VEGASREPORT FRANK MARINO SUCCESS IN HIGH HEELS

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1 The Business of Las Vegas Entertainment VEGASREPORT A DTE Publication US $8.00 NOVEMBER 2004 FRANK MARINO SUCCESS IN HIGH HEELS MERMAIDS SURFACE AT SILVERTON CIRQUE S MONGEAU: AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW SEX AND CULTURE: ALTERNATIVE MARKETING THE EVIL EMPIRE: FASHION ON THE STRIP VEGAS REPORT November 2004 Page 1

2 FRANK MARINO Page 22 VEGAS REPORT November 2004

3 20 Twenty years ago the famous Las Vegas Strip was a very different place than it is today. Headliners like Debbie Reynolds, Frank Sinatra and Diana Ross lit up the marquees of some of the biggest hotels in the industry. The Dunes. The Sands. The Hacienda. It was September 18, 1984 when a young female impersonator from New York began a six-month contract at the Riviera Hotel. Frank Marino came to Las Vegas after a chance encounter with comedian Joan Rivers in Atlantic City, NJ. Backstage, Rivers met Marino and told him that producer Norbert Aleman was looking for a Joan Rivers impersonator for a new show called La Cage. Frank auditioned, then was brought to Miami for the run of the show, where he was later seen by the executives of the Riviera hotel in Las Vegas. The hurdles for Frank back then still hold true today -- how to convince an audience that his show, although filled with female impersonators, could make any audience laugh. But Frank has proven over the past 20 years that La Cage, with him as star, could survive the changes in entertainment and continue to pack them in at the Riviera Hotel. A college graduate with a degree in business, Frank continues to do his own promotion of himself and La Cage. And with over 20 magazine covers, hundreds of cameo appearances in film and TV shows, and the self- proclaimed title of The Donald Trump of Drag, Frank Marino has proven to be a staple of the Las Vegas Strip. FRANK MARINO THE DONALD TRUMP OF DRAG VR: Tell me about the changes in entertainment since your arrival on the scene 20 years ago. MARINO: When I first got here there were maybe 10 hotels -- major hotels -- compared to what, 30 hotels now? And the shows were mostly headliners then, so I would look out my window--at the time I had a view of the strip-- and Iʼd see the marquees, Cher, Diana Ross, Sammy Davis, Liberace. And even the big shows like Moulin Rouge, would have a headliner, whether it be Charo or Jim Nabors. Nowadays Cirque du Soleil is taking over. I think we have an overflurry of Cirque shows. We are losing the headliners. And I think that is sad, because I, as part of an audience, prefer seeing headliners. VR: We are losing or weʼve already lost the headliners? MARINO: Well there are some hotels who keep them coming like Debbie Reynolds and Joan Rivers, for the first time in ten years on a marquee. So, some are trying to hold on to the headliners. But I think that the prices for these entertainers have gone through the roof so much that itʼs cheaper to put a production show with a hundred dancers than it is to have one headliner perform for the night. VR: You say Cirque is over-saturated here. Is that a negative? MARINO: Itʼs a negative although there are some shows that I love of Cirque. But when you try to stretch it and get everything you can out of it, it doesnʼt always come out right, in my opinion. The newest Cirque shows really are not to my enjoyment at all. The new ones are too mechanical and they are strectching to be avant-garde and exotic and itʼs just not something that I like. Zumantity is so over the top, is so hip, even I donʼt get it. VR: Do you think that the glamour of performing in Las Vegas has been lost? MARINO: Yeah, I think the major stars prefer to perform in arenas. Britney Spears is going to play a stadium, fifteen thousand per show, get it over with in one or two nights, rather than play 1-2 thousand people and play a full week. VEGAS REPORT November 2004 Page 23

VR: Youʼre originally from New York. How do you compare the quality of shows in Vegas compared to Broadway? MARINO: I think the quality [in Vegas] is actually better.

4 VR: Youʼre originally from New York. How do you compare the quality of shows in Vegas compared to Broadway? MARINO: I think the quality [in Vegas] is actually better. Because Vegas shows are going to be here for a long time. Whereas with Broadway you can come in one day and leave the next day. When you put so much money into one of these Cirque shows, itʼs going to last. So even if the show stinks and people are walking out, theyʼre going to keep that show around to make their money back. The entertainment director may be gone, but the show is going to stay. VR: Do you think itʼs harder to fill seats now or 19 years ago. MARINO: Nineteen years ago we would perform three shows a night and entertain over a thousand people without blinking. Nowadays, we do an average of 600 people a night but the prices went from $9.95 (and we threw in a prime rib dinner) to 65 dollars a ticket. So, weʼre probably making more money today but we did a lot more people then. Because of shows like Celine: A New Day and O taking up 4000 seats for Celine and 3000 seats for O, there are just a lot more places for people to go. VR: Do you think the prices are justified? MARINO: I think they are betting on the name and they are going to take a chance. And if it sells, it sells, if it doesnʼt they certainly arenʼt going to lower the price because thatʼll kill them. So, you start at a mediocre price and if the show gets real popular you are going to get over a hundred bucks. VR: In 1986 you were sued by Joan Rivers, do you remember how it affected your performance since then? MARINO: I was 20 years old and performing in Vegas, and I get Joan Rivers calling me at home. And sheʼs saying on the phone, I hear youʼre doing a TV show with Milton Berle. I just wanted to make sure youʼre not using any of my comedy material because I use it in my act. And I hear youʼre using my stuff in your show. And I said, Well Joan, Iʼm impersonating you. Iʼm not saying Iʼm a comedian and these are my jokes. Marino as Joan Rivers. Iʼm saying hereʼs my satirical version of my Joan River. And she tells me sheʼd rather me not do it. I told her not to worry, that Milton Berleʼs writers wrote the script anyway. And she proceeds to tell me when the show is done to take out all of her comedy out of my act. I come out on stage 17 times per night, what am I going to do? Iʼm a female impersonator, not a comedian. I took 80% of it out and the 20% that was in she still wasnʼt happy with it. I had no way to replace it. So she ended up suing me for five million dollars. People thought it was a PR stunt. I always make a joke, Thank god we settled, I was like 80 bucks short. I had the covers of everything -- the Enquirer, People Magazine. I had my fifteen minutes of fame. So these comedians were seeing that and they would all send me good jokes to use. Very Joan Rivers-style. And I actually built a repertoire off of stuff people were sending me. Then I sat down and figured out how to write a joke and what makes it funny. And now I only do Joan Rivers for the opening of my show. Zero percent of the jokes are her material. It is her style, but none of it is hers. The rest of my show I do my own exotic characters. VR: You want the name Frank Marino to be known. MARINO: I have a real problem ever since the lawsuit. Iʼm known as a celebrity impersonator rather than a female impersonator. And that was my goal to make Frank Marino a name rather than Frank Marino, the Joan Rivers impersonator. I really donʼt want to be Joe Schmoe the Elvis impersonator or be known as a celebrity look-alike. Iʼd rather be Frank Marino. I want to be like RuPaul is to music, Frank Marino is to comedy. VR: Why should Frank Marino get a star on the Walk of Stars? MARINO: Iʼm the longest running continuous headliner. Will I get one? Probably not. Let me bring up another point. I feel like Sammy Davis in the Rat Pack. Oh, youʼre part of the group. But take the back door. I feel like that because of the form of entertainment I do. Page 24 VEGAS REPORT November 2004

Even though I might do double the crowd of some of my fellow entertainers, and I might get a standing ovation, very few people give me the respect that I think I deserve because of what I do.

5 Even though I might do double the crowd of some of my fellow entertainers, and I might get a standing ovation, very few people give me the respect that I think I deserve because of what I do. Had I just been an entertainer like a Clint Holmes, or magician like Lance Burton it would be different. And again, this is just a feeling. There are some people who treat me terrifically. I wonʼt mention names but some people treat me great but there are some people I can tell are looking down their noses. VR: Do you think time will change that? MARINO: Not in my lifetime. Iʼve been here 20 years and it hasnʼt changed yet. Some of these performers just got here and theyʼre walking around like theyʼre somebody. Iʼve slept through some of their shows. But I put on a smile for them. Some of these performers wouldnʼt even think to come into my show. On one side it bothers me and on the other, when theyʼre paying my rent Iʼll worry about it. My goal is to make sure the audience is having a good time. I eventually want to be in Madame Tuseaux. You go to New York [Madame Tuseaux] and they have RuPaul. You go to London and they have Dame Edna. Why would you come to Las Vegas, have all the other headliners and not have Frank Marino? Itʼs fun to have the drag one. Iʼve been here twenty years already. VR: Do you remember what you made the first time you performed? MARINO: The first time I did drag in the nightclubs I was making $150 per hour and I was thinking I was Rockefeller. My first contract, in Florida, was for $2500 per week and an apartment. Then I came here [Las Vegas] it was $3500 per week and a condo. And then it just started going up from there. VR: Do you want to go to a bigger showroom? MARINO: I would love to go to another, only to grow. I love the Riviera, theyʼve been great to me for 20 years, but I would like to do a big show. Our showroom at the Riviera couldnʼt become what Iʼd want it to be because thereʼs not enough backstage room to do it. Again, I think because of the prejudice, other hotels are not going to be as open minded as the Riviera was for 20 years. Itʼs too bad because they donʼt see the money they could make....if you have that much surgery you re going to look like either Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson and I got the lesser of two evils. And the Riviera, I have to say, takes risks on a lot of things. With Crazy Girls, they were the first ones to have a topless revue to that extent. Norbert Aleman owns that one too. These entertainment directors think La Cage is a gay show. I would say like any other show, the percent of gay people is probably the same. Meanwhile, these other shows that have a hundred dancers, you want to take bet that thereʼs a lot more gay people in those shows than I have in mine. And I think because the open-mindedness of booking a show like mine would probably hinder it, going into a major corporate resort would be difficult. It would have to be a mom-and-pop, individually owned hotel like the Riviera to have an entertainment executive say, ʻThis is a fun show. People are going to enjoy it.ʼ Twenty years and weʼre still doing 600 people a night, Iʼd say our show is much better today than it was 20 years ago. Other shows that are around 18, 19 years have really deteriorated. You can see the dust on the feathers. I keep my show up to date. The producer keeps the show up to date. VR: When did you first meet Norbert Aleman, the producer? MARINO: Originally I was in Atlantic City, backstage with Joan Rivers. Joan Rivers was very nice to me and she told me theyʼre putting a show together [La Cage] with impersonators and theyʼre going to use a Joan Rivers as the MC. So I was introduced to them. I auditioned, went to Florida for six months, after that, the Riviera saw the show and brought it out for a six-month contract. Itʼs been resigned ever since. VR: Could the Frank Marino show survive in another city? San Francisco, New York City, Miami Beach? MARINO: I donʼt know. I will never find that out because I will never leave Las Vegas. Iʼd rather be a mailman or gardener in Las Vegas than an entertainer anywhere else. VR: How much merchandising is a major part of your income? We have a merchandise counter after the show. I split it with the producer. We are very big on programs and I would say that we do more programs than anyone else on the Strip for the fact that we do the boy and girl pictures. And after VEGAS REPORT November 2004 Page 25

people see the show they want to go home and say to everybody, ʻyou wonʼt believe what we just saw.ʼ And we have the bobble dolls, my book His Majesty the Queen, t-shirts, CDʼs.

6 people see the show they want to go home and say to everybody, ʻyou wonʼt believe what we just saw.ʼ And we have the bobble dolls, my book His Majesty the Queen, t-shirts, CDʼs. VR: Youʼre pretty open about your cosmetic surgery. Do you feel itʼs a necessity for the show? Iʼve had about 9 or 10 procedures. First I had a nose job as a teenager. Then the doctor made the mistake of telling me that maybe itʼs not my nose thatʼs too big, itʼs my chin thatʼs too small. He gave me a chin implant. Then I had cheek implants. All of a sudden it becomes addicting. Like people say. Never did anything age altering yet. I would, but not yet. And the reason Iʼm good at Joan Rivers is because if youʼve had that much surgery youʼre going to look like Joan Rivers or Michael Jackson. I got the lesser of two evils. VR: Your website says, the expression is show business, the last word is no accident. Frank Marino is definitely a business man. What makes Frank Marino a businessman? MARINO: Thatʼs what I went to school for. I was originally going to be a doctor. Midway through I switched to business. Iʼm better at business, better at making deals. Iʼm great at PR. Then I took that knowledge and incorporated into show business and made it a business. I took a very avant garde career, where most people who do what Iʼm doing work in little nightclubs and pick up 150 bucks, and turned it into a multi-million dollar career. Iʼm the Donald Trump of Drag. VR: Do you use a PR or marketing firm? MARINO: No, because they canʼt compete with me. Up to now I havenʼt used one ironically tomorrow I have a meeting with one. Because everything they could offer me, I can get on my own. If someone comes to Vegas and doing a show on the Travel Channel, youʼre going to want a magician, a singer uh, drag queen. So I always end up getting that call anyway. And at this point after twenty years Iʼve made friends with every magazine, on a first name basis, so if I have a product to promote, I can call them up and get some PR. VR: Does the Riviera help promote you? MARINO: The Riviera promotes us. But I take that promotion to another level. I wake up and itʼs insane. Iʼm on the phone every day with national people. To A&E, are you doing anything on Vegas? I will do that. Where I would bet that the Blue Men, and they are great, are not on the phone themselves doing PR. If someone needs me to do a project, just ask and Iʼll say yes or no. I donʼt need to go through John and Peter and Paul to get to me, then get the story wrong, and take three months to do what I could do in one yes or no answer. VR: Do you do any outside work? MARINO: For a while I never wanted to do outside work. And now, with Joan Rivers doing the red carpet thing, everyone wants to have Joan Rivers on Page 26 VEGAS REPORT November 2004

7 their red carpet entrance. So if you want to throw me 25 thousand dollars an hour, Iʼll be there. I did it one time and got spoiled. And I heard this is how other entertainers were making big money on the side so I called the corporate agencies and told them when they need Joan Rivers, I will do it. VR: How does the corporate market take to your show? MARINO: They donʼt realize that their employees are much looser than they would imagine. You know, letʼs-takeoff-our-ties type of thing. And thatʼs what goes back to these hotels in Vegas. And I might be wrong, when I feel that they wouldnʼt put the show in right now I was given the key to the city, although I think it s for the back door. because I think they think itʼs a little over the top for them. America however, likes to let loose and have a good time. As soon as I can convince these executives of that and that I donʼt have to climb up a pole with my feet to make them entertained, weʼll be fine. VR: Who pays the cast of La Cage? MARINO: I am just an employee. I am an employee with a big mouth that makes suggestions. The producer, Norbert Aleman takes care of everything. I go in and do my own marketing and I do suggestions. VR: How often is your cast replaced? MARINO: We never replace the whole cast. Weʼll do one replacement at a time. We have everything from a Britney Spears to a Judy Garland. So thereʼs something for everyone. And we get an audience from prom kids to senior citizens. For that reason we keep it mixed up. VR: Kenny Kerr MARINO: Who? [laughs] Did you get that? I said, ʻwho?ʼ VR: Compare your show to Kenny Kerrʼs show. MARINO: Good and bad. But I havenʼt seen it in a while since we voted her off the island. Actually I think heʼs a very talented entertainer. Itʼs just creative differences. VR: Who best represents Las Vegas? MARINO: Elvis. Because thereʼs no real Sinatra impersonator and thousand Elvis impersonators so itʼs got to mean something. VR: Tell us about your film shoot with Ms. Congeniality 2. MARINO: Itʼs Sandra baby and me. Thereʼs a big a period of time where sheʼs in my show. And Iʼm on stage doing what I do in the show. I play Frank Marino. Which was a very big thing for me. Because when they come to Vegas and do a movie you would see Siegfried and Roy, or Wayne Newton things that represent Vegas. So for her to call me Frank Marino and to think I was big enough to represent Vegas was, in my eyes, and honor. VR: Where do you see Frank Marino in five years? MARINO: Weʼve got a reality show weʼre working on called Showboys. Itʼs the cast of La Cage and me. Itʼll be about all the craziness thatʼs going on. I canʼt tell you whose got it but it would be network. And it would be much like FOXʼs The Casino, which I had an episode in too. VR: Where is Frank Marino in 20 years? MARINO: When Iʼm done with La Cage I will definitely give my own show a shot, the Frank Marino Show. And then it will answer all of my questions and ideas whether I was right or wrong. I only base all my opinions on the fact that for twenty years Iʼve been sitting outside the show every night, and Iʼve talked to literally every customer weʼve had. Iʼve gotten their input on what they did and didnʼt like. So if I put the majority of thoughts together Iʼm going to do the Frank Marino Show. VR A DRAG QUEEN S DREAM VR: How did you get the Bob Mackie gowns? Are they custom made for you? MARINO: I went on a vacation to Provincetown. I rented this guest house and there were two penthouses. When I got up there I drew the drapes on my balcony and I thought I was seeing things. There was Bob Mackie sitting there. He had the other penthouse. Well, there s the drag queen s dream to be locked with Bob Mackie for a whole week on vacation. And of course I went out there with some promo stuff for the show, and we ve been friends ever since. VEGAS REPORT November 2004 Page 27

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