The Rat Pack at the Sands: Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford,
Frank Sinatra and Joey Bishop.

Sands, Solly Friedman dealt 21 at the
Tropicana, Willie "Buffalo" Ehrlich,
assistant maitre 'cl in the showroom of
the new Holiday Casino, Johnny
Snyder, floor boss at the Aladdin,
George Morse, casino manager at the
Aladdin, Dave Jacobs, pit boss at the
Frontier.
Dick Kaush, 21 dealer at the Dunes,
Art Miller, 21 dealer at the Riviera, Hy
Newman, floor man at the Dessert Inn,
Joe Unrod, floor man at the Aladdin,
Morrie Deutch, floor man at the Sands,
Eddie Moss, one of Las Vegas' pioneers,
a highly respected Sahara retiree, Sandy
Davis dealing 21 at the Tropicana, etc.
Then there were former Detroiters
Herb "Whitey" Rubin and Jerry Rubin,
owners of Mr. Slacks ... Morrie "Big
Fish" Bromberg drove a cab ... Sid
Hudson (Hodash) had left Detroit many
years back and saw the Las Vegas popu-
lation at that time grow from less than
10,000 to 150,000 ... He lived at the
Flamingo as the permanent guest of Ben
"Bugsy" Siegal and owned Hudson
Cleaners there, serving 90 percent of the
hotels on the strip.
As Ben's guest, from the day he came
to Las Vegas, Sid had an apartment
stipend rent that was never to change for
life ... and never did.
One of the entertainers I so wanted to
see again was Elvis Presley ... I never
thought I would enjoy him as much as I
did when seeing and hearing Presley at
Detroit's Olympia in 1972 ... He did
things like "Proud Mary," 'All Shook
Up", "Don't Be Cruel", etc. that sure
changed my mind ... However, I was
told that Presley was on tour and would-
n't be back to the Hilton International
Hotel (later named Las Vegas Hilton)
until Jan. 26 of that year.

Wayne Newton, Shecky Greene,
Liberace, Little Richard, Bob Anderson,
Rich Little, Three Dog Night, etc.,
played to big crowds.
I recall one of the former Detroiters
asking if I wanted to see Rat Pack
impersonators while in Las Vegas during
the New Year weekend ... I'd seen a cou-
ple of other routines and would never
again be interested to see another one ...
Once you've seen the real thing, there
absolutely is no substitute, no matter
how good they may be ... which none of
them were.
People used to line up early to buy
tickets for the Dean Martin, Frank
Sinatra, Joey Bishop, Sammy Davis Jr.
and Peter Lawford nightclub bit in the
Copa Room at the Sands Hotel ... The
routine consisted of a few songs and a
lot of cutting up ... all very informal,
very special and kind of ethnic, but
always done in good taste fun ... Martin,
a drink in hand, asking Bishop, "Did
you ever see a Jew jitsu?" and Joey, play-
ing a Jewish waiter, warning two Italians
to watch out "because I got my own
group — the Matzia."
Bishop, born Joseph Gottlieb, never
would join in Sinatra's drinking parties
and wild women ... He was a hard
working and conservative fellow, very
loyal to his wife, Sylvia, who he married
in 1941 and is still wed to, and his fami-
ly ... After the shows, Joey didn't go to
Sinatra's room and stay up all night
drinking and cavorting like the others
He went back to his room with his wife
and children and got a good night's sleep
... That's probably why Joey is the last
Rat Packer alive. II

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