Louis Prima (December 7, 1910 – August 24, 1978) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the 1950s, and a pop-rock band in the 1960s.
I have seen him in Vegas over the years when on occasional visits to the city. A visit to Vegas always included seeing Prima doing his lounge ace. Sam Butera was also a bit part of his act, as was Keely Smith.
In the late 50's, maybe even the early 60's, the story we got was that he and Keely split up, he had a new singer, and he asked Bill Harrah if they could do the lounge at Harrah's in Reno, and work on their new act. He did, and for a while, almost every morning we would stop by Harrah's and see Prima, Sam and the new girl doing their thing on the small stage there. There were great shows, pretty much "impromptu", a lot of ad libbing, and a whole lot of laughter. They were as "entertaining" as any shows I saw while out there.
Prima was Las Vegas. To me, in those days, Vegas was the DI, the Desert Inn, we are talking in the 50's, remember. As I recall there was an :intimate" lounge, and we spent a lot of time there. I forget the entertainers, but they were little known "up and comers," and were giving 100% to entertain and get ahead. Really entertaining acts. I think we saw Prima here a time or two.
Everyone played the DI, then, it was Vegas. None any better though than seeing them in Rano.
