Shecky Greene’s return to Las Vegas stirs up memories of Sinatra, Caesars

Shecky Greene returns this weekend to Las Vegas for three shows at the Suncoast, and if they're not already sold out they should be.

The mere announcement of his return generated calls from Greene's local fans reminding me of their favorite Shecky tales. It's a piece of comedy history that is called "the Sinatra story" and details how, in a roundabout way, Ol' Blue Eyes "saved" Greene's life.

Greene was tearing up an audience one night at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach when the subject of Frank Sinatra came up. He wickedly whittled away at the Chairman, but after the show found himself being used as a punching bag for some Sinatra sycophants in hotel security.

After a couple rounds, Sinatra comes up and says, "All right. He's had enough."

A dozen local fans of Greene have called to tell me versions of that story this week after learning their favorite funny man was making a return to a city that once saw him headline at most of the major Strip hotels. (As I understand it, most of that Sinatra story is true.)

Gambler Lem Banker remembers Greene in his wild, wild days, when the comedian was nearly successful at drinking Las Vegas dry.

"Shecky was a crazy S.O.B.," Banker says. "We all loved him."

I don't recall if Greene headlined at Caesars, but he did drive his car into a fountain there. He left the windshield wipers going.

"No spray wax," Greene says he instructed the cops.

He recalled the actual incident in a 2005 Murray Olderman article in Los Angeles Times Magazine: "I had a bad habit when I got drunk, and I think it must have been a death wish: to get in my car and just drive. One night I drove 90 miles an hour down the Strip -- which you couldn't do now, crowded as the Strip is -- and I hit this breakaway lamp at the entrance to Caesars. It went shearing across Las Vegas Boulevard, and I went right over the curb and into the water. The cops came, and I went. I told Buddy Hackett about it. He gave me the line about the spray wax, and I put it in my act."

These days Greene no longer drinks.

I'm guessing Caesars is eternally grateful for that.

I imagine that, just to be safe, the folks at the Suncoast will gladly give him the use of a hotel limousine.

HPD ISSUE: Henderson Police Department criminalistics administrator Rick Workman has been put on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation into whether public statements he made raising questions of bias have potentially damaged pending cases.

Workman, employed for nine years with the department, has been a leading advocate and fund-raiser for a new criminalistics building. In 2006, the Review-Journal reported the building would cost $37 million and provide state-of-the-art forensic capabilities.

One source familiar with Workman's troubles said his outspokenness not only has put him at odds with Henderson police administration, but potentially could be used by defense attorneys at trial in an attempt to raise the issue of investigative bias.

Dawn Jett, Henderson police employee manager, said he "was put on paid administrative leave while we investigate a personnel issue."

TIRE WORKS: After being scalded in a KTNV-13 Action News investigation into their business practices, Tire Works auto repair shop officers are fighting back. Not only have they filed defamation lawsuits in connection with the case (although none against the station or reporter Darcy Spears) but company CFO Roshie Weightman has taken the extreme measure of sending out a press release chastising the negative coverage.

The coverage includes a complaint filed against Tire Works by the Nevada Consumer Affairs Division.

ON THE BOULEVARD: Strip casinos have bid farewell to gambler Jeffrey "J.W." Edwards, a Georgia man who now finds himself charged federally with wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering in connection with a $7 million investment scam, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Las Vegas was allegedly one of his favorite places to play with other people's money. ... The recently concluded $482 million Bank of China fraud trial in Las Vegas ranked No. 3 on the FBI's Top 10 News Stories earlier this month. The defendants received sentences in excess of two decades in a case tried before U.S. District Judge Philip Pro.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith/.