Here is an interesting story that I found on the Internet regarding why Sinatra ended up leaving The Sands Hotel and taking up residency at Caesars Palace.
Sinatra owned a small percentage of The Sands Hotel and performed there exclusively. There was a famous argument between Sinatra and the Sands casino manager, Carl Cohen, in the Sands Coffee Shop. Apparently, Cohen told Sinatra there would be no more credit markers for Sinatra. Frank became outraged and cursed Cohen, who was sitting in a booth eating. Sinatra made threats, slurs, and other nasty remarks to Cohen for cutting him off. Cohen, who finally had enough, stood up and punched Sinatra in the mouth, knocking out his front teeth.
Sinatra was given a towel, went up to his suite, packed his bags, and never came back to the Sands again. When the boys at Caesars Palace heard about this, they wooed Sinatra over and signed him up to perform in their famous Circus Maximus Showroom. Sinatra had a strange request. He wanted his best pal and friend Jilly Rizzo to be hired and to be on the Caesars Palace marquee under Frank Sinatra’s name and billing.
Sinatra and Caesars Palace went on to become a great match. We were told that these unique bronze invitations were only given out to Frank’s closest friends in the business. Caesars wanted to pack the place with all of Frank’s big name entertainer friends. The rest is history!
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