By Bill Giduz, Editor

 

Michael Goudeaus mother, Jane, backed up her son when other mothers may

have tried to back their sons down. Mom said, "Fine, Michael, just be careful," in the early 1970s when the then 16-year-old and his friends told her they were going into San Francisco for the day to juggle on the streets for money. She didn't even say anything when he dropped out of college a few years later because performing was becoming fairly lucrative, and a lot more interesting than classes and a possible career in ecological sciences.

 

Janes friends in those days sometimes snickered about her son's hippy hobby. But now that he's co-starring with Lance Burton, the best magician in the entertainment capital of the world, they're calling for tickets!

 

And who is it that picks up the phone to take those calls? It's Jane Goudeau, ticket broker at the Hacienda Hotel, a woman happy that she's "lived long enough to be a problem to my children!"

 

While Michael works on stage with Lance Burton in the Hacienda's Fiesta Room, Jane puts in 40 hours a week at the ticket counter. Just like in the old days in Marin County, they live together again (with a few other assorted friends) at Michael's home here in town.

 

But Michael wants to make one thing clear - nepotism was not the reason Jane got the job. "She's good!" he insists.

 

Michael came to Las Vegas in 1983 with partner Frank Miles, working their comedy juggling act in the "Follies" show at the Tropicana Hotel, and Burton was the other variety act on the show. Goudeau was fascinated by magic, and they became close friends. The relationship developed to the point where Lance asked Michael to help him open a show at the Hacienda four years ago. The two have become fast friends both on and off stage, and the show has gotten better and better through their collaborative creativity.

 

Jane used to write technical material for a software company from her home in California. But during a slow period in her work as the show at the Hacienda was opening, she came to visit with Michael. The casino needed someone to help sell tickets for a couple of nights and recruited Jane while she was here. She liked the work and simply never left.

 

She's terribly proud of what he's accomplished, and proud that he's found success doing what he wanted to do. She credits it to the fact that he works hard and is "charming." Her favorite Goudeau stage routine is when he puts a rubber band around his forehead and begins a 'Japanese" juggling routine. It culminates when the rubber band slides up into his hair to create a perfect stereotypical sumo topknot.

 

Goudeaus 15-20 minutes on stage also includes juggling three bean bag chairs, three apples, knives, and a chainsaw, torch and bowling ball. The juggling is less than spectacular, he says, terming himself "the worst working juggler in Las Vegas." Goudeau's audience appeal is not technical prowess, but comedy and clowning. He has written many of the jokes in the show, and worked with Burton on improving his relationship with the audience. It's just that Goudeau is much more fascinated by working on new comedy material than he is interested in developing his juggling skills.

 

"Its not an evil thing to be a juggler, though lot of comedians think it is," he said. "What I like about juggling as stage entertainment is that it's a live story, happening right there and right then in front of the audience instead of just relating something to them."

 

The show changes slightly but constantly, he said, especially since he saw the movie, "Groundhog Day," a year or so ago. "Bill Murray in Groundhog Day wakes up each morning to the same day over and over, just like I go out there to do the same show over and over. That can become routine and boring unless, like Murray, you see each repeated occasion as an opportunity to do something new or let something new happen to you. Ever since I realized that, the show has been a lot more fun to work with."

 

He doesn't mind calling himself a juggler, and knows it was that early exposure on the streets that brought him where he is today. "People ask me what they can do to be good, and I tell them to get a job in an amusement park, that a huge part of it is just doing it. I did 23 shows one day back in the old days."

 

Since the staff is small, Goudeau also is charged with selling programs and other concessions outside the Fiesta Room after the show. It appears that the successful Burton/Goudeau collaboration has a bright future. The show will close at the Hacienda next March 31, then will reopen next July in a new casino/hotel being built across the street from the MGM Grand Hotel. Goudeau has signed a 13-year contract with Burton to work in that venue. He's looking forward to a new dressing room with a sofa and shower, and doesn't begrudge Burton the jacuzzi that will be installed in the star's quarters there!

 

Jane Goudeau will work in the new quarters there as well, taking charge of ticket operations, and should by that time have moved from Michael's main house into the renovated guest quarters beside it. It seems that Michael has given mom about everything she could ask for - and more... a son she can be proud of, a place to live, a job... everything, she says, except one thing. "I'd love to have a grandchild," she confessed. "But I figure now I'm getting my come-uppance for all those years I prayed my children wouldn't come home and announce a pregnancy. Now I pray they will!"