Las Vegas Weekly

September 11, 2009 · 7:45 AM

On the town with Robin Leach, Steve Sanders and Principal Belding

By Robin Leach

Ian Ziering, Robin Leach and Dennis Haskins at Pure in Caesars Palace.

Photo: Pure Management Group

I wish my headmaster at school had been this hip -- and fun! Actor Dennis Haskins, who played Mr. Belding -- America’s favorite principal -- for 11 years on Saved By the Bell, knows how to party! He told me when he played host at Pure in Caesars Palace that he even has his own, just-released debut karaoke CD/DVD now.

My pal Ian Ziering from Dancing With the Stars and Beverly Hills, 90210, and forever memorable as the series’ Steve Sanders, joined me when Dennis hit the Strip. Over lunch at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, Mr. Belding told me that the show, now celebrating its 20th anniversary, is still seen around the world in syndication and was broadcast in 87 countries worldwide at one point!

He and Ian filmed National Lampoon’s latest comedy The Legend of Awesome Maximus together this year. It’s the fourth Lampoon film for Dennis, who, for you trivia fans, started his acting career in the late 1970s on the first episode of The Dukes of Hazzard!

Dennis is proud of the new CD project that lets you “karaoke with your favorite principal.” “I love to sing,” he said. “I have a passion for singing. I’ve been doing karaoke for the past six years. It’s all about having fun, and this allows fans to either sing by themselves or sing along with me.” Songs included are the obvious “School’s Out,” plus “Piano Man,” “What a Wonderful World,” “California Dreamin,’ ” “Georgia” and “Brown-Eyed Girl” -- 14 tracks in all.

Dennis learned about the music business during a four-year stint as entertainment chairman at the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, where he booked bands and promoted concerts with such legends as Gregg Allman, Leon Russell and the James Gang. He was honored with the university’s Most Distinguished Alumni Award in 2000.

Dennis, who tours universities with his Mr. Belding on Campus show, had a big turnout of fans at Pure when we partied there. After taking to the mic for the requisite shout-outs, he waded into the crowd on the dance floor and was mobbed by fans.

The next night, he was at LAX in the Luxor, and the scene was a repeat. “It’s really amazing,” Dennis laughed with me. “I don’t know of another principal anywhere in the world that would be treated like this.”

Ian dined at Rare 120 in the Hard Rock Hotel while he was in town, while Dennis ate at Company in the Luxor. “I love Vegas,” he told me. “It’s the best place to party, and I love to play when school’s out.”

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

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