Features

Las Vegas declares Frank Sinatra day

By Lisa Snedeker The Associated Press
Friday December 07, 2001

LAS VEGAS — Fifty years after Frank Sinatra’s debut at the Desert Inn resort, the Chairman of the Board will be honored with his own day. 

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman announced Thursday that Sinatra’s birthday on Dec. 12 will be “Sinatra Day” in Nevada in recognition of the icon’s influence in shaping Las Vegas’ image. Sinatra would have been 86. 

“If anyone deserves his own day in Las Vegas, it’s Frank Sinatra, who epitomized all the best of Las Vegas style and cool,” Goodman said at a news conference. 

A new slot machine also was introduced by International Game Technology, “Sinatra Slots.” The dollar machine pays a progressive jackpot of up to $500,000 and features sound bites of Sinatra singing some of his hits, including “Fly Me to the Moon” and “My Kind of Town.” 

MGM Grand hotel-casino, one of the places the slot machine will debut, and IGT are sponsoring a free concert Dec. 11 starring Frank Sinatra Jr. 

“Sinatra Day” will be recognized by Las Vegas Strip hotel-casinos, which will display “Happy Birthday Frank” on their marquees, while the Bellagio fountains and the Fremont Street Experience will play musical tributes. 

As part of the tribute, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is releasing a CD that features the never-before-released song, “It’s Time for You.” 

The song was used with permission of the Frank Sinatra Foundation in a series of TV ads launched by the authority after Sept. 11 to promote the city. 

“To do the ’It’s Time for You’ campaign was a big decision. ... Do you move on from those images and start promoting Las Vegas?” said Tina Sinatra, Sinatra’s oldest daughter. 

“I wanted to make him part of this healing process,” she said through tears. “He was a man that when times were tough, went to work.”