Elvis alive and well and dealing at Palace

By BILL ORDINE Knight Ridder Newspapers

Sunday, October 5, 2003

So, you're sitting at a blackjack table and you've had so many losing hands, you're convinced they should rename the game 24. But what if the dealer sympathetically raking in your money was, say, Marilyn Monroe, or Cher, or even the King himself, Elvis? Would losing be at least entertaining, if not fun?

The Imperial Palace in Las Vegas, a casino that introduced celebrity impersonator dealers earlier this year is sure of it.

"On a Friday or Saturday, 500 people are waiting for the celebrity dealers," said Craig Garland, the Imperial Palace's casino manager, who came up with the idea.

The impersonator dealers hit the casino floor in true Vegas fashion, with lots of noise, flash and schmaltz. With the Blues Brothers' song, "Everybody Needs Somebody," pounding away, Jake and Elwood look-alikes cartwheel through the pit; Elvis arrives with a cocktail waitress on his arm; and Barbra Streisand escorts Ray Charles to his table. Soon the place erupts into "Viva Las Vegas" and the tourists are filling up the seats of the Legends Pit.

So far, the Imperial Palace has had 16 impersonator dealers working 6 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursdays through Sundays. The casino plans to go daily soon with the celebrity mimics and add several more characters to the 16-member cast, which already includes Madonna, Rod Stewart, Patsy Cline, Buddy Holly, Roy Orbison and Elton John in addition to Elvis, Marilyn, Cher, Ray and Barbara.

"People have always come to Las Vegas for two reasons -- gambling and entertainment," Garland said. "Now, you can keep those two things separate or find a way to combine them."

The celebrity impersonator blackjack games are dealt in what is known as the Legends Pit, which is outfitted with a pair of refurbished antique Wurlitzer jukeboxes. The idea is a spin-off of the casino's long-running Legends in Concert tribute show, which includes some of the same entertainers who are impersonated on the casino floor. To staff the Legends Pit, Garland first recruited entertainers, then taught them how to deal.

To keep the action from becoming too tense, the game dealt in the Legends Pit is relatively low limit with a minimum bet of $5 and a maximum of $500, and the rules are similar to most Strip casinos.

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