Tropicana learns lesson in business

Something just never seemed right about it.

The Tropicana was doing a lot of things right in its much-touted makeover. If you can overlook the quiet bulldozing of a historic pool area, it has shown Las Vegas how to give a faded property new life instead of imploding iconic casinos and starting over.

But last fall brought curious news that the hotel's Tiffany Theatre would be leased to an independent operator named Jay Bloom. Bloom's Eagle Group Holdings also was the company behind the Las Vegas Mob Experience attraction in another area of the hotel.

The rest didn't add up. Who was Bloom? A website still promoting a 2007 real estate seminar cites his background in "commercial investment banking" and "numerous entrepreneurial ventures." A March release from the investment firm Strategic Funding, which put $4 million into the Mob attraction, called Bloom "a former JP Morgan Chase investment banker."

We do know this: Bloom was fired in late 2006 for allegedly bungling a photo concession at the V Theater in the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. "He owed everybody money," from employees to vendors, says theater operator David Saxe.

The announcement that Bloom would book as many as six shows for an all-day operation at the Trop was so close to the V Theater model that Saxe called Bloom "Incrediboy," after "The Incredibles" sidekick who is spurned by his hero and turns bad.

Bloom promised to "increase the size of the pie," selling tickets to a new market segment he would not identify. Saxe now believes the secret plan was a $10 offer to conventioneers. "Like none of us ever thought of that," he says with a laugh.

Bloom brought in a lame Beatles tribute and a promising but underfunded martial arts revue called Sideswipe. That one ended badly, with a financial dispute.

Bloom also courted Recycled Percussion, offering a larger stage than the troupe had at the MGM Grand's Studio 54 club. Promising idea, but the show was scheduled to close today, which may or may not be related to Bloom's being set free of his troubled Mob Experience last week. I'm told we're only starting to hear about the depth of troubles being blamed on Bloom there.

Recycled's departure seems to end Bloom's involvement with the Tropicana, which already had done its Gladys Knight deal without him. The troupe may return with a different producer.

Seems the Trop has re-learned an old rule forgotten in the Cirque du Soleil era: You just don't give up control of a high-profile part of your operation. The public brands a casino's image with its entertainment.

The Trop has no announced entertainment beyond Knight's limited run ending Sept. 3. We don't know who will be involved, but it's safe to say we know who won't.

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