Options open for drag show future

Do you follow the name or do you follow the star?

That's the question for any casinos interested in picking up the remains of "An Evening at La Cage," the drag show with 23 years of name recognition on the Strip.

The producer, Norbert Aleman, owns the title. But he put the Riviera production on ice last Monday, saying he will revive it if he sells a reality-TV series based on the revue. A pilot "sizzle reel" is being shopped by the producers of "Paradise Hotel."

The star, Frank Marino, doesn't want to wait that long. Marino has threatened for years to leave "La Cage" and produce his own show, and now is his chance. "I think people are sick of hearing me say it, so it's about time I try to do my own thing," he says.

Marino was first going to talk to the Riviera about staying in the same room. This column is written earlier in the week for a preprinted section, so a deal to keep Marino in the zebra-striped showroom might be in place by the time you read this.

Regardless, an odd possibility remains: One drag show closing because of tough times might actually result in the creation of two.

If Marino succeeds in establishing "Frank Marino's Ultimate Drag Show," Aleman would be starting over from scratch with nothing but the title.

But oh, what a title.

The past week's events bring an old grudge back to the forefront. It traces to the origins of "La Cage," a name invented by a playwright, Jean Poirent. Film buffs will know his 1973 title became the 1978 movie "La Cage Aux Folles."

Lou Paciocco saw the French movie one rainy afternoon in New York, and immediately converted his tiny steakhouse into his version of the movie's fictional drag club. It took off, and in 1981 he opened a 200-seat La Cage Aux Folles supper club in Hollywood.

"You can't even believe the reception," he says. "In America, drag was always kind of underground. I said, 'If we present the show with no cursing or sex, instead making it a fun show about drag, it'll work.' "

Paciocco began franchising "La Cage" everywhere, and agreed to let Aleman co-produce the show in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, where it landed at the Riviera in September 1985.

But Paciocco says he registered both "La Cage Aux Folles" and the variant "An Evening at ..." names, and prevailed in litigation from both the movie's distributor, United Artists, and its French producer. But on the day he instructed his attorney to renew the 20-year-old trademark, he discovered Aleman had beat him to the punch. "He was keeping track, that snake. He was keeping track of when my registration was due."

Paciocco no longer has a dog in the local race, but he's proud of what he did with the "La Cage" name over the years. Now he will sit back with the rest of us, and see how much value still remains in it down the road.

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.