellow talents to improve their acts. Many unmentionable superstars owe Shecky everything. However, Shecky is very humble and is satisfied keeping only to himself those greats that owe it all to him!
Delighted that comedy is strong again, Shecky likes the new breed of comedians, but does not necessarily agree with the language used. “Funny is funny,” he says; “shock is not funny.”
|
|
|
