'I used to come in and crack 2,000 eggs in a giant bucket for the morning breakfast service,' he remembers. When he was 15, he got a job working in the kitchen. 'My parents told me I was conceived there,' Hackett says. Thanks to his father’s 30-year connection with the Sahara, Sandy Hackett practically grew up at the hotel. His job was to recruit performers to play at the Sahara. The comedian was such a fixture at the hotel that he was given the largely ceremonial title of vice president of entertainment. 'It was the place for comedy,' says entertainer Sandy Hackett, 55, son of Buddy. Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin often could be found in the lounge watching their friend Don Rickles perform. Jerry Lewis hosted the muscular dystrophy telethon there for 20 years. George Burns, Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, Wayland and Madame, Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Johnny Carson, Louis Prima and Duke Ellington are just a few of the performers who appeared at the Sahara during the past 59 years.

Ray Bolger, the scarecrow from 'The Wizard of Oz,' served as the opening night entertainment along with singer Lisa Kirk. When those doors close, it will mark the end of a long and storied history in Strip entertainment, something that should be recognized and honored, Thomas says.ĭubbed 'The jewel of the desert' in 1952 by Milton Prell, the first owner of the Sahara, the hotel lived up to its nickname by showcasing some of the hottest talent in the world. But with his 7 o’clock performance tonight, he has the distinction of being the final act to play in the hotel’s showroom. Thomas’ two-year run has been successful, he says. … Those were the things that came to my mind.' You don’t want to move away from the center of it. 'And when you’re playing the Strip, it’s about positioning. 'I knew there had been (shows) that went to the Sahara and had challenges with succeeding,' Thomas says, explaining his initial reluctance. Once an entertainment powerhouse where some of the biggest, most famous names in show business paraded through the lounge and across the showroom stage, the Sahara has in recent years become a mere shell of itself, known for its less-than-stellar entertainment, if it was known for entertainment at all. Thomas took the gig - a Strip showroom is a Strip showroom, after all - but his sentiment illustrated just how far the hotel’s reputation has fallen since its doors opened in 1952. When a friend advised him to go with the hotel showroom option, Thomas summed up, in four words, the reasons why he shouldn’t: 'But it’s the Sahara.' Magician Rick Thomas faced a dilemma in 2009: Go on the North American tour he’d been planning for months or accept an offer to play the Sahara’s showroom.

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