Word: circusing
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...scene took place in Las Vegas' Circus Circus, a new $15 million casino that manages to be gaudy and raucous even by the extravagant standards of the Strip. Inside, aerialists, unicyclists, jugglers, trained dogs and 15 clowns perform their acts right in the gaming room. And if that isn't enough distraction, there is also a carnival-style sideshow with dart games, a coin toss and an electronic shooting gallery for the kiddies. For the grownups, the sideshows are spicier. In one, a nearly nude girl bounces out of a bed and dances a quick Watusi whenever somebody...
...pack in the crowds with the lure of big-name entertainers, then leave the customers with nothing else to tempt them but gambling. Jay Sarno, 47, who two years ago opened the garish, pseudo-Roman Caesar's Palace, is trying a new approach. As principal stockholder of Circus Circus, he is counting on the casino's being so different that everybody who visits Las Vegas will have to stop in once out of plain curiosity. And if the carnival atmosphere drives off the high rollers, Sarno could not care less; Circus Circus is unique in charging...
...first month, Sarno's midway attraction seems to be paying off. Circus Circus has drawn an average of 15,000 people a day, including the woman who on opening day broke her leg sliding down a fire pole intended to convey guests from level to level (the pole is no longer in use). Some customers still grump at the amusements. "It's like Disneyland," said a restaurant manager from Covina, Calif. But most are enthusiastic. "It's just like when I was a kid," said Robert Locke, a retired steamfitter from Long Beach, Calif. Said Mrs. Sigmund...
High-Stakes Monopoly. Other casino operators are watching closely to see if Circus Circus is a foretaste of what is to come in Las Vegas. Owners are finding that, though gross gambling revenues are still growing (up 14.3% last year), their profits are being cut by what Sarno calls "the spiraling cost of customer attraction." A top entertainer like Frank Sinatra can command $100,000 a week; a production of Fiddler on the Roof costs $70,000 a week...
JERRY JEFF WALKER: MR. BOJANGLES (ATCO). A zestful romp of a first album by a 27-year-old graduate of the rock group Circus Maximus. The boundaries of Walker's country style are broad enough to take in rock, ballads and the blues. The Ballad of the Hulk, though a little long and repetitive, is an object lesson in how to protest without falling into a dreary drone. His targets include the Vatican, divorce and the draft ("I have but one country to give for my life"). The spirit is so infectious that even squares may applaud the lines...