SINATRA AT THE SANDS

Once upon a time in the 60's, a friend of mine went away for a week and asked me to take care of his car and to use it.   Well New Year's Eve was coming up so what would U do??

I drove to Las Vegas with three lady friends, Dorothy, Rosemarie & Janay and since we thought we were driving through the desert at night, we figured it must be very hot so we dressed accordingly, shorts, tank tops, etc.

And of course it was freezing.  I ended up wearing Janay's turban on my head and her long black evening gloves to keep me warm.  Please no drag comments, it was really cold.   When we arrived in Vegas, we discovered that I had accidentally opened the vents in the car, letting tons of ice cold wind in.

However we were young and we were in Las Vegas for the first time.  And it was almost New Year's Eve.   That night we were walking around all the casinos and it was heaven.   I found a crown...that's right...a crown on the floor of one and immediately crowned myself...King Richard.   Where else would a king go...The Sands where Sinatra was holding court.  Frank (always called him Frank) was not only singing there, he was walking around the poker tables.   When he spotted me with the crown, he yelled across the room to the dealer.  "Hey Joe, see that guy in the crown, deal him in, he's a personal friend of mine."  I looked around to see the guy in the crown and it was mois.   Joe (always called him Joe) would show me a card and and asked if I like it.  No... how about that one?"  In other words, I was winning and so was everyone else.   The place was jumping!   Now in typical McInnes naivete, I was bidding a buck at a time while others were betting 10..20 bucks.   My pal Rosemarie, a feisty little Italian from Brooklyn made a bet just as they stopped the fun games and her dealer wouldn't give her the money she won.  Said, "Hey, he was giving it away.  Be happy with what you got".   She replied "I don't care what he was doing, I bet it, I won it and I want it!"  He wouldn't budge so Ro spots Frank with a gaggle of ladies at a table and she walks over to him.   You read right....saying "Frankie Machine (his name in Man with the Golden Arm) I wuz robbed ".   And told him her tale of woe.  He asked for her chips and gave her cash plus the $20.  Ro told him she didn't want his money, she wanted their money to which Frank replied, "Don't worry baby.  I'll take care of it".  We left Vegas with money in our pockets.

True story and one of my most memorable moments.   A tip of the hat to thee, Mr Sinatra.  By the way we made back to L A and had the heat on this time!