Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 38

Sunday at the Nugget Sam Donahue remembered in concert wS H'lTn Four hours of music in the style of the late Sam Donahue will be the Reno area's farewell to the famed musician. The concert will be held Sunday, June 2 from noon until 4 p.m. in the Circus Room of the Sparks Nugget. Donahue led the house band, The Sam Donahue Orchestra at the Nugget from 1969 until his death in March. As a saxophonist, Donahue as a high school student was recognized by the late Gene Krupa and joined the Krupa band and later the bands of Harry James and Benny Goodman.

Donahue also was a member of Artie Shaw's Navy Swing Band, touring the Pacific and recorded for Capitol Records. Later in his career he took over the Billy May Orchestra, became assistant leader of the Stan Kenton band and led the Tommy Dorsey band. No funeral was planned at the time of Donahue's death but a memorial concert was planned as a fitting salute to the musician. The event, which will be anything but a somber affair, will feature some of the areas top bands, musicians and soloists as well as special guest appearances by major entertainers in the area. Full bands which will be onstage include the Chuck Ruff have also agreed to assist.

Other musical groups participating include Johnnie McCormick and his Dixieland All Stars, The Al Shay Orchestra, The Jody Graham string group, The Reno Jazz Woodwind Quartet and The Cliff Jackson Orchestra featuring Merle Koch. The Orville Fleming String Ensemble will perform before the show. Singles include singer Cathi Hayes, in-strumentalists Bud Estes and Jimmy Allen, Foster Edwards and country and western star Buck Owens. Informed of the concert, Hal C. Davis, President of the American Federation of musicians, had this to say: "Sam Donahue's World War II days touring the Pacific with the Navy Swing Band and later the continent as leader of the unit helped make his public a wide one and I think it would be difficult indeed to find a music fan today who has neither listened nor danced to Sam Donahue.

He himself was "a great." A two dollar donation is requested at the concert to go for an educational trust fund or to the American Cancer Society. Beverage service will be available in the Circus Room and the services of all musicians and help is being donated. 8111 Great The late Sam Donahue, a veteran of the big band days and for five years orchestra leader at the Nugget will be remembered at a lively, four hour concert at the Sparks Nugget, Sunday, June 2 from noon until 4 p.m. Marco band (17 members), The Bob Barnes Band (17 members and the Don Conn Orchestra (23 members). Each band will play for one hour and 20 minutes.

Singer Herb Jeffries, himself a veteran of the big band days, has agreed to sing and act as Master M.C. Entertainer Cork Proctor and radio personality Bill At the Sahara Tahoe Harpo and Chico taught Sargent how to mimic the Marx Brothers family To hear Sargent talk, the carefree, careless image that a good comedian projects onstage is an illusion. "A comedian has got to have absolute dedication and drive because to be a comic and keep yourelf up is one of the toughest things. If he doesn't really love it or if he thinks it's a sideline, he'll fall by the wayside You've got to be a comedian 24 summer fun NORTH SHORE, LAKE TAHOE Everyone's doing a Marx Brothers impression these days. So is comic Bobby Sargent.

The difference is that Sargent learned it from the real thing. In the mid-fifties, Sargent toured nightclubs with Chico and Harpo Marx. The Brothers had been away from the business for years and only Groucho had been active. According to Sargent, they went back to work for the fun of it, and took along the young comic to fill out the familiar trio. "Chico and Harpo were probably more inspirational to me than anyone else in the business.

They were show business at the best. I learned from them and enjoyed their company as much as wa humanly possible. They were two beautiful gentlemen." The two Marx Brothers helped give Sargent his polish but the process of turning the kid from Cleveland into a skilled nightclub comedian began many years earlier. His parents were actors with the Italian theater, a touring company that presented plays in Italian and English, usually to ethnic audiences. "In school I was a dummy cutup," he says "one of the guys who mae the class laugh and got in trouble with the teachers." His real name was Robert Scarnecchia.

He shortened Now Open Daily! WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS RANCH RETURN fO THE WEST OF 'BONANZA' DAYS! It's like suddenly reliving the days of the Car twrights. Step back 100 years into a colorful film site western town. Enjoy a real early day saloon browse through the General Store tour the Cartwright ranch house have a Hoss-barger and ride horseback along the Ponderosa trails. The West has been recreated at Ponderosa Ranch! hours a day it's not that you have to be funny but you've got to think in that vein." Sargent like all comedians has set routines that he's done since the beginning of his career but his act is in a continuous state of development. "It's in a constant state of change.

It's constant purging, eliminating and adding. Sometimes if you work on a hunk that is a big addition to an act it has to be broken in and tried and perfected. When you add a hunk it's like a small play. You work on it, change it and do it until you think it's a gem." According to Sargent, the business of being a comedian is better than ever especially if you're a good one with an established reputation. "There are so many good places now that they seem to be repeating a lot of people who they know to be reliable.

In fact I would say there is a shortage of great talent." Come Join the Fun! TW raacb fat iwtaf i tftm at 10 tmch mraiaf. All cMvittes llttft Wrufcwk rMtof, am ariak ImImM la yur aaaihiim. Experienced Bobby Sargent, a successful comedian, attributes his success to constant practice and to a wife who understands and lives his career. The Sargents have been married 30 years. the name when it became too big for marquees.

He made his first professional appearance at a small nightclub in Cleveland and rose steadily from there, playing major clubs in New York City and Chicago, and eventually breaking into television on the west coast. He's worked Las Vegas nightclubs since 1949. LOCATED ON THE NORTH SHORE OF LAKE TAHOE AT INCLINE VILLAGE. For wfonutin ptaK: (702) 831-0891. FONDEEOSS 1 1 RANCH INCLINE VILLAGE, NEV.

89450.