Legendary Las Vegas Strip Performer Rusty Warren

November 15, 2009

There was a time that comedy on the Las Vegas Strip was mainly a boy's club.

But in the 1960s a group of funny ladies took the town by storm and proved once and for all that comedy wasn't just a guy thing. Comediennes Totie Fields, Nancy Austin and Rusty Warren all had tons of talent and their show dates filled the showrooms and the lounges from one end of the Strip to the other.

Nothing could keep these ladies down. Totie Fields and Nancy Austin both passed away years ago but Rusty Warren (yes, she of the best selling comedy album "Knockers Up" ) is still with us.

From the R-J:

The "Golden Age of Las Vegas" embraced the late 1950s and '60s, filling it with gaudy lights, excitement, entertainment, booze, broads, and a sexual electricity and sense of danger that will never be repeated.

The Las Vegas Strip was "owned" by Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack -- Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford -- who ruled the night life.

The culture as a whole was changing, too, in ways that benefited Las Vegas. Nowhere was that more evident than in the increased sexual liberation of men and women.

Few people could appreciate the transformation as much as Rusty Warren, the flame-red-haired, stand-up comedienne whose early career spanned an age when sex was barely spoken about in polite society. Known primarily for her party records, it seems Rusty Warren and Las Vegas were made for each other.

"I was always on the fringe," Warren told me earlier this year. "I was called 'blue' in those days, because I was just thinking about sex."

She appeared at the Dunes in 1965. "That was the first one when I came to Las Vegas, and that was a one-shot," she recalled.

And the town welcomed her with open arms.

"There were usually three acts," Warren explained. "And I would come on at, like 10, 12 and 2. And then someone else would come on at 11, 1 and 3. That was usually a male band group or something.

"And then when I worked at the Sahara we were on our own time frame. I didn't have an opening act. It was just me. And we were only allowed 50 minutes so that the people could go out and gamble."

Warren broke house records at the Aladdin, and she became the "in" performer for sophisticated couples and swingers alike to see.

"Sex is funny to both sexes," Warren said. "Like on the woman's side -- like Phyllis (Diller) is doing or saying stuff about her husband and in her costumes. Funny lady. Joan (Rivers) is doing the bitch stuff. ... It's her character and she's still doing it, you know.

"Jerry Blaine said I was like Mrs. America, the backyard barbecue, the life of the party. That's what was selling my records. And it sold in stores, not under the table. (Seven of her dozen or so albums went gold.) They would play my records at backyard barbecues to break the ice."

Warren was born Ilene Goldman in New York City on March 17, 1931, and was adopted by a couple living in Milton, Mass.

When she was 19, she appeared at the annual Tanglewood Music Festival under the direction of the legendary conductor Arthur Fiedler, who conducted the Boston Pops Orchestra.

She graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1952 and worked there briefly. "I was an assistant, an intern. I taught piano at home. But it wasn't a career for me. I wanted so much more excitement in my life.

"I didn't think my life was going to be show business," Warren added. "But because I loved music, my piano, and I did all my stuff -- and it was funny. I was a nice Jewish girl and I was going to meet a nice guy and get married. You know, Friday night dinners with the rabbi, and Sundays or whatever, all kinds of stuff. But in those days the war and things were rough."

One of the guys she knew suggested she play the piano at a local lounge. "It's fun. It would be a weekend thing, you know," she continued. "But one summer I sort of liked it. I had a chance to be myself instead of playing the classics."

Throughout the 1950s, Warren honed her craft in little burgs in New England, and later in such cities as Cleveland, Cincinnati, Akron and Columbus, Ohio, all the while dutifully sending her mother her notices and advertisements to paste in her scrapbooks.

"In 1958, I made my first tape," Warren said. "I was on my way to Hollywood to be a star. My manager was Stan Zucker for many years. He ran my whole career. He enjoyed what he saw and took me under his wing."

After moving to California, she heard from Zucker about a good job offer in Phoenix.

"So I got in my little car and drove there. I think I made $250 a week, and one night off. And it was a little place called The Pomp Room."

After six months, she continued packing the house. It was at The Pomp Room that her first LP, "Songs for Sinners," was recorded in 1959 for Jubilee Records.

I asked her if she ever used four-letter words in her act. "No! Of course not," she replied. "But I got mixed in with the two ladies that did: Belle Barth and Pearl Williams. Their jokes were raunchy. Belle was a friend of mine. She was a dear lady to me. She would say to an agent: 'Would you book her? She's funny!' You know, she would really get on his case."

Strongly influenced by the likes of Ruth Wallis and Sophie Tucker, whom Warren preferred to be compared to, she soon developed a large and loyal following.

"Sophie was titillating," Warren said. "And I felt I was titillating, because if you saw my pictures (from her Web site or off the LPs) I could always look as lovely as I could be, because I have a rough New York accent, mainly New England. But I didn't talk rough, I never did. I always talked like fun, like you're having a party with me, and I'm being funny."

During her time at The Pomp Room, Warren met her idol Tucker at a Sunday brunch.

"I was doing 'Life Begins at 40' in my act," Warren told me. "And don't forget I was 20-something at this stage in 1955. ... I met Sophie Tucker that Sunday, and she told me: 'You've got to be honest to your audience. Don't lie to them. They'll see right through you.' She was trying to tell me that I'm in my 20s singing 'Life Begins at 40,' which was one of her numbers because she was up there, probably 40 or 50 at that time, you know. So I mean, I really remembered a lot of things."

In 1959, Warren developed her famous "Knockers Up" routine where she called for women to lose their sexual inhibitions.

By the time she appeared in Las Vegas, Warren had become known as "The Knockers Up Gal" and the "Mother of the Sexual Revolution," her most famous contribution to the movement being her song "Bounce Your Boobies."

She exposed sex through comedy from a woman's perspective. When the "Knockers Up" album was released in 1960, by word of mouth its sales soared into the millions, reaching the Top 10 and remaining on the charts for three years. It won awards from the National Association of Record Merchandisers.

Warren also was known as the "Queen of the Party Records." In 1961, her follow-up LPs, "Sin-Sational" and "Rusty Warren Bounces Back," hit the Top 40, and her cult following began to develop.

Her breaks compounded in the early 1960s when she began appearing in popular clubs in the Los Angeles area, such as Gene Norman's Crescendo Club in 1963 with the Ink Spots, Anaheim's Chariot Room, and The Bahama Inn in Pasadena. She was then called "The Darling of the Double Entendre." (Crescendo's Web site still sells her CDs.)

Her career in Las Vegas continued when Warren opened at Milton Prell's Aladdin July 23, 1966. Her latest LP, "Rusty Rides Again," had just been released and the hotel did turn-away business.

Over the next couple of years she appeared at the Aladdin frequently, with Godfrey Cambridge, Jimmy Makulis and Jackie Gayle at various times appearing on the opening bill. And by 1968, and throughout the 1970s, Warren played at the Flamingo, with such opening acts as The Treniers, The Raiders, Wayne Cochran and Judy Lynn.

Warren is philosophical about her career on the Strip. "Las Vegas was like family," she recalled fondly. "Whether we were lounge or the big acts, the big acts were just as nice to us as we were thrilled to be in their company. We couldn't buy a drink. The hotel was run by 'the guys.' Like Milton Prell when I broke the house record -- they didn't know what to do for me. They bought my piano guy a TV. And for me they bought me the most gorgeous solid gold purse with 'RUSTY WARREN' on it written out in diamonds and emeralds. When I retired I gave it to my jewelers, and they made me a ring out of it."

Now living comfortably in Hawaii with her golden retriever Buddy, Warren told me: "Right now they're putting together a musical about me called 'The Life of the Party -- The Story of Rusty Warren,' taking every word I ever spoke on the albums.

"I did the Rusty character," she added. "That's what worked for me. In Las Vegas my audiences came to see me from Ohio and Illinois and Michigan. They rooted for me the whole time. They knew what they were getting. And at that time I was the star. ... I remember keeping my diamonds in the light to reflect."

Shine on, Rusty, shine on!

"Bucky" Buchanan joins the A-List of Larger than Life Las Vegas Characters

November 15, 2009

Las Vegas history is filled with characters. But the short list of memorable, larger than life characters got a bit longer with the passing of James "Bucky" Buchanan. Buchanan's funeral reminded us all that he wasn't just a TV reality star but more importantly, he was a true Las Vegas character. My mother, who has known her fair share of Las Vegas characters, mourned the passing of Buchanan.

From the Las Vegas Sun:

Funerals are typically somber, reverent affairs.

But James “Bucky” Buchanan was not typically somber or reverent, and neither was his funeral held Friday afternoon at Palm Mortuary, 1325 N. Main St.

Buchanan, 74, whose list of clients ran the gamut — from the famous to the penniless — died Saturday evening after suffering a medical episode while driving his Ferrari near his home on Linden Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard.

His funeral, though peppered with tears, was punctuated with laughter as family members, friends and colleagues recounted memories of the man everyone calls Bucky, whose sharp wit and unconventional style made him larger than life and seared him into the history of Las Vegas.

Clark County courts were effectively closed for afternoon business as the legal community gathered to bid farewell to one of its legends.

At the start of the service, state Sen. Dennis Nolan played the bagpipes as he led a dozen or so robed judges down the aisle to the front of the chapel.

The pews were packed with at least 200 mourners; those who couldn’t get a seat lined the walls or watched remotely in an overflow room — proving that even in death, Bucky Buchanan could command attention.

While Buchanan had his share of famous clients, he also represented a host of people — from hookers to thieves the homeless — who couldn’t, in truth, afford his services but needed him, said his wife, Gianna.

“Bucky had greatness in his heart,” she said. “Being an honorable man was the way he lived his life.”

Judge Nancy Oesterle addressed the crowd wearing a bright blue judges robe, saying that’s what Bucky, who slyly got away with calling her “princess” as a reference to her royal colored robe on more than one occasion, would have wanted.

“My courtroom will never be the same without Bucky,” she said. “He was a kind character and totally irreplaceable.” And as a lawyer, he was “a force to be reckoned with.”

But Buchanan wasn’t just a lawyer renowned in the Las Vegas community. He was a devoted father and grandfather and a loving husband.

He also had a heart for charity, including a soft spot for the Toys for Tots program. He served on the Board of Regents and left a mark on UNLV, whose swimming pool, the Buchanan Natatorium, is named for him.

Buchanan was also a big game hunter immensely proud of the trophies, which included animals like elephants, water buffalo and big cats, mounted on the wall of his home on Sunrise Mountain.

Buchanan’s love of hunting was a recurrent theme in the stories told about him Friday afternoon. As was a tale about the time when Buchanan, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in the same class as Arizona Sen. John McCain, sunk a ship in the Chesapeake Bay.

He was reprimanded but still graduated and served time in the Air Force. He was given military honors at his funeral.

Buchanan had a background in engineering and worked with nuclear weapons in Albuquerque. As a young man, he fell in love with the West and went on to study law at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

His legal career began in Las Vegas, where in 1965 he took a job in the District Attorney’s Office. He opened his criminal defense practice five years later.

Attorney and friend Osvaldo Fumo said that when he learned Buchanan had died, “my first thought was for a guy who was always late for court, God, you took him away too quickly.”

Buchanan was a man who lived life on his own terms and had a “wicked sense of humor,” he said.

Attorney John Momot, whose lengthy legal resume includes the defense of Sandy Murphy in the Ted Binion murder trial, called Buchanan a legendary man.

“He had a particular flair, a style, a smile and a swagger,” said

Buchanan represented a host of clients of note: He defended David Mattsen, who was eventually acquitted of attempting to steal millions in cash from Binion’s vault in Pahrump; in 2003 and 2004, he represented Steven Gazlay, then a member of the 311 Boyz (a gang made up of teens from middle- and upper-middle class homes in northwest Las Vegas) accused and eventually convicted of a felony in a crowbar attack on a fellow teen.

He recently represented Roger Mayweather, the uncle and trainer for champion boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr., on felony coercion and battery-strangulation charges.

His son-in-law, Joseph Wykes, gave the eulogy. He cited a phrase uttered by Mattsen after his acquittal: “I believe in God and Buchanan.”

Buchanan is survived by his wife, Gianna, whom he married in 2001, two grown sons, twin daughters and several grandchildren.

“I admired Bucky so much. I was so proud of him,” Gianna Buchanan said. “To me, he was just like a hero. And while nobody’s perfect, to me, he was perfect.”

Jack Buchanan, who’s taking the reins at his father’s firm, thanked everyone profusely for coming to the ceremony. He also had a message for a chosen few of them:

“I know there are a lot of D.A.s here and if they think that their jobs got a lot easier, then think again,” he said, earning him a round of applause.

“Behind the big Vegas personality … he was the best dad,” he said.

Candlelight Wedding Chapel restored!

November 13, 2009

The Candlelight Wedding Chapel on the Las Vegas Strip

From the Las Vegas Sun:

It survived a tricky journey across town, required more than $250,000 in renovation, including a new steeple, scavenged furnishings and electrical rewiring.

But when you’re a 1966 wedding chapel — old by Las Vegas standards — and you have a few stories to tell, somebody’s bound to love you.

That’s pretty much how it unfolded for the Candlelight Wedding Chapel, a quaint, free-standing churchlike structure with steep roof lines that sat four decades on Las Vegas Boulevard.

Originally Little Church of the West Algiers and then All Religions Wedding Chapel, it was the first chapel with an 800 number and limo service. It married so many couples daily that a side door was installed to usher out fresh newlyweds so they wouldn’t bump into wedding parties making their formal procession down the aisle.

When its land was sold to the Fontainebleau project, the chapel sat empty until its former operator, Gordon Gust, scooped it up and gave it to the Clark County Museum.

On Saturday the chapel officially becomes a new exhibit on the museum’s Heritage Street and opens to the public with a party, complete with live music, wedding cake and photo ops for couples who were married at the chapel.

“It’s one of those things you don’t think of as history, but it’s important here,” says Mark Hall-Patton, administrator of the Clark County Museum. “Five percent of all marriages in the United States are held in Clark County. That’s one out of 20 marriages.”

Grants from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors’ Authority and the Nevada Cultural Affairs Commission paid for the renovation, a project of the county’s 2009 Centennial celebration.

It arrived at the museum in 2007. Renovation began in May.

The Candlelight Wedding Chapel when it arrived at the Clark County Museum

The chapel is decorated to its latest incarnation (white), rather than its previous red exterior, paneled walls and red carpet. Its original pews and organ are gone and replaced with a piano and benches rescued from the county courthouse, resized and refinished.

Its large neon sign, which was added later, is across town at the Neon Museum.

Hall-Patton says museum staff had its eyes on the chapel for 10 years, identifying it as a building the museum would like to own if it ever became available. The museum is home to Heritage Street, a tree-lined gravel road hidden from Boulder Highway and flanked with rescued historic homes, a railroad depot and a print shop.

Visitors can sit on the wooden rocking chairs on the porch of the Beckley House and tour homes, each decked out to its era, each with its own nooks and crannies. They’re adorned at Christmastime and welcome trick-or-treaters on Halloween. (For Saturday’s party, the Clark County Museum Guild will serve cookies, with recipes specific to each home’s era.)

The railroad depot, taken to the site in 1976, was the first building to arrive. The oldest home is a railroad cottage (circa 1911-1914) awaiting renovation.

The chapel, inspired in design by the Little Church of the West, is its youngest structure. Celebrities married there include Bette Midler, Michael Caine, Whoopi Goldberg and Barry White.

“When we look at a building, we look at it from a standpoint that we could use it to best teach that part of our history,” he says. “In 1931 Nevada liberated both divorces and weddings. Reno got divorces. We became the wedding capital.”

Candlelight Wedding Chapel being restored