Well, sir, we’ll see you down the road

There are too many ways to contrast the corporate Vegas with the crazy old days. But when Mike Hartzell talked about taking office meetings in his ringmaster get-up, that really locked it in for me.

Hartzell used to double-task during his many years as both the ringmaster of the Circus Circus midway show and the hotel's entertainment director. "Of course they'd get over it real quick if they were there to sell something," he says of the unusual office attire.

When he retired Friday as entertainment director for the Excalibur, Luxor and CityCenter, Hartzell was part of a giant corporation. Diversity training had long since replaced making sure Tanya, the Circus Circus house elephant, got her daily taste of Life Savers. One day Hartzell forgot, "and you could see tears coming down her eyes."

Hartzell is of the era when job descriptions grew along with casino companies. He grew up in a family of trapeze performers, so he may be the only entertainment director who literally walked a high wire.

When the family came to town to help open Circus Circus in 1968 - his father was an expert at building nets and rigging - they figured to stay three months and resume the gypsy life.

Instead, Hartzell soon settled into the ringmaster role he would keep until the late 1980s. He quickly realized, "If you performed in a circus, there is nothing you cannot set your mind to and do."

The '90s era of Las Vegas remaking itself into a "family destination" was short-lived and much-maligned. But the family shows and attractions never really left; we just quit talking about them. And they are the most consistent parts of Hartzell's career.

He opened Excalibur with "Tournament of Kings," and the Monte Carlo with Lance Burton. Not to mention Luxor, where the chariot-racing "Wind of the Gods" became a bit of a legendary failure.

The original idea, he says, was to flood the arena and have sea battles. Flooding the basement of a pyramid proved too big an engineering challenge. But the water-show thing wasn't a bad idea.

Hartzell helped steer the company to "Tournament of Kings" instead of putting the Sherwood Forest Miniature Golf Course in Excalibur's basement back in 1990. It's now the third longest-running show in town that hasn't moved, and Hartzell leaves just as it gets a face- lift of new costumes and acts.

Hartzell's co-workers threw him a surprise party last week, but he didn't say goodbye.

"The farewell comment of a circus performer to others at the end of a season is, 'I'll see you down the road.' That way people don't ever have to say goodbye."

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