{"id":329028,"date":"2024-08-28T11:01:52","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T16:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=329028"},"modified":"2024-08-28T13:29:03","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T18:29:03","slug":"lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/","title":{"rendered":"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Frank Sinatra appears on the first episode of “The Frank Rosenthal Show,” which was taped in the showroom at the Stardust Resort and Casino in Las Vegas from 1977-79. (Image: Las Vegas News Bureau)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such a thing as \u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show.\u201d Taking the idea of hiding in plain sight to the height of WTF,<\/em> a mafia associate not only refused to hide from the spotlight, but hosted his own TV talk show?
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

A Frank Assessment<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Frank “Lefty” Rosenthal is photographed following a March 19, 1971 Vegas arrest for illegal gambling. (Image: Clark County Sheriff\u2019s Department)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Frank \u201cLefty\u201d Rosenthal ran the Stardust from 1974 to 1978 — as well as the Fremont, Marina and Hacienda casinos in Las Vegas — without possessing a gaming license.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the secret owner of these properties was the Chicago branch of the mafia. Its bosses installed Rosenthal because he was also in charge of the illegal skim operation that netted the mob at least $1.6 million — and probably many times more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the \u201950s, Rosenthal purchased contracts to fix sporting events, earning multiple sports-bribery indictments. In 1963, he pleaded no contest to bribing a New York University basketball player to shave points. And he was a suspect in multiple business and car bombings in Miami in the \u201960s, which is allegedly why he fled to Las Vegas in 1968 in the first place.<\/p>\n

Actually, there was a method to the madness of Lefty\u2019s TV show. He used it to prove to the Nevada Gaming Commission that his presence at the Stardust, where the show taped, consisted of something other than running it for the syndicate.<\/p>\n

\n

This is portrayed accurately in Martin Scorsese\u2019s 1995 film \u201cCasino,\u201d which shows Sam \u201cAce\u201d Rothstein (Robert De Niro\u2019s barely disguised Rosenthal character) interviewing the real Frankie Avalon for his “Aces High” TV talk show, shortly after being denied a gaming license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

For several reasons, however, \u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d — which aired on KSHO-TV,<\/em> the ABC affiliate that became today\u2019s KTNV-TV — didn’t fool anyone.<\/p>\n

A Whole Host of Bad<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Frank Rosenthal, his wife Geri (portrayed by Sharon Stone in “Casino”), O.J. Simpson, and “The Frank Rosenthal Show” announcer Judy Angels pose on the set following Simpson’s interview. (Image: frankleftyrosenthal.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First off, Rosenthal was the worst talk show host who ever lived.<\/p>\n

This isn’t just an opinion. Stiff, uninformed and uniquely unfunny, Rosenthal never failed to achieve boredom immediately out of the gate. Go ahead — try to watch one of the show episodes uploaded to YouTube<\/a> in its entirety. We\u2019ll wait\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

See? We tried warning you.
\n<\/em>
\n\u201cWokay, now what do you want to do, Frank?\u201d Don Rickles said during the first of many lulls on Rosenthal’s Nov. 27, 1977 episode. Turning to the crowd, the legendary comic then offered, \u201cI\u2019ll give you 500 dollars to get me off of this!\u201d<\/p>\n

It wasn’t only Rosenthal\u2019s cardboard personality, but also the show\u2019s high school AV club production values that made New York\u2019s similarly unprofessional yet charming \u201cThe Joe Franklin Show\u201d look like Carson in comparison.<\/p>\n

Even the talk show that Kramer hosted in his living room on \u201cSeinfeld\u201d was better.<\/p>\n

Famously Suspicious Guests<\/h2>\n
\"\"
Rosenthal interviews Liberace with the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d showgirls — who were already in the showroom and dressed for their show later that evening — as a backdrop. (Image: frankleftyrosenthal.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was the incongruously high profiles of this literal shit show\u2019s guests that kept its viewers coming back for more each week.<\/p>\n

Somehow, Liberace, Bob Hope, O.J. Simpson, and Sammy Davis, Jr. all ended up granting Rosenthal interviews.<\/p>\n

The \u201csomehow\u201d part no doubt was another reason gaming officials — who by 1988 included Rosenthal in their \u201cblack book\u201d of people banned from every Nevada casino for life — didn\u2019t buy the charade.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Especially since Rosenthal\u2019s choice of a first guest for his very first show was Frank Sinatra, the man whose friendship with Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana cost him his relationship with John F. Kennedy and his casino license for the Cal-Neva Lodge.<\/p>\n

By the way, anyone who tells you they saw Rosenthal interview Sinatra on that show is either mistaken or lying.<\/em> The only witnesses were the couple of hundred people who attended the taping on Aug. 22, 1977.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s because, seconds after the opening, the VCR that was playing the prerecorded tape broke.<\/p>\n

All viewers saw for most of the hour was a \u201cOne Moment Please\u201d sign, according to Mike Weatherford\u2019s 2001 book, \u201cCult Vegas.”<\/a> And, for whatever reason, no attempt was ever made to re-air the episode.<\/p>\n

\n

Sinatra did appear on a later Rosenthal show — alongside Rickles in the very same episode from which we quoted the comic earlier. The clip<\/a> is actually hysterical, but not<\/em> because of Rosenthal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cJust do what you\u2019re told,\u201d Rickles laid into the host. \u201cRead the lines, what it says on the sign: \u2018Help me, I am a dummy.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLost Vegas\u201d is an occasional\u00a0Casino.org<\/em>\u00a0series spotlighting Las Vegas\u2019 forgotten history.\u00a0Click here<\/a>\u00a0to read other entries in the series. Think you know a good Vegas story lost to history? Email corey@casino.org.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such a thing as \u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show.\u201d Taking the idea of hiding in plain sight to the height of WTF, a mafia associate not only refused to hide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":329031,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3313,81886],"tags":[92166,13363,90180,89323,87053,85677,23,86040,92165,13765,82255,84796],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such\" \/>\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\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/\" \/>\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=\"2024-08-28T16:01:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-28T18:29:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1111\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"862\" \/>\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\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/\",\"name\":\"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-08-28T16:01:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-28T18:29:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09\"},\"description\":\"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg\",\"width\":1111,\"height\":862},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#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\":\"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show\"}]},{\"@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":"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org","description":"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such","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\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org","og_description":"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-08-28T16:01:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-08-28T18:29:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1111,"height":862,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.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\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/","name":"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show - Casino.org","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg","datePublished":"2024-08-28T16:01:52+00:00","dateModified":"2024-08-28T18:29:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/281fd7b5480c9afb75e84ffb75039f09"},"description":"\u201cThe Frank Rosenthal Show\u201d has gained legendary status since airing on local Las Vegas TV from 1977-79. In fact, the mind boggles that there was ever such","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/sinatra-and-lefty-lv-news-bureau.jpg","width":1111,"height":862},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/lost-vegas-the-frank-rosenthal-show\/#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":"LOST VEGAS: The Frank Rosenthal Show"}]},{"@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\/329028"}],"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=329028"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329028\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":329075,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329028\/revisions\/329075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/329031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=329028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}