1999-2010

Sunday, January 03, 2010

From Danny to Donny: Gans line lives on

Musical impressionist Danny Gans may be a distant memory in Las Vegas in 2010, but a little bit of his act and legacy live on thanks to Donny Osmond, whose sibling show with sister Marie at the Flamingo was produced by Gans and his manager Chip Lightman.

Las Vegas Sun entertainment columnist John Katsilometes mentions in another 2009 wrapup column that the crowd-pleasing Gans, who was guaranteed to bring the audience to its feet more than once in every show, gave his pal Donny am "awww"-inspiring line he uses every night:

"A line Danny Gans gave to Donny Osmond: When Donny is cheered during 'Puppy Love,' he says, 'I still got it.' Osmond still uses it in the show at Flamingo."

Katsilometes brought a new twist to the Danny Gan's death in an article published on December 23rd, in which Lightman contradicts the official police report that says Julie Gans told Henderson Police Detective Chad Mitchell that she suddenly awoke at 3:40 a.m. when she no longer heard her husband's snoring dialed 911 four minutes later:

Said Lightman:

"I get a call at 3:15 in the morning, and it’s Julie, his wife, and she goes, 'Dan is gone.' I’m like, 'What!?' At that moment, it was like I was dreaming. I didn’t think I was awake and on the phone, and then I go, 'What do you mean?' And she said, 'Danny died, Chip.' I’m saying, 'No.' She said, 'Call whoever you have to call and let them know, and I’ll talk to you later.'

"I asked, 'When did it happen?' She said, 'A couple of hours ago.'"

No Las Vegas news organization has yet followed up on the story. In fact, one prominent Las Vegas journalist suggested in an email that this out-of-state volunteer organization do the work they're paid to do:

"Nobody cares about Gans as much as you do... Why would you 'want' us to investigate it? If you're this big-shot investigative guy... and you're convinced there's a big story being covered up in a concerted, orchestrated effort by a daily newspaper, wouldn't you be trying to uncover and sell it yourself?"

Aside from the "selling," every "journo" in Las Vegas knows that's what we've been doing for eight months now...

No comments: