{"id":305094,"date":"2023-12-31T14:00:47","date_gmt":"2023-12-31T20:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=305094"},"modified":"2024-01-01T11:50:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-01T17:50:18","slug":"legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97"},"content":{"rendered":"

Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year’s Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> he died of natural causes.<\/p>\n

\"Shecky
Undated 1970s Shecky Greene publicity handout. (Image: Shecky Greene)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Greene, along with Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett, were the undisputed king comics of the Las Vegas Strip from the \u201950s through the \u201970s.<\/p>\n

Greene told stories, sang, did impressions, and sometimes engaged in physical feats. Once, he did his act while hanging from the stage curtains.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Greene, shown in 1968, admitted in numerous interviews to suffering from addictions to alcohol and gambling, and from bipolar disorder and depression. (Image: Chicago Sun-Times<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Death Wish<\/h2>\n

One physical feat Greene regretted was drunkenly driving his Oldsmobile into the Caesars Palace fountains in 1968. It was the second most famous crash into those fountains after Evel Knievel\u2019s failed attempt to jump them on his motorcycle a year earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a bad habit when I got drunk, and I think it must have been a death wish — to get in my car and just drive,\u201d Greene told the L.A. Times<\/em> in 2005. \u201cOne night I drove 90 miles an hour down the Strip \u2026 and I hit this breakaway lamp at the entrance to Caesars. It went shearing across Las Vegas Boulevard, and I went right over the curb and into the water.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Greene told Hackett about the accident, his friend gave him the line that made it stage-funny. In Greene’s recounting of the story in his act, he made a request of the first cop to arrive on the scene: \u201cNo spray wax.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humble Beginnings<\/h2>\n

Fred Sheldon Greenfield — who only legally changed his name in 2004 — grew up on the north side of Chicago, served in the Navy during World War II, and enrolled at junior college to become a gym teacher. As a side hustle, he played small clubs around the Midwest.<\/p>\n

His Las Vegas break came in 1953, when he was asked to open for Dorothy Shay, \u201cthe Park Avenue Hillbillie,\u201d at the Last Frontier. Greene so blatantly stole the show, the resort held him over, as an opening act, for 18 weeks without Shay. Greene ended up opening for Xavier Cugat, and then the Freddy Martin Orchestra.<\/p>\n

On April 23, 1956, the Last Frontier flipped his slot with Freddy Martin and Greene ended up headlining over<\/em> Elvis Presley, who was booked only as a featured attraction at the end.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Shecky Greene performs at the Last Frontier on April 30, 1956. (Image: Las Vegas News Bureau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lounge Legend<\/h2>\n

Greene would play a unique part in shaping Vegas history by making Strip lounges cool.<\/p>\n

When Greene signed with the Riviera, it didn\u2019t have a slot in its showroom. So he volunteered to work in the lounge near the bar. Until then, lounges were the province of loser acts that couldn\u2019t draw a crowd, and crowds who couldn\u2019t afford a showroom ticket. The idea of a bankable star voluntarily playing in an open corner of a casino floor was unheard of.<\/p>\n

Greene\u2019s move drew overflow crowds to the Riviera lounge, and single-handedly made the Las Vegas lounge act the thing it remains today.<\/p>\n

When Greene moved his lounge act to the Tropicana, he convinced the manager of its bar to build a makeshift wooden stage for him. It was his performing home for five years.<\/p>\n

By the time Greene arrived at the MGM Grand in 1975, he was earning $150K a week.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Greene is shown in 2013, 10 years before his death. (Image: imdb.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frank Talk<\/h2>\n

Greene opened many times for Frank Sinatra. But unlike Rickles, he kept his distance socially, and for that reason, was never considered Rat Pack-adjacent. One night at the Fontainebeau in Miami in 1967, their strained relationship came to a head.<\/p>\n

Greene had been cast to play a thug in Sinatra\u2019s movie, Tony Rome, <\/em>and the two hung out in Miami Beach one night. Sinatra was in a bad mood and started a fight at the Stream Bar. When Greene, drunk, followed Sinatra back to the Fontainebleau Hotel, five of Frank\u2019s goons jumped him for throwing a punch at the wrong fellow.<\/p>\n

That story made it to the stage, too, after Greene made it funny with an ingenious preface.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrank Sinatra saved my life,\u201d Green told crowds. \u201cFive guys were beating me up and Frank said, \u2018OK, he\u2019s had enough!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a hell of a thing, after a 60-year career, being known for two things, the Sinatra joke and driving into the fountain,\u201d Greene told the L.A. Times<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year’s Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal he died of natural causes. Greene, along with Don Rickles and Buddy Hackett, were the undisputed king comics of the Las Vegas Strip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":305098,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3313,81886],"tags":[89324,86604,82044,89323,85677,23,82012,89322],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLegendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-31T20:00:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-01T17:50:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1111\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"797\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Corey Levitan\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Corey Levitan\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/\",\"name\":\"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-31T20:00:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-01T17:50:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09\"},\"description\":\"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg\",\"width\":1111,\"height\":797},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Las Vegas\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09\",\"name\":\"Corey Levitan\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-3-3-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-3-3-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Corey Levitan\"},\"description\":\"Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers gaming news on the US West Coast, including Las Vegas. Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city\u2019s history. (For \u201cFear and Loafing,\u201d he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.) Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post. Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook. Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corey-levitan\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org","description":"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org","og_description":"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2023-12-31T20:00:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-01T17:50:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1111,"height":797,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Corey Levitan","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Casino_Org","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Corey Levitan","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/","name":"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97 - Casino.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg","datePublished":"2023-12-31T20:00:47+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-01T17:50:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09"},"description":"Legendary Las Vegas comic Shecky Greene died at his Las Vegas home on New Year's Eve at age 97. His wife of 41 years, Marie Musso Greene, told the Las","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/handout.jpg","width":1111,"height":797},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/legendary-las-vegas-comic-shecky-greene-dead-at-97\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Las Vegas","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Legendary Las Vegas Comic Shecky Greene Dead at 97"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09","name":"Corey Levitan","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-3-3-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-3-3-96x96.png","caption":"Corey Levitan"},"description":"Corey Levitan joined Casino.org in 2022 after a long career covering Las Vegas. He currently covers gaming news on the US West Coast, including Las Vegas. Corey spent six years covering the Vegas Strip for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he also wrote the most popular humor column in the city\u2019s history. (For \u201cFear and Loafing,\u201d he tried out 176 Vegas jobs, including poker player, blackjack dealer and Follie Bergere dancer.) Corey has won more than 100 local, state and national awards for his journalism, which has also appeared in Rolling Stone, New York Magazine and the New York Post. Corey is a New York native whose hobbies include playing guitar, trying to be a better husband, and arguing with strangers on Facebook. Contact Corey at corey@casino.org.","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/corey-levitan\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305094"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/78"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=305094"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305161,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305094\/revisions\/305161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305098"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}