On May 1, 2009, Las Vegas reeled from the shock of suddenly losing a valuable member of their entertainment community. Danny Gans, famed vocal impressionist and performer, died at his Henderson Valley home, leaving a large legacy in his wake. Danny began performing in Vegas at the Stratosphere Hotel in 1996 and moved to the Rio Hotel shortly thereafter. He finally landed at the Mirage, where he stayed for many years. He had recently changed locations to the Wynn Hotel in February of 2009. The marquee bearing his image on the Strip is the largest freestanding marquee in the world. What's even bigger is the impression he left on Las Vegas - in a city that's as fun as it is anonymous, Gans stood apart as a personality associated with the top-notch entertainment the town has to offer. Alicia was a very close friend of both Danny and his beloved family. She was willing to talk about her loss with me:
Jenna Zine: I'm so sorry to hear about the loss of your friend, Danny Gans. How are you coping? What's been going on with that? I've been reading your Twitter account and I saw how close you two were. You talked about him all the time. It made me so sad for you.
Alicia Jacobs: Truthfully it's been such a nightmare. This has been one of the toughest times - personally and professionally - one of the toughest things I've ever had to deal with. I still can't believe he's gone. I found myself the other night talking about it. I couldn't believe I found myself saying the words "Danny Gans' death" - I can't believe I'm actually saying these things within the context of a [news] story. And I keep thinking about Danny himself and what he would say. He was such a huge supporter of mine. Lord knows he had enough on his plate with his own career, but he was such a great mentor for me. He would always watch my segments and has from the get-go. He's been supporting me since 1996, since I first met him. He would always have his comments and he was always right. Everything he suggested was right. That's why I implemented, on the day of his memorial, a new signoff. One of the things that drove him crazy was, at the end of my segments, I'd say, "Back to you guys" and then toss it back to the anchor desk. And he hated it! [laughter] Everyday he'd text, "You've got to stop saying that! It devalues you! It's painful." He would send me suggestions everyday, reminding me that I should have my own signature. I never did it. I didn't want to do that. So on the day of his memorial I explained the significance of my decision to our viewers and I finally came up with a sign off. I decided to implement some of the taglines he gave me. I've done it ever since - that happened May 21st - and it's just my own little way of remembering him. It's tragic. I can't believe this happened to him. It's the biggest waste. The city will never see someone of his talent again. I don't know if you ever had the chance to see him, but he was stunning. He could do things that no other person in the world could do - and that's saying a lot because there are some very talented people in this world we live in. But he was one of the kindest, most giving, loving human beings ever. And I'm not just saying that, I mean it. If I didn't mean it, I wouldn't say anything at all. And that he was taken so soon... it's caused me to exam my faith, which probably isn't a good thing. I don't get it! He lived a wonderful life. He was a great husband, father, humanitarian - and that's what you get? You die at 52 and don't get to see your kids get married or get to know your grandchildren? It's a tragedy. It's awful.
JZ: I know. It never makes sense when somebody gets taken too soon. We should all get to live into old age.
AJ: Charles Manson will live forever! Go figure.
JZ: I know! [laughter] What sense does that make? Somebody like that... I was reading today about your father.
AJ: Ugh, that's so crazy. My poor dad was so ill. I didn't know what was going to happen, but it wasn't good. He was literally on life support. And there was Danny texting me, throughout that whole experience. And then my phone rang at 4:30 in the morning and my heart was just pounding because I assumed it was the hospital calling about my dad and it would be bad news. I'd just gone to sleep about an hour and a half before that because I was up worrying about my dad. But it was Danny's manager Chip, who is another one of my closest friends. He said, "I need to talk to you. Something bad has happened." I thought he was calling about my dad and I was so confused. I thought, "Why is Chip calling me about my dad?" And he said, "It's not about your dad. Danny just passed away." I couldn't breathe. I was in shock. For a moment I thought I wasn't even awake. It was that shocking to me. Chip got off the phone and called back five minutes later, asking for my help to make his statement. I got out of bed, went to my computer and got his statement. I said, "When you're ready I will go to work and I will do this story." And he said, "Are you sure? I know you're dad isn't doing very well." I couldn't go to the hospital until 11 AM because of visiting hours. So I went into work to let them know what was going on. They couldn't release it until I gave them the go ahead. As I was driving to work, my mother called to tell me they'd taken my father off of life support! At that moment I knew I could do the story for Danny. I did the story [at my station], went to the hospital to visit my dad and then spent the rest of the day doing stories for Danny throughout the country. It meant everything to me to be able to do that. I could have given it to another reporter, but I could pay tribute to my friend. I knew him so well and I knew how he would want those stories to be done. I want to believe that I did that. And I took some heat. There were some unkind people who thought it was unprofessional of me because I lost it - I cried a couple of times on the air. It was overwhelming. The first few times I went on the air it was stunning to say those words. It's not something I'd ever imagine having to say.
JZ: But I think people would rather see that compassion and see the truth. I don't think that's unprofessional at all. And to have somebody so close to him, who loved him and was really able to give that news to people and tell the truth... I think it's amazing.
AJ: Thank you. Ninety-nine percent of the feedback was similar to what you're saying, but there are always people out there who want to criticize. To them, I did my job the best I could and it was a very real moment for me and it just came out that way.
JZ: You know, I would rather see that. We get so jaded and disconnected from the human element. As our society grows and technology changes, everything is in one-sentence bites. To share something with real emotion that is a real tragedy is something we don't see much of these days. Everything is just so disconnected. I really respect you for being able to do that and being able to share that loss with people. That's not easy.
AJ: Thank you. No, it hasn't been easy. It's not getting an easier. It's just surreal. You know, we had this thing - he was always very cautious about his voice. He didn't talk a lot during the day, so he was a crazed texter. [laughter] Inevitably whenever my phone would go off and there would be a text, it would be from Danny. Same time, everyday! I still look at the clock and wait for it. You forget for a moment there. I always hope to still see his name. It's crazy. It's funny, I'm going to have to go get a new phone. I can't get texts, except for one or two at a time, because I've saved every text from Danny. I can't delete them. I don't have the heart to get rid of them. So I thought I'd just go get a new phone!
JZ: When I was doing my research and going through the backlog of your Twitter pages, it really made me cry. There was so much friendship and interaction between you two. It was shocking to read that the next post was about his death.
AJ: I still can't believe it.
JZ: It's just awful. Thanks for talking about it. I know it's really hard. I know my interview has been really all over the place!
AJ: Don't feel that way. My thing is any chance that I have to talk about him and honor his legacy, I'm very happy to talk about that. I don't feel that way at all.
JZ: Thank you. I really wanted to make that a part of our interview because I know people here really miss him.
AJ: He was huge. It's really a loss. It affected a lot of
people in a lot of ways here - some in ways that they may never realize.
[Photo Credit: From Alicia's private archives.]
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