The Vegas Voice June 2021

Shecky turns 95
With his tongue planted impishly in his cheek,
legendary comedian Shecky Greene proclaimed, “I hate
Clint Holmes.” After a momentary pause, he smiled and
added, “Because he’s better than me. His overall talent is
wonderful”
Greene, a Las Vegan since 2015, celebrated his 95th
birthday in April over breakfast in a local casino coffee
shop. The intimate group of show business and casino
buddies had been on a year’s long hiatus due to Covid,
which Greene battled from a hospital bed.
“I was in the hospital for a week over Christmas. The hospital
was overwhelmed. It’s been a tough year.”
Although he moves slowly these days, Greene remains sharp
in his spontaneous humor and his memories that stretch back
nine decades to growing up in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood.
“I was a kid from
the neighborhood,” he
says, gaining his knack for
dialects from his brother
Marvin. “My brother did
dialects. I imitated him,” he
emphasized.
Greene’s 60-plus professional
entertainment career
stretched far beyond just the
comedy he was known for.
He cut his show business
comedy teeth in northern
Midwest resorts…sometimes
making $10 a week,
then lounges in Milwaukee,
Chicago and New Orleans.
In 1953, six years before the Welcome sign on The Strip,
Greene was persuaded to head to the struggling oasis in the
desert, Las Vegas. “Vegas was nothing at the time; they had horses
going down the street,” he recalls.
His first short-term “gig” at the historic Last Frontier Casino
was held over for 18 weeks, unheard of at the time.
Twice he was credited for “saving Las Vegas” in those early
years before embarking on movies and a television resume that included
drama, comedy, variety and game shows and guest-hosting
the Tonight Show. A long-term stint on television’s “Combat” show
convinced him that the medium was not for him.
Owner JK Houssels lured Greene to his new Tropicana Casino.
Greene’s success earned him a promised 5% ownership in the
struggling casino.
His success on stage packed the showrooms
and enriched coffers. Greene adds, “I brought in
the biggest gamblers.”
Billed as the opening act for the latest singing
phenom at the newly remodeled New Frontier
Hotel in 1956, the young singer bombed so badly
that management flip-flopped the two performers
and Greene became the headliner. The gambit
failed and newcomer, 21-year old Elvis Presley
was “canned after one week” one publication reported.
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June 2021