show. He would perform on Gleason’s show twelve times
during the next two years.
“The Great One” was the first of many show business
legends to become a mentor for this young entertainer.
Lucille Ball had him as a guest a dozen times on her
show. Others giving him special affection and support
over the years were Danny Thomas, George Burns and
Jack Benny. Bobby Darin produced and engineered his
first record hits, “Heart,” “Danke Schoen,” “Red Roses
For A Blue Lady,” “Summer Wind” and “Dreams Of The
Everyday Housewife.” (He also scored a multi gold album
and single on “Daddy, Don’t You Walk So Fast”: and other
single hits to follow included “Years,” “She Believes In Me”
and “While The Feelings Good.”)
But it was Jack Benny who helped make sure that in a
day when lounge singers didn’t move up to Vegas’s main
show rooms, Wayne Newton did. Wayne turned down
thousands of dollars in the lounges to work for Mr. Benny
as an opening act in the main show room for $1,500 a
week, a slot he filled for the next five years.
There was one more hurdle in Las Vegas, and that was
headlining the main showrooms. Wayne managed that with
courage - and the help of the fans he’s always worked so
hard for. After the job with Mr. Benny, Wayne was offered
the chance to open for another comic at the Flamingo
Hilton. He said he wanted to headline instead, and the
owner was so taken aback that he said “yes”. There was
a catch, though. He offered Wayne the headlining slot in
November. “In those days,” Wayne remembers, “you could
shoot a cannon in November and not hit a single soul on
the Strip. There just wasn’t any business at that time of
year. The odds-makers had predicted I was going to flop.
The only thing that none of them counted on was the
local people. The night we opened, the locals came out
in droves and totally supported and saved my career, for