I will talk a bit about the remark I made about the Howard Hughes line in Sinatra's poem/song. It was done at the opening show of a run here. At these shows there is a lot of invited guests. Usually invited by Sands publicity office or Jack or Frank himself. These opening shows are interesting because it is then he will usually talk a lot or get some things off his chest or do some introductions of people for publicity or personal reasons. It was quite a honor to be invited to a Sinatra opening at The Sands. A lot of Hollywood people love to be invited to these. So because there is "press" present, it can get interesting.

At these openings I would stand in the back to see what Frank would do or say.

So to the Hughes line in the song:
    When I get the blues now
    I do like Howard Hughes now
    Entratter, stay away from my door.

It was just saying, that now if Frank is lonely or down he will lock himself up and even Entratter couldn't get to him. It was all done in jest.

Two interesting thing to know. One- it was probably written by Sammy Cahn. In anything he wrote for Frank at the Sands it always had Entratter's name in it. Entratter was the really big power here. He decided which entertainers worked and with who and if they got rooms and how many, etc. He determined the size of the names on the sign out front. And to entertainers, that was a big thing. So everyone treated Jack with a special respect. A successful Vegas run would determine what you could demand in the nightclubs around the country.

Second thing - Howard Hughes and Sinatra were at times both going after the same girl. Their styles were so different. Frank would invite a girl here and we would set her up in a suite and she would be Frank's guest for everything. We would be instructed to comp all rooms, food and beverage. She was never presented with a check, anywhere. She could come in to the casino and walk to a table and we gave her chips to play with. So everything done out in the open.

Now Hughes was a odd fellow. He would book a set of rooms under some name, always in the back at Churchill or Aquaduct and some very pretty girl would usually show up. She was to stay there till he got there. And many times he never showed. If he showed, it would be during the night and he would sneak in and never show his face. Room service would not even be allowed in. No one.

That's what Sinatra meant when he said that line in the song.

There were times when both Sinatra and Hughes were at the Sands at the same time. There was a time when both were after Ava Gardner. There was a time when she was here with Hughes and yet be seeing Sinatra at the same time. Ava was not (in my opinion anyway), the sweet girl that Frank though she was. She was a player, but Frank looked at her like a goddess. Hell she wasn't faithful to Sinatra or Hughes. But he married her anyway.

And maybe it can be told that there were times when that girl waiting in that room for weeks for Hughes to show up would finally open the door for Frank. So many times...

He eventually found out about Ava and Hughes and it tore his heart out.

So in 1967, who buys the hotel but Howard Hughes and changes all the rules and we find Frank Sinatra being turned down to get chips at the table. I know, I was the one on day shift that first had to say no to him.

So when you hear about that fight with Carl Cohen and Frank losing it, remember this was the man who helped make the Sands into what it was, and is now being turned down for credit in his own casino.

This proud man had been brought to his knees by Ava and now again by this fucking hermit.

So there a lot of baggage between these two, Sinatra and Hughes.

I worked for them both. There is no comparison.

Sinatra was a man of honor and a professional. He was one classy son of a bitch. It was a privilege to work for and with him.