Double Golden Anniversary
By Steve Funk
On Nevada Day, Harrah's at Lake Tahoe held a press conference to kick off “Unforgettable”, the golden anniversary celebration of the hotel/casino's trademark entertainment venue, the South Shore Room. On hand… The Smothers Brothers, Tommy & Dick, who brought their, still 'cutting edge', humor to the room that weekend and, who celebrate their own 50th Anniversary in entertainment in 2009. In the 40 minutes the brothers spent joking and remembering the many times they'd performed on the properties made world famous by the visionary Bill Harrah, it became clear why the South Shore Room, and the Smothers Brothers, deserve their iconic status.
Opened in December of 1959 to attract the droves visitors expected for the 1960 Winter Olympic Games in Squaw Valley, the room hosted the greatest entertainers of the day in high style, becoming 'the' place to see the biggest stars outside of Las Vegas.
At the same time, the Smothers Brothers were making their first professional appearance in San Francisco's historic North Beach nightclub, the Purple Onion. Over the years, before they first appeared as headliners in the South Shore Room in 1968, they played Harrah's less prestigious venues many times while building a career that would eventually include their infamously provocative late '60s TV hit, The Smother Brothers Comedy Hour on CBS.
According to younger Brother, Dick, “… of all the places we ever played, playing the South Shore Room was our first 'big deal'… this was like working the absolutely #1, best place for a headline entertainer anywhere. I remember being so impressed when we walked into the employee area… (amazed look) cleaner and nicer looking than a lot of 'good hotels' public areas!”
Tommy went on, “The way he (Bill Harrah) treated you! He generally paid you a little bit less, but he gave you the Rolls Royce, the Ferraris, the mansion, the staff, the cooks…”
“… you just felt so… rich …and so loved, when you worked at Harrah's.”
“He treated everybody like he treated his cars.” Tommy went on, “During the course of our career, when we were fired, and all the things that happened…”
“and that was quite a few times!”
“…yeah, I'm always getting us into trouble… I know… but it was Bill Harrah who always hired us, no matter what.”
“and the quality of the people... When we first started up here,” Dick remembers, “this wasn't a business where you just 'showed up'. Bill Harrah… the second largest employer in the state of Nevada… he (created) an all-inclusive relationship… and it was really fun!”
Now, on the 50th anniversary of their career, Dick begins with kudos to his older Brother, Tom.
“What made it all happen was my brother's passion for this business, and… there are certain people who… you think, they came out of the womb funny. Tommy is one of those guys. Even early on in our career, he had no reason to 'get the laughs'. One of the definitions of a really funny comedian is someone who gets the laughs between the ones that are written. He took me, his kid brother, because he wanted a good tenor and I was the best tenor he sang with, we were singers mostly… and then, life happened. It's been just an amazing ride.”
“but… he didn't get it! … My little brother… he bought a race car before he knew how to drive! He wanted to learn to fly, so instead of taking lessons, he bought a Tri-Pacer! …and then…”
“Before I knew anything about women, I married one…”
“he's right…”
“… and I've been doing that ever since. We lied about our age, by the way, I was 20 and working in the casino… enjoying the thrill of working a major casino and having my life really start here. We didn't have the perspective we do now. Back then, with four months in the business, to do five hour long shows a day, in a lounge, with no material, and still have people's attention…that was amazing.”
“…and nobody knew what to make of us, cause we had a funny name people thought was a made-up name. We had no material… and they didn't know why people were laughing… I remember there was a big band leader, and… he said something like, “we've been in the business so long… and them, with that funny name, they'll be a big hit and we're not? And he was right.”
“We… weren't planning, and I think that's why we're still here today.”
Cutting edge and political comedy is still a major part of The Smothers Brothers' act, but might not be, had it not been for Bill Harrah and the audiences that came to see them in Reno and Lake Tahoe in the late 60s and early 70s.
Tommy Smothers remembers, “When we were fired at CBS in 1969 (for their risk-taking 'too-hot-for-primetime' anti-Nixon political humor) all the jobs closed up for us in Nevada and no one would hire us, and it got… it got pretty desperate… because we were considered 'leftwing', nowadays called 'left-wing-liberal 'palling around with terrorists socialists'. Back then… well, a lot of similarities, 'tho it's more stark now. But it was Bill Harrah, even though he felt different than we did, politically… who didn't care. At Harrah's, no one ever treated us differently. They never changed their attitude toward the Smothers Brothers.”
Dick continues, “Now, to have this room open again… the greatest performers of their time thought of this as a crown jewel… and to have us back again, its like comfort food for an entertainer.”
It's a comfort for all of us in the audience, too.
The Brothers still do 80+ performances per year and soon they'll be doing four days with the National Symphony in the Kennedy Center before they return to Lake Tahoe in June 2009 for another “Unforgettable” show to wrap up the 50th anniversary celebration. In the meantime, classic South Shore Room stalwarts like Joan Rivers and Bob Newhart will share the iconic stage with more contemporary performers from Styx and Los Lobos to Colin Quinn and the Improv, Los Lonely Boys, and more. For the complete schedule and tickets online, logon to www.SouthShoreRoom.com.