Dale Gordon

My Dad and Jesus Christ

In the late sixties, Bill Cosby had a routine describing how when he was a young boy, he thought his name was "Jesus Christ" and his younger brother Russell thought his name was "Damn It!" The reason? Every time their father would come into Bill’s room, he would shout, "JESUS CHRIST, would you look at this mess!" and then turn to his brother and say, "DAMN IT, stop jumping on the bed!"

So, when Cos first went to school and the teacher asked him what his name was, Bill answered, "Jesus Christ."

I happened to pass this story on to my father when he came to visit us one time. We had a good laugh and Dad related to the story quite a bit. About a year later, Dad was again visiting and I asked him if there was anything he might like from my show biz collection. He said, "Yes, I would like that "Jesus Christ" story."

For the life of me, I had forgotten that we had had this conversation about Cosby’s routine and I was racking my brains trying to figure out what he wanted . . . so I mailed him the album of "Jesus Christ Superstar!"

I love a piano, I love a piano…

The Headliner Room Piano

In 1966, Harrah’s Casino in Reno bought the Golden Hotel & Casino on Center Street which was adjacent to Harrah’s new expansion. This allowed Harrah’s to own the complete block. With this acquisition came the “Carnival Room,” the Golden Hotel showroom. It was a medium size room holding about 500 people. The “Carnival Room” had been a popular Reno showroom in its day. (Joanne remembers seeing Kitty Kallen there in the 1950’s singing "Little Things Mean A Lot.")

Harrah’s got this old but beautiful Baldwin parlor size grand piano in the transaction. The piano had been used in the “Carnival Room.” It was the very first piano used in the new “Headliner Room” after renovation. The “Headliner Room” opened June 20, 1966 with Eddy Fisher and John Bubbles as his opening act. Opening night, the grand piano worked again in the new showroom with George Hernandez conducting his 22-piece orchestra.

Many performers’ conductors played on the piano. In fact, several performers played on it – sat on it – and definitely touched it. It was part of every new show that came into the room. (Attached is a list of performers who shared the stage with this piano up to its move to the Gordon house in l969.)

I vividly remember when a supervisor came up to me and said, “Go get some black paint and paint the piano flat black.” “What?” I replied.

It had to be explained to me that painting the piano flat black would cover up the high sheen and polish of the piano, eliminating the reflection of the spotlights into the eyes of the people in the audience. Flat black paint also didn’t allow fingerprints to adhere to the piano. (With the original high gloss, the spotlight would show a messy, greasy smear wherever the star put his hands on the piano.) So I painted the piano black from top to bottom – including the lid.

An anguished feeling came over me as I painted it. Slowly brushing over the high gloss and that beautiful sheen just about killed me. With each stroke of the brush, I took a little more life from the piano. Upon completion, the piano just blended into the woodwork. It never stood out again.

The piano was tuned twice a week – religiously, sometimes daily, if the performer requested it. Being painted flat black, it never lost its tone or its brilliance. It is a superbly fine tuned instrument producing beautiful music for the performer.

In 1969, the musical director, George Hernandez, complained that he wanted a newer piano for the showroom. The Baldwin had served its purpose but needed a face lift. It was better to lease a new piano. So, in time, George got his new piano and the Baldwin was put into storage for about 6 months.

I asked George how much I should bid for the piano if it should go on auction. He replied, “That piece of junk! I’ll tell you what, if you bid $900.00 for that piano, you’ve got a steal.” Two weeks later, I bid $100.00 and got the piano. It cost me nearly another hundred to have it moved to my house and have it tuned. It has stood prominently in our living room lo these many years.

It is worth noting that when we bought – won the bid for – this piano, the large lid was missing. (Performers usually preferred to have the lid removed on stage to enhance the sound.) Not a problem. I simply carved a new lid of plywood and painted it the same flat black! This lid has been host to every holiday decoration over the years as well as the convenient place to seat video equipment for work on weddings, parties and such. Many years later, when Harrah’s emptied their warehouse, I found the original piano lid which sits in our garage awaiting refurbishing.

We rented out our piano twice after we acquired it (at $200.00 an engagement) to the Eldorado Casino. The first time was for the great Ray Charles. What pride we had watching Ray playing and singing his hits on our piano. The second time was for the rock and roll legend, Jerry Lee Lewis. He was less than gentle with our “baby”! After his engagement, the piano had to be repaired and has stayed in retirement in our home ever since.

Our piano continues to be a source of enjoyment for friends and family. It is the “signature” of our living room.

Dale and Joanne Gordon

Performers Who Have Shared The Stage With This Piano:

Eddie Fisher * Abbie Lane * Tony Martin * Smothers Brothers * Vincent Edwards

Leslie Uggams * Johnny Puleo * Bobby Darin * Roger Miller * George Kirby * Kim Sisters * Trini Lopez * Diahann Carroll * Kay Starr * Roy Clark * Roger Miller * Donald O’Connor * Don Ho * Harry Blackstone * Grand Ole Opry – Roy Acuff & Minnie Pearl * Mitzi Gaynor * Jimmy Dean * Don Adams * Jim Nabors * Ed Ames * Tony Martin * Ray Charles * Sammy Davis Jr. * Frankie Laine * Dale Robertson * Wayne Newton * Tennessee Ernie Ford * Roy Rogers & Dale Evans * Dinah Shore * Kathryn Grayson & Howard Keel * Eddie Albert * Glen Campbell * Lainie Kazan * Pat Paulsen * Fats Domino * Al Martino * (Totie Fields sat on it!)

Natalie Cole

It was 1989 and this was Natalie Cole’s third time performing in the Headliner Room. She came in wanting to do a tribute to her father, Nat King Cole, while showing pictures of her family when she was a child. She wanted to experiment with her father’s song “Unforgettable” and sing along with him. The sound man sent someone out to buy a cassette of the album that contained the song. (This was before CDs.) Two hours of rehearsal time was set aside to tackle this problem.

The audio engineer played the tape through the house system. Natalie would tell him where she wanted Nat’s voice to come in and out during the performance. Certain parts of the song were for Nat to sing while she filled in the rest. There was even a duet part where they both sang at the end. The John Carleton Orchestra had “Nat King Cole” original musical charts for the song – which was great.

It was a little tricky at first. Nat’s recording would sing along with the live orchestra which overpowered the taped orchestra. Then, Natalie would nod to the engineer to cut his part at a certain point while the orchestra kept playing. Natalie came in singing her portion of the song all the while the sound engineer kept the tape rolling. Again, Nat was brought up and Natalie laid back. The back and forth solos of the performers were in step with a video being projected on a large screen center stage showing the Cole family when Natalie was a young child. This was a technical nightmare in the 80’s. The sound engineer had to learn the cuts of Nat King Cole and mix the stage orchestra as well. He had to learn the queues that afternoon for a live performance that evening.

Natalie sang a handful of songs before coming to the tribute to her father. She started with a beautiful rendition of “When I Fall in Love,” the beginning of the “Nat King Cole Medley.” This was followed by “Straighten Up and Fly Right,” segueing into “Mona Lisa.” There was a pause in the show while the movie screen was being lowered. Natalie went into her monologue about her father and when everything seemed to be right, she started the music of “Unforgettable.” The beautiful music of the orchestra began and the movie screen lit up with images of the Cole family and the “King’s” voice came out of the house speakers singing “Unforgettable.” We were off and running and the song went off without a hitch. The last stanza of the song was sung by both Nat and Natalie – beautifully. The audience gave her a standing ovation as the screen was raised and the music stopped. I remember her words after the applause died down, “Thank you, daddy – I love you.” She introduced the John Carleton Orchestra and closed the show with “Our Love.”

In 1991, Natalie Cole won a Grammy for her “Unforgettable…with Love” album. It featured a duet, the title track with her father created by splicing a recording of his vocals into the track. As a single, it reached #14 on Billboard Magazine‘s Hot 100 chart, and went gold. The idea had been tried and tested at Harrah’s Headliner Room in Reno, Nevada on March 2, 1989!

Fleeting Fame

The Smothers Brothers have a long history with the Harrah’s-Reno Casino. Their  very first appearance here was in the “Headliner Room” on August 4, 1966 when they were on top of the charts with their television show, “THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS COMEDY HOUR.”

From that time, they appeared here yearly with their irreverent political comedy and their trademark of folk songs – which usually ended up in an argument between the two of them.  Their comedy routines were hilarious!  (We all remember “Mom liked you best!”)

Their forty-four year history with Harrah’s is outstanding but after that four decades,  new faces attracted the younger generation to the scene.  This is my story of “Fleeting Fame.”

The Smothers Brothers were performing in Sammy’s Showroom on January 14-17, 1999.  When they arrived at the airport, each one was assigned his own automobile by Harrah’s for the duration of their engagement.  Opening night, Dick had not received all his luggage from the airline.  In fact, he needed one particular piece of luggage for their performance that evening at 9:30 pm.

The Entertainment Department sent a representative to get Dick’s car, go to the airport, pick up the missing piece of luggage and take it to Tommy’s suite.   The envoy went over to Hotel Parking to secure the car and asked the attendant for Dick Smothers’ automobile. 

A young parking employee said, “There is no car assigned to Dick Smothers” as he looked through the wall of peg board with its hanging keys. 

“I have to have his car immediately to pick-up his luggage at the airport!  He cannot go on stage without his clothing!” the agitated representative replied. 

The attendant, while looking through the keys said, “There are no keys here for Dick Smothers.” 

In desperation, the entertainment representative said,  “Give me any car that is free.  I have to get to the airport!” 

The attendant grabbed for a set of keys, read the tag and said, “These are for “Dick’s mother.”  Will they do? 

The stunned representative said “Yes!” and drove off to the airport in disbelief.

Red Kittell’s Photos of the “Good Old Days” Presentation

Thanks to Red Kittell for posting his photos of Dale’s talk at the Good Old Days lunch:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/39880489@N04/sets/72157623528546099/

Memories of Harrah’s Headliner Room

Dale spent most of his career as a stage technician at Harrah’s, including all 24 years of the “Headliner Room.” Since retiring, he has collected and organized his anecdotes and performances list and is now making that information available to the world in this blog.