That honor went to magician Rick Thomas and his tigers, who on May 14, 2010 collectively ended their successful two-year run -- a gig that the headliner had apparently taken somewhat reluctantly (he was quoted as protesting to a friend at the time, "But it’s the Sahara..."). Thomas’ 7 p.m. performance that night was the final act to take the stage in the legendary showroom that had debuted in 1952 with Ray Bolger, the scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz (the start of a five-year residency), and singer Lisa Kirk.
In the intervening years, the Casbar Theatre showroom and Congo Room lounge would welcome such entertainment giants as George Burns, Buddy Hackett, Don Rickles, Ann-Margret, Bobby Darin, Johnny Carson, Keely Smith and Louis Prima, Tina Turner, Marlene Dietrich, Mae West, and Duke Ellington, while the audience was often no less star-studded: The Rat Pack and Elvis were regulars, for example.
The final day of operations (at least in its historic incarnation; see "Today’s News" April 4 for an update) for the venerable Strip property turned out to be something of a damp squib. As we reported in "Today’s News" on May 17, when Anthony Curtis and Blair Rodman went over to pay their last respects the previous afternoon, they found that management had done "nothing to commemorate the casino’s closing ... games were buttoned up and only a single bar serving two brands of beer remained open. There was a big sign at the cage that read ’chips will not be sold.’ Crowds were sparse and they were padlocking some of the doors well before the announced 2 p.m. closing. It felt like they just couldn’t wait to lock it up."
