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i ■ INSIDE HOLLYWOOD By Herb Stein HOLLYWOOD, Calif., June 26.— Joe E. Lewis, King of the Night Club Comics, sent Jack Benny the following wire on the i ■ latter latters s niterie niterie debut aeDut at at latter latters s niterie niterie debut aeDut at at the Vegas Flamingo: "I dont muscle into your racket, stay out of mine, or I shall be forced to call No-Thumb Max.". . . CBS Jack Meyers wired Benny: "Im certain that after your appear-ance the Flamingos theme will be "Bennys from Heaven. "... Xiuinij Benny has xicUi not nut viuy only Xiuinij Benny has xicUi not nut viuy only brought thousands to the Flamingo, but every spot in town is enjoying the overflow. Youd think there was another Gold Rush. Even during shows at the Flamingo when its usually off-season for gaming, the tables are loaded with rollers who cant get in for the Benny performance. . . . Had dinner with Joe E. Lewis one night of bur Vegas visit. Hell be at Hollywood Park as you read this for a weeks visit before a playdate at the Riverside in Reno for Myrt and Lou Wertheimer. . . . Someone asked Joe E. why he didnt get married, settle down, have a family and leave someone to carry on the Lewis tradition. "Big deal," he answered, "but not for me. Just think of what would happen when I passed on. Id leave a wife and a six-year-old drunk.". . . Sinatra, who portrays Lewis in "The Joker Is Wild," has a framed picture of Joe with, an inscription below that* reads: "Our Founder." AAA Monte Pfbser now in L. A. casting his new Tropicana Revue for a September] opening. . . . Carol Channing goes into the top billing spot of the current Trop show July 8. . . . Charlie Baron, one of the main Trop owners, leaves the plushery July 1 for 15 days of reserve duty in the army at Camp Ripley, Minn. Hes a lieutenant colonel. . . . Charley Foy and spouse Sugar King leave after the Fourth for an extended tour of the East and Canada. Wont be back to these parts until at least October. . . . Arthur Godfrey no longer has his Wednesday night CBS-TV show. "Finally," says Alan Wilson, "after firing everybody else he fired himself." . . . This week CapitoJ Records releases -the Joe Frisco-Johnny Standley platter, "Mothers Tears" backed up by "Peter Piper.". : . Frisco says his next record will be "Rock. Roll n S-s-stut-ter.". . . Restaurateur Arthur Lyons bought the Palm Springs Palm House into .which hell probably move his Saddle and Sirloin. Overheard in Vegas — an irate "husband, on a losing streak, to his wife: "The only time I listen to you is when you keep your mouth shut!" . . 20ths Bill Smith goes to Vegas on "official personal business" every six months — to see his dentist. . . . Arlene Judge is in Vegas. Its either a marriage or a divorce. Who can keep track? . . . Jack Bailey was telling Jim Backus about the mounting prizes on "Queenfor a Day." "Who knows," said Bailey, "but that one day well be giving a queen either the Queen Mary or the Queen Elizabeth." "That might not be so easy," warned Backus. "You know how thosevCunard Line people are about breaking up a set." . . . Ernie Ford offered Dean Martin an LandM cigarette, promptly thumbed by Dean, who said: "That stands for Lewis and Martin. If it was an MandL, Id take it." A A A We are saddened, as is the entire town, over the sudden passing last week of Varietys Bill Brogdon, one of the finest gentlemen we knew ,in our years of covering the Hollywood beat. . . . Joe Schoenfelds obit on Bill was a Van Gogh of editorial writing. . . . Our 11-year-old daughter, Joan, joined us for a day in Vegas so we could take her to Hoover Dam. Asked how her flight was, she said it was pleasant because of a very nice girl who sat next to her. "Was she your age?" we queried. "No," she responded, "she was an adult. She was 17 or 18." A A A One of these days were gonna have to interview a fellow named Billy Curtis, a little man with a big job in Hollywood. Billy is four feet two inches tall, stands-in and is a stunt double for child actors. Hes been doing this since 1934 for such then-young actors as Mickey Rooney, Freddie Bartholomew, Bobby Driscoll and George "Foghorn" Winslow. Right now hes stand-ing-in for seven-year-old Kevin Corcoran on Disneys "Old Yeller." "These kids, they all grow up," says Billy, "but me. "Im 50 years old and havent varied an inch since boyhood." . . . Funny story of midget Billy concerns the time he was in front of the Hollywood Brown Derby passing the time of day with a circus giant, a guy about eight feet tall against Billys four-two. As they yakked, a gal came out of the restaurant garbed in a Hindu sari. Billy eyed her, then said to the giant: "Ya know, ya hang around here long enough and ya see the damndest sights!"
