Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 37

Lettermen at Harrah's, Tahoe We didn't want to be chorus boys eesoifeiP all our lives' su age .4 Want reservations for Elvis? Well forget it. They've all been snapped up. The Sahara Tahoe took reservations calls 30 days prior to each performance. Most shows were sold out in an hour. According to Sahara Tahoe Assistant Manager Tony Atchley, the response this time has been bigger than last year when Presley's manager, Col.

Tom Parker plastered the name Elvis on every available billboard within a 50 mile radius. This year, though, the Sahara Tahoe isn't booking as heavily on confirmed reservations as they have in the past and most no-shows will be filled up in the cancellation line. So if you want to see Elvis and don't have reservations, get there early. As last year, the Elvis Presley souvenir booth will benefit Barton Memorial Hospital at Lake Tahoe. Just about everyone agrees: The Smothers Brothers are longevity appears to be adaptability.

They won't record anything they can't perform live and they quickly polished themselves into a show group. Working nightclubs, they appeared in staid tuxedos. At colleges it was open shirts and longer hair. When folk music hit the campus, they bought three Martin guitars, wore short sleeved shirts and learned folk numbers. One year Billboard voted them the number seven folk group.

During the rock period, they grew their hair long, dropped lush orchestrations and added twangy guitars and a hard rock bass line. "College kids know we've been around for a while and they expect to see three fat old men in loupes," says Tony. "Then we come on and blow their minds with contemporary music and save our oldies till last." Lettermen are anything but three paunchy, balding men. Tall, fit and handsome, they could model for department store mannequins. Personally, they're a diverse lot.

Jim and Gary are both Mormon converts. Tony is a Catholic and a liberal Democrat. Jim has never voted. Gary is a conservative Republican. 5r Continued from page 1 "But they were in the Fifties and we were in the Sixties." The Lettermen really don't call themselves that name anymore.

Now it's simply Lettermen, minus "The." And Lettermen by any name do well. When most smooth harmony groups of the Fifties and Sixties have broken up or skidded into oblivion, Lettermen still have an occasional hit (last was "Going Out of My HeadCan't Take My Eyes Off Of You" in .1968) and play major nightclubs and concerts. College audiences still like them (they say the average college student is bound to have a few Lettermen albums) and they're one of the most popular groups in Japan where they appear yearly. It all started around 1960 when Tony Butala was singing with a quartet that included Connie Stevens. Jim Pike, another original Letter-man, sang with a similar group.

When both split, Jim and Tony joined a lounge act called Bill Norvus and the Upstarts. "We didn't want to be chorus boys for the rest of our lives," -says Tony. They left Norvus and with Bob Engemann, cut a single in the commercial style of the day high falsetto lead and chorus intoning "sha na na. The preferred side, "That's my Desire," sounded like every other commercially successful ditty of the era. "That got to number 40 on the charts and stopped dead," says Butala.

Luckily, the deejays flipped the disc for variety and played the Lettermen's reworking of an old ballad, "The Way You Look Holding power The Lettermen, from left Jim Pike, Gary Pike and Tony utala, have held on by adapting to new trends. Their next album will emphasize smooth harmony. "We don't get hung up on anything other than making people happy," says Tony. "Music is the moderating thing that keeps us together." better this time than they were in November when they made a return to performing after four and a half years away. Tom is acting just a bit older and they have some new material.

The brothers brought down the house at the Law Enforcement Day Open House show. They both like to perform for kids and this was a big reason why they came but the audience there seemed very much in to their more subtle humor. Between shows, Dik Smothers is practicing loops on the aerobatic craft he bought in Reno when last here. Both have been unable to find suitable property in the area and have abandoned the idea of settling here. Harrah's has a remarkably good group of supporting players to back its big names this summer.

Mel Tonne (the velvet fog as they used to call him) will give vocal support to Jerry Lewis. Red Buttons co-headlines with Sandler and Young. Peter Gordeno, the sensational young singer-dancer who nearly stole the show from Don Rickles at Harrah's last year will be back with him at Tahoe starting June 5. And Sammy Davis Jr. has allowed another show stealer on his bill, the great Billy Eckstine.

It should be a reunion time at Lake Tahoe. While Eckstine is at Harrah's, Earl "Fatha" Hines will be right across the street at Harvey's. It was Hines who gave Eckstine one of his first big breaks and developed the singer into a star. Publicity is publicity but most entertainers would prefer not to be discussed in court. Arriving in Reno for a Harc'ds Club engagement last week, Ray Mai us was told that his name came up in testimony during the trial of Robert Maheu's damage suit against Howard Hughes.

Maheu's wife Yvette testified that she bad never received a penny in commisison from Mai us, for whom she said she acted as agent. Not only did he not pay her, says Malus, be hardly even saw her. The two met at a party and Yvette expressed interest in acting as his agent. This, Malus says, was the extent of their professional involvement and be never saw her again. "Disneyland is more popular with dopers than little kids," says Bill Cosby at Harrah's, discussing the park's popularity as a bead show.

He also attributes the absence of derelicts to Disneyland's capacity to simulate the D.T.s: All those flying elephants and Cheshire cats! The ultimate in publicity for most local businesses is to have a locally known personality plug their product. A few years ago, Jim Henderson, owner of Keystone Owl drug store pulled a spectacular coup and got Rowan and Martin, then the biggest stars in television, to do some commercials for him. It all began about 12 years ago when Henderson met Dick Martin (then only moderately successful in lounges) at a golf tournament. They became friends and when "Laugh In" became a success they kept in touch and once called the crew together and shot four black and white commercials for Henderson as a gift Says Martin, "Enough people helped us on our way up so we can help others." And you can bet Henderson hopes Rowan and Martin will have a new television series soon (and access to sound stages and a crew). The Jackson Five made such a hit two weeks ago at the Sahara Tahoe that they've been signed to follow Elvis for a week, opening May 27 Dominique's Supper Club at -Ormsby House featuring Toni Thomas beginning May 24 and they may permanently change from a dance to a show format in the room.

High time. It's one of the best intimate rooms in the area George Peppard sat for half an hour, unobtrusively drinking coffee waiting for the Bill Cosby Show to begin before the first kid gathered nerve to ask him for an autograph. And then the stampede began Bill Westbrook, a Carson City resident who once performed with his late brother and more recently as a single at Ormsby House, now with The New Project appearing at the Fallon Nugget Tonight." The record skyrocketed to number one on the charts and stayed there until over a million copies were sold. Putting their accomplishments in solid numbers, since then they've appeared at more than 2,000 colleges and universities, cut 38 albums with sales of over 25 million and had six more million selling singles. Engemann left the group seven years ago to be replaced by Gary Pike (brother of Jim) and for the past few months Donnie Pike has been subbing for brother Jim who is having voice problems.

The secret of Lettermen JOHNNY Johnny Carson and Paramount Pictures have announced the formation of Carson-Paramount Productions for the purpose of producing television and theatrical movies. G(D6Ud06D I i'J I I It Reno Sparks Lake Tahoe entertainment Editor Foster Church Published weekly by the Reno Evening Gazette and Nevada State Journal, P.O. Box 280, Reno, Nevada, 89502. Mail subscription prices for Friday Nevada State Journal, which includes Entertainment $9 a year. $4.50 for six months, payable in advance.

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