Hart Murmurs

The Golden Nugget reported good ticket sales for its 500-seat showroom last week when Mary Hart made her Vegas singing debut as the opening act for comedian David Brenner. But initial press responses were split on her musical talents.

Las Vegas Sun columnist Joe Delaney blamed her producer and choreographer: “The only thing worth salvaging from this debut is Mary herself,” wrote Delaney. “What we saw . . . was basically a rock ‘n’ roll lounge act.”

Review-Journal columnist Don Usherson added more vinegar: “The producers of ‘Entertainment Tonight’ need not worry about losing their gorgeous, leggy co-host. Mary Hart’s debut . . . should first have been tested at Sandy Hackett’s Talent Showcase.” (Sandy, Buddy’s son, runs weekly showcases for aspiring talent in Vegas.) Usherson called the act a “hodgepodge of cross-generational music” and her vocal style “summer stock gone pop . . . an excellent example of someone getting a shot at a Las Vegas main room before they have earned it. . . .”

AP Vegas correspondent Bob Macy told us he was “pleasantly surprised”: “I was very impressed. She has a very good voice. The way she dances, her stage presence, reminds me a great deal of Ann-Margret.” Well . . . Macy’s not a reviewer; he saw Hart’s show because he’s slated to interview her for an upcoming piece.

The bill continues through Tuesday.