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Keely Smith interview (Shecky Greene Alert)

Keely Smith has a new CD out (“Vegas ’58”), so Bruce Fessier of the Palm Springs Desert Sun interviewed her. (And, it seems, he also interviewed Shecky Greene, who only recently migrated to The Springs. In addition to lots of quotes from Greene, the article is a nice snapshot of Vegas in 1958 when things were swingin’, baby.

But the lounge scene wasn’t quiet. The singing and the joking around would go until dawn. Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. would come in after their shows, as would colleagues such as Bobby Darin, Donald O’Connor and comic Shecky Greene. Most would get on stage and do a little schtick.

The epicenter of all this nuttiness was the Sahara Lounge, particularly the shows of Smith and Louis Prima.Read the whole thing.

Carrying on the lounge tradition in the Sahara’s Casbah Lounge these days is comedian Kathleen Dunbar, whose Divas of Comedy is packing them in on Monday nights. Stop on by and tell them SHECKYmagazine sent you. (SHECKYmagazine editor Traci Skene will be on that very stage on March 21!)