Wayne Newton has made a career parlaying an unsolicited role as a high-voiced showbiz freak of nature into that of a finger-snapping crooner known as “Mr. Las Vegas.” As a ten-year-old, he was playing steel guitar and singing with Grand Ole Opry traveling shows. Then, Newton caught the world’s attention as a charismatic 21-year-old heartthrob who sounded more like a woman than a man. He also became a target for Johnny Carson’s relentless jokes aimed at Newton’s sexuality. The feud with Carson went deeper, however. Newton bought the Aladdin Hotel and Casino a couple of months after Carson’s offer had been rejected in 1980. NBC reported that Newton’s purchase of the Aladdin had been financed by organized crime. Newton sued NBC, winning a libel suit to the tune of $19 million, but in 1990 a circuit court overturned the ruling against NBC. Newton spoke with Black & White before his April show about the libel suit, bailing Dana Plato out of jail, dating Elvis Presley’s girlfriend, and threatening to beat up Johnny Carson.

	“I had a country music background, and I had a bit of a ‘50s and ‘60s rock background. That’s why Bobby Darin was such an inspiration to me, because he moved out of rock into a mini-Sinatra kind of bag.” (click for larger version)

B&W: I was surprised that you started out doing Grand Ole Opry touring shows.

Newton: I started in show business at the age of six, and I had a local radio show in Roanoke, Virginia, on WDBJ before going to school. And then I would do weekends in Bristol, Tennessee, and Roanoke and other towns with a traveling road show of the Grand Ole Opera [sic].

B&W: I don’t usually associate the Las Vegas-style Wayne Newton with Hank Williams, Kitty Wells, Little Jimmy Dickens, and the Carter Family.

Newton: (Laughs) All my roots, musically, were well embedded in country music. It’s wild, because most people don’t think of me as country music, when in fact, the first instrument that I learned to play was steel guitar. That was before they had “pedal” steels (laughs).

B&W: Didn’t you turn down a headlining spot in Las Vegas to remain as Jack Benny’s opening act?

Newton: I was Mr. Benny’s opening act for five years. I was in Australia, and he came to see my show and invited me to see his matinee the next day in Sydney. He invited me backstage and asked if I wanted to be his opening act. I said, “Absolutely.” He gave me the opportunity to finally headline. I turned it down because I wanted to spend another couple of years studying with him. It’s those [old-school] guys who really ingrained a kind of, not only philosophy of performing, but certainly a philosophy about how to treat an audience. And when you’re not on stage, also how to treat an audience.

B&W: How has the proliferation of casinos across the country affected Las Vegas in terms of it remaining a tourist destination point?

Newton: It’s pretty interesting. Let me liken it to when Elvis, Frank, Dean, Mr. Benny, Mr. Burns, Sammy, and Bobby Darin were all alive and appearing in Vegas. People would ask me if it bothered me that all the other acts are playing here. I would say no, because one would draw a huge crowd of their own fans. And then, of course, those fans would go to catch other shows. So instead of it being that having gaming opening in other places diminishes the appreciation of Las Vegas, it’s worked exactly the opposite. The more [patrons are] inducted into the legal gaming atmosphere, the more Vegas is appealing to them. Everybody thought when Atlantic City opened up to gaming, that would really hurt Las Vegas in terms of the East Coast gamers. But it didn’t; it just helped. And I think that’s why Vegas is what it is today, because people have been introduced to gaming in a legal way without worrying about being cheated and that kind of thing, and that kind of mystique it carried with it for so long.

B&W: Why was Bobby Darin such an inspiration to you?

Newton: Bobby was the hottest thing in the country when I was coming up. I was at the lounge at the Copacabana in New York when I got my first break on “The Jackie Gleason Show.” I was a bag fan of “Mack the Knife,” and I was a big fan of “Dream Lover” and “Splish Splash.” We moved to Arizona for about six years; I really started moving out of country music then because the demand for Elvis was hot, Bobby Darin was hot. There was no demand for country singers playing steel guitar, so that’s when I started picking up the other instruments and started doing kind of a rockabilly-type music. That’s when I switched from steel guitar to lead guitar, frankly, just to keep working. When I started in the lounges here [in Las Vegas], I was 15, and we’d do six shows a night, six nights a week. You can’t sing that much; I don’t care who you are (laughs). So I kept developing the instruments in order to give my voice a rest. It was interesting, because when I came up here I had a country music background, and I had a bit of a ’50s and ’60s rock background. That’s why Bobby Darin was such an inspiration to me, because he moved out of rock into kind of a mini-Sinatra kind of bag. So he came into the Copacabana when I was in the lounge there. He had seen me on the Gleason show, which I didn’t know. He summoned me to his table, and he asked, “Are you recording?” I said no, and he replied, “Well, you will be by next Thursday.” So he was the first one to take me into a recording studio and gave me the kind of material that I ultimately ended up recording.

B&W: Did you think Kevin Spacey did a good job portraying him?

Newton: Well, it’s really tough . . . Kevin came to see me about a year before he made the film just to talk about Bobby and get an insight into Bobby as a human being. [The film] didn’t work for me, not because Kevin didn’t do a good job, but I felt it was more a showcase for Kevin’s talent than it was any kind of autobiography of Bobby because there was so much of it in the film that was not true and did not happen. So it’s tough for me to watch films like that. It was tough for me to watch films about Elvis. It was tough for me to watch the Johnny Cash film for the same reason. I knew all those people and they were friends of mine. And, of course, I saw a whole different side of them than maybe some of the rest of the world did.

B&W: Did you meet Elvis in Las Vegas?

Newton: No, we met when I was doing “Bonanza,” and he was filming on the Paramount lot at the same time. As it turned out, we were dating the same girl and didn’t know it (laughs). I was on the plane after my shooting, headed back to Vegas. He was on the same plane, and the seat next to me was empty. He got up and came over and sat down. I was a big fan of his, so it was a great thrill for me. He asked if I knew this particular girl and I said, “Yes, as a matter of fact I do. We’ve been dating.” And he said, “So have we.” So we both started to laugh and we both quit seeing her for the same reason. We remained really close friends from that point on. When I was nine, I auditioned for Ted Mack ["Ted Mack Amateur Hour"]. Elvis auditioned also, and both of us didn’t make the cut (laughs).

B&W: You posted Dana Plato’s ["Different Strokes"] bail when she was arrested?

Newton: I had never met her, and I was home watching local news, and it came on that she had been arrested, and the commentator said that no one had posted bail. Here is a young lady who is going through a tough time in her life and has made a million dollars for a lot of people, and none of them cared enough to even bail her out of jail. So I called my manager and told him to put up the bail for her. I don’t think she deserved that. We did meet afterwards. Then of course she went on her way, and continued the ways that ultimately led to her demise.

B&W: What was the outcome of the libel case with NBC?

Newton: Well, it was overturned in the Ninth Circuit in California, which is the most liberal court in the United States. There have been more overturnings of their overturnings than any other court in the United States. Once they overturned it, [the case] which [spanned] ten years, I’d had enough at that point. I felt that I had been vindicated for what they had said that I was guilty of. They really couldn’t make up their mind what I was guilty of. NBC was doing a favor for Johnny Carson. And what they were attempting to do was ruin my ability to be licensed. If that happened, the deal [to buy the Aladdin Hotel] fell back to Johnny Carson. At that point in time, I think he [Carson] represented 18 percent of their [NBC's] income.

B&W: Did you really threaten Johnny Carson face to face because he was making fun of you?

Newton: Yes, I did. I had done the Carson show many times. I walked in Carson’s office, and seated with him was his producer Freddie DeCordova. I said, “Mr. DeCordova, would you please excuse us.” And he got up and left, and I closed the door. And Carson’s jaw dropped and I went into a little speech about how many people I had tried to get him to stop that kind of nonsense because it had no basis in fact at all. And I just wasn’t going to put up with it anymore. I physically threatened him, and I meant it. I said, “If you don’t believe it, let’s just get it on now.” And he started babbling and muttering, and he said, “Wayne, I’m your biggest fan.” I said, “Don’t give me that crap!” I didn’t exactly use that word, but I think you can read between the lines (laughs). And then he said, “Well, you know I don’t write that stuff.” So that ended the malicious jokes about me. He never did it again.

B&W: Didn’t you play the Carson show after that?

Newton: Yes, but not when he was there. If Jerry Lewis was hosting, or if Mr. Hope was hosting . . . I preferred not to do the show when he was there.

B&W: Hanging with the Rat Pack bunch in the 1960s must have been fun.

Newton: Those guys, as much as they were party animals and enjoyed what they did on stage and the way they did it, the truth of the matter is that they were consummate professionals. It is true that they would do two shows a night and party for the rest of the night, and then jump on a plane and go to Utah to make a film. But that’s hard work, I don’t care what anybody says. &