There are a few old-time acts I wish I could have seen in person on one of my trips to Vegas — Sammy Davis Jr., Buddy Hackett, and Louis Prima/Keely Smith — but I missed them by a generation. In particular, I would have loved to see Prima and Smith in one of their late-night lounge shows, which were so popular that all the other performers in town would go see them after finishing their own acts on other stages.
Since Smith died this weekend at 89, let’s take a look at one of the songs she famously performed with Prima during their heyday. You may know them from “I’m Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody,” with a delightfully deadpan Smith remaining straight-faced while the boys go a little crazy — David Lee Roth copied it and turned it into a hit again a few decades later — but I love the Prima/Smith chemistry on “That Old Black Magic,” as seen in this clip from the 1999 documentary, “Louis Prima: The Wildest.”