Fun Night

It was all done in the name of mental health. Sammy Davis Jr., wearing a Sitting Bull headpiece, chased Frank Sinatra across the nightclub stage waving a tomahawk and shrieking, "You call me paleface one more time, I scalp you." Milton Berle promised that a coming act would be Beverly Aadland singing, My Momma Done Sold Me, then paid tribute to Sinatra: "It's very gracious of Frank to take a night out of his sex life to be here." Starlet Juliet Prowse, who takes up much of Sinatra's life these days, writhed through a smoldering dance number. Marge Champion rode an elephant.

The occasion was the annual stomp-and-holler staged by SHARE (Share Happily and Reap Endlessly), a charity for retarded children run by 63 Hollywood wives. The bash was wet, gaudy and bawdy, although there were a few touches straight out of the Ottawa Hills, Ohio, High School Junior prom--such as pink and blue balloons, some personally blown up by the wives, which further confused the week-end-on-Venus decor of Hollywood's Moulin Rouge. Costume dress was optional, but most of the folks came in their work clothes--Gary Cooper in Stetson and Levi's, Barbara Rush in a remake of one of Mae West's old negligees.

The tab was $100 a couple, but the show would have been cheap at any price.

When Benny's daughter Joan played a squeaky violin, Jack grabbed the fiddle, bashed her over the head with it. When Sammy Davis imitated Dean Martin, a roar came from the wings: "How the hell can I be onstage when I'm still in the toilet?" Most of the humor came from the same direction; "Dino" sang: "Nothing could be finer than to shack up with a minor," and "I'm dancing with tears in my eyes because the girl in my arms is a boy."

For lagniappe. a Fiat, a chinchilla stole, and a week in Las Vegas were auctioned off. Benny bid $200 for the privilege of hearing himself accompany George Burns. Burns upped the bid to $500, on the condition that Benny keep silent. He played anyway, and someone threw a dime at him. Sinatra kicked ice cubes at the audience and got into a staring match with John Wayne. The gaiety, which could hardly have been surpassed at a Forty & Eight Fun Night, continued till 11 p.m.

By then most of the balloons had been popped, and some $125,000 had been collected. The show seemed over, but Frank Sinatra, who walked out with Starlet Prowse, could not resist an encore. In the parking lot, a car jockey drove too close to The Presence. Frank, concerned as ever to prove that he is no pip-squeak, pip-squawked: "Can you fight? You'd better be able to." A scuffle followed, and the attendant was taken to the hospital, but how well Frank can fight is still uncertain: according to the casualty, Frank's bodyguard did most of the work.

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