Paul Anka

Editor's Note: Robert Macy was an Associated Press writer for nearly 30 years, and head of the AP's Las Vegas Bureau from 1981 to the summer of 2000 when he retired to write nationally-syndicated features and pursue publishing ventures. His web site, datelinelasvegas , includes features on Las Vegas and its stars.

By ROBERT MACY
DATELINE LAS VEGAS

     Right time, right place, wrong advice.
     Paul Anka likes to recall a time in the early 1960s when Lady Luck
offered him a winning hand, and the skeptics convinced him to take a pass.
     Anka was a rising star when a business associate from the East Coast pitched him on a dream of a highrise hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
     "We'd sit in this bungalow at the Sands and he'd go over plans for this hotel he was going to build," Anka recalled in an interview with Dateline Las Vegas. "He wanted me to go into the deal with him, he'd give me five points on the project.

"But people told me I shouldn't get involved, that a highrise would never work in Las Vegas. They said 'You'll never see a highrise in Las Vegas.' That was the attitude that prevailed in the 1960s." Anka regrets that he listened to the skeptics and passed on the project. The resort -- Caesars Palace -- became a Las Vegas icon and set the city on a new course when it opened in August 1966.
		Paul Anka Today

Anka, 59, a native of Ottawa, Ontario, hitchhiked from Canada to California at the age of 13, nursing dreams of a music career. Three years later he exploded on the entertainment scene when he recorded a song he wrote as a tribute to a babysitter named "Diana."
		Paul Anka takes a break during March 1960 appearance at the Sahara Hotel.

He's penned and recorded hundreds of songs since then, including "My Way," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder" and "She's A Lady." Anka has said one of his greatest accomplishments was just getting started in the mid-50s, at a time when it was difficult for young people to succeed in the music business.
		Paul Anka clowns with Sammy Davis Jr. while celebrating his 31st birthday at Caesars Palace, July 1972.


	"It wasn't fashionable; it wasn't acceptable," he recalled of that era. At the time Anka broke ground for a legion of young musicians, shoving the world into a new musical orbit. Anka made his Las Vegas debut in 1959, when, at the age of 18, he opened for Sophie Tucker at the Sahara Hotel. He has become an enduring megastar in this entertainment mecca, headlining the top resorts the past four decades. He recently signed a four-year contract to perform at the MGM-MIRAGE properties. He also has a long-term deal with the Hilton in Atlantic City and the Foxwoods resort in Connecticut. He won't disclose the numbers on his MGM-MIRAGE pact other than to say "It's a lot of money. I'm very happy with the deal." It's obviously a far cry from his early Las Vegas years, when he worked two shows a night, every night, often six weeks at a time, for $10,000 to $15,000 a week. "That was a lot of money back then, but it was really tough, tough, tough, tough," he said. Anka believes the growing number of flashy, eight-figure production shows are a part of Las Vegas' entertainment evolution. "In the mid-50s and '60s, you had a handful of hotels, and a demographic that really lent to top performers," Anka said. "You didn't have the money to put into the kind of shows we have today. As the town evolved, the hotels became the stars, the cake, and the performers just the cherry on top of the cake." Now, major resorts are investing megabucks in production shows unlike anything in the world, and it takes years to amortize those costs. "You've got incredible investments in shows such as 'Siegfried & Roy,' 'O' and 'Mystere,' " Anka said. "You've got an initial kick that's unheard of anywhere in the world, with $80 million to $90 million investments. Broadway doesn't come close to that kind of guts." Still, he's melancholy about the old days...reminiscing about getting started in the business as a kid...working the Sands when the Rat Pack was there...joining Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in dealing cards to surprised casino customers. He grew to know Sinatra in 1959 when the Chairman of the Board was forming a band of entertainers that would forever be known as The Rat Pack. The quintet -- Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford -- was formed to film Sinatra's movie, "Oceans Eleven." But their high jinks performances at the Sands would earn them a place in entertainment history. Anka spoke wistfully of working the Sands during the Rat Pack era. "They were a bunch of men acting like men and like children. Everyone knew what they were there for. Those guys, when they took the stage, were the funniest, the warmest, the saddest. Those guys put you in a mood within 10 seconds. You don't have that today. Knowing those guys, you learned a lot."

Does he miss that era? "I don't miss it because I had a part of it," Anka responded. "I'm a believer in going on. But I miss it because the fun stopped. Back then, that was the height of sophistication. I was the youngest and still learning. I was able to focus on it and learn. I was able to live it up and eat it up. It was overwhelming."
		Anka is shown in a recent performance.