Still rooting for old Vegas

It was a week that had us looking back, and forward.

The Sahara’s closing was coincidentally timed with news that 85-year-old Jerry Lewis is giving up the marathon muscular dystrophy telethons he hosted there for years. Lewis plans to sing at the end of an abbreviated, six-hour version of the fundraisers that used to keep him up all night.

A pretty good crowd of people at Sunset Station last weekend were trying to see their glasses as half full. Actually, a lot of glasses were half full, after 74-year-old country legend Merle Haggard called it quits after performing roughly 45 minutes. People weren’t happy, but what were they gonna do? The tough ol’ buzzard did stave off lung cancer, after all.

And did we mention that 79-year-old Debbie Reynolds is auctioning off her collection of Hollywood memorabilia?

Sure, Las Vegas needs to live in the present tense. It absolutely must have Chelsea Handler working the Colosseum at Caesars Palace on Memorial Day weekend. Having 72-year-old Rich Little back on the Strip, in a limited run at the Riviera, is a symbolic nod to the old Vegas. But symbolism doesn’t sell tickets.

Some of us root for the senior class, though. The people we grew up with, in years when pop culture didn’t seem so disposable. Even 36-year-old Handler seemed aware (in an interview to run in Friday’s Neon) of the need to celebrate the moment.

“You don’t have to do the (stand-up) tour, you don’t have to do any of it,” she said. “But I like to deliver to my fans. I like to see them up close and personal and kind of give back, in a sense, for having a career in the first place.”

Who knows? Handler could roll on to Johnny Carson-like seniority with her talk show. But it will take too long to find out. The vodka will be warm by then, so instead toast the fact that 84-year-old Tony Bennett is due back in town July 24.

And Las Vegas has its very own George Burns: 89-year-old Marty Allen, who plans to introduce a new skit, where he will be Lady Gaga’s dad, when he subs for Louie Anderson at the Palace Station on June 14-18.

Allen saw 85-year-old Don Rickles both in the old days of the Sahara and recently at The Orleans. Allen says Louis Prima used to signal him to the Casbar stage to do a comic jitterbug.

“As long as I can go, I’ll go,” the comedian says. “The thing is, I feel good, and I work out every day.” When he goes to the gym to do his treadmill, people tell him he looks like Marty Allen.

At least they remember. They ask if he is retired. He tells them he’s still doing cruise ships. “We just got off the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.”

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.