There used to be a tradition in Las Vegas casinos in the 1950s and 1960s (maybe the '70s too?) of hiring older and has-been celebrities, who needed the money, to be “greeters”. One whom I know did that work was former screen Tarzan Johnny Weissmuller. Another was western star Johnny Mack Brown.
Anyone know more about Vegas greeters? What exactly did they do? Literally stand inside the door and greet people, like at Wal-Mart? Wander around the floor and ask, “Hello, remember me?”
My vague recollection (from a biography of ??? aw, I don’t remember, possibly just a book about the evolution of LV) is that retired boxers, and other atheletes were also hired in this capacity. The ones I read about were to schmooze with medium rollers, puff them up and make them spend like high rollers.
One famous example was Joe Louis. This page gives a brief description of his duties:
Probably the closest you get to a celebrity greeter today are those ridiculous “events” they have at all the nightclubs here. You pay a bundle to get in, and have to wait in line, so that you can be in the same club where Paris Hilton or some famous whocares merely shows up, goes to the VIP room for a few minutes and then splits.
They advertise these things all the time, so somebody must be paying extra to be in the same nightclub where useless celebrities show up and do nothing more than walk through quickly and then hide in the VIP section.
At least in the “old days”, they would shake your hand or sign an autograph or something.
I can’t answer the question with respect to Las Vegas. But I once rented a sky box at US Cellular Field, and as part of the purchase our box was treated to the services of a “greeter”, in this case former big league ballplayer Moose Skowron.
He visited the box for about ten minutes, and did about what you’d expect–posed for pictures, autographed pictures, shook hands, laughed and smiled a lot, and reminisced about his playing days. I’d imagine that greeters in Las Vegas do similar things. It actually takes a hell of a personality to be a successful greeter; you have to be super-outgoing and able to establish immediate rapport with people, and Moose could definitely pull it off.
Tony Stark gives his trophy to a costumed casino greeter in the opening few minutes of Iron Man - was that anyone famous?
Kevin Federline supposedly gets somethign like $3500 a night to show up at a club. I can’t fathom the notion that anyone would find the idea of being in the same room with Kevin Federline so appealing that he can get clubs to pay him.
You’re missing the part where the people who paid him $3,500 were paid $5,000 by another club to take them off their hands for the evening 
ONLY $3,500? Ha! Rumors are that Paris Hilton was asking for $500,000 to simply show up at the opening of the LAX Nightclub in the Luxor on New Year’s Eve! Here is an article where she denies asking that much, but the press here was all over it.
Then again, some of those clubs make a killing on those nights. I believe there were reports that Pure nightclub in Caesars made $5 million dollars on New Year’s Eve alone. Normal prices at some of those clubs is about $250 for mandatory bottle service to get a table (you get a small bottle of vodka or whiskey or whatever), and that does not include tip or mixes to go with the drinks, nor does it include cover charge.
I’d be delighted to be shown around by Vanessa Marcil who played a casino hostess in the ‘Las Vegas’ TV show. 