Let’s talk about the time Frank Marino might have saved my life.
On Oct. 1, 2017, Marino hosted the wrap party for the U.K. TV series “Last Laugh in Vegas.” Nine British entertainment legends visited our city to prepare for “the gig of a lifetime,” a finale at Orleans Showroom. The five-episode series ran on ITV in the U.K. in 2018.
Marino and his husband, Alex Schechter, opened their Las Vegas home for a final hang. It seemed all of the Las Vegas entertainment community was there that afternoon, dozens of professionals on and off the stage. Former Mayor Oscar Goodman dropped by; I actually walked in with him.
My plan that day was to attend the afternoon gig and then high-tail it to the Route 91 Harvest festival at Las Vegas Village. The day strayed into the night. The group of show people took over Marino’s Steinway & Sons piano to sing famous show tunes, Rat Pack standards and “Viva Las Vegas.”
Off to the side, Marino pointed out my Route 91 media wristband.
“What’s that?” he asked. I told him, “I’m hitting Route 91 later. I want to see Jason Aldean.”
“I don’t know who that is,” Marino said. “But you’re not making it.”
He was right. Instead of attending Route 91 on Oct. 1, I stayed at the party. Then I headed home, where I would track the tragedy off-site.
That is one of many moments I have shared with Marino, an icon on and off the Strip for the past 41 years. His final “Divas, Drags & Drinks” show is to be Sunday at 24 Oxford at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, at 3 p.m.
Marino was originally brought to the hotel by then-President Cliff Atkinson, who left the resort in December and is now running Fremont Street Experience. His replacement, current Virgin Hotels President Lia Rispoli, says in a statement, “We are proud to have played a part in Frank Marino’s incredible legacy.”
With that, Marino is ending this phase of his stage career in his Joan Rivers persona, having dropped the specific references to Rivers about seven years ago.
Marino opened his career in 1985 at “An Evening at La Cage” at the Riviera. The late billionaire businessman Meshulam Riklis owned the then-regal resort, which seemed to run on a river of molten gold.
Marino happily navigated those rapids, as Rivers, at the very start of his career. He was rich and spoiled. This model of fancy gowns knew no other business model.
“In the beginning, to be totally honest, I took everything for granted, and it was a case of too much too soon,” Marino says. “Looking back, it was great money. Crazy money. But everybody was getting it. I didn’t realize it was crazy until later.”
Similarly crazy were the stars of the Strip who checked out Marino in “La Cage.”
“The celebrities that I met, I didn’t realize how cool that was to know Sammy Davis Jr. Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, all these people, right?” Marino says. “Liberace. I mean, literally, I would call him, and say, ‘Can we come backstage?’ He’d be like, ‘You don’t even have to call, just come back.’”
Marino says, “It’s just so weird to think about that now, I just didn’t realize how big it all was.”
Marino has spanned the high-salary era to the four-wall, room-rental hustle in his Las Vegas stage career.
After “La Cage” closed in 2009, Marino headlined his “Divas” show at Imperial Palace-Linq Hotel through the summer of 2018. He put his toe (in a high heel) in the water at the Westgate for a few months in 2022, for a drag bunch in the resort’s renovated high-roller room.
In his Rivers character, Marino fronted “Legends In Concert” at Tropicana from September to December 2019, returning for the production’s 40th anniversary in 2023, at the Orleans Showroom. He took the show to Laughlin’s Riverside Casino for a limited run, and staged it at Italian American Club. Marino’s drag bunches also popped into the now-closed D.W. Bistro at The Gramercy.
Marino has fought his share of battles over the decades. In 1986, he was served legal papers onstage at the Riviera from an attorney representing Rivers — while Marino was performing as Rivers in the opening monologue of “La Cage.” Rivers sued Marino for $5 million for copyright infringement, for using Rivers’ jokes in his show. The two eventually settled out of court.
The jokes were from a TV special hosted by comedy legend Milton Berle. Rivers saw the show and called Marino directly.
“She said, ‘I hope you’re not using any of my material,’” Marino recalls. “I had to sit for hours on the phone with her, going back and forth, which was very cool, looking back.”
Very cool, looking back. But don’t consider this the last of Frank Marino. I’m not. I know this headliner too well. This “Divas” show might be bowing out. But not Marino.
“I am looking forward to having my schedule clear, but I am thinking, right now, on what I can do with myself,” Marino says. “You know how Priscilla Presley talks about Elvis on stage? I could talk about how Sammy Davis Jr. was the first person to introduce me in a crowd, at Desert Inn, all those memories. I want to tell the stories of all the people I have known in Las Vegas, while I still have my wits about me.”
Cool Hang Alert
On the topic of legends … longtime Las Vegas entertainer Rene Hale’s “Las Vegas Legends” show is back at Red Rock Resort’s Rocks Lounge at 2 p.m. Tuesday (doors at 1 p.m.). Guests include The Composers Room headliner Julian Miranda; Chris Jason of “The Rat Pack is Back”; his entertainment-author wife, Joelle Righetti; and multi-faceted performer Sythe Cameron. Hale is also paying tribute to lounge legend Skip Trenier of The Treniers. No cover. This one is usually packed, so don’t dally.
John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section. His “PodKats!” podcast can be found at reviewjournal.com/podcasts. Contact him at [email protected]. Follow @johnnykatson X, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.