Sinsational Celebrity Tales

From Norm’s Column March 18, 2008
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Vera Goulet, widow of the late singing star Robert Goulet, is flying to Los Angeles today to attend the funeral of Altovise Davis, the widow of Sammy Davis Jr. She died Saturday in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. She was 65. The Davises and Goulets were close friends for years and often traveled together. During one of their trips, a 1975 visit to rainy Paris, Vera Goulet said their limo pulled up to a stoplight. “Sammy got out of the limo and did his ‘Singing In the Rain’” (song and dance routine) in front of a disbelieving crowd. “It was spontaneous. This was his personality. Altovise just laughed and laughed.” When Robert died in October 2007, “the second call I got was Altovise. The first was Julie Andrews,” Robert’s Broadway co-star in “Camelot.”

SIGHTINGS
Steve Wynn and his girlfriend, Andrea Hissom, attending a birthday party for the wife of South African hotel and gambling magnate Sol Kerzner at The Dorchester in London on Saturday night. Also in attendance: Sarah Ferguson, Simon Le Bon and Geri Halliwell. … Famous sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, meeting with Cher backstage after her show Tuesday at Caesars Palace.

From Norm’s Column March 18, 2008
THE SCENE AND HEARD
Vera Goulet, widow of the late singing star Robert Goulet, is flying to Los Angeles today to attend the funeral of Altovise Davis, the widow of Sammy Davis Jr. She died Saturday in Los Angeles after suffering a stroke. She was 65. The Davises and Goulets were close friends for years and often traveled together. During one of their trips, a 1975 visit to rainy Paris, Vera Goulet said their limo pulled up to a stoplight. “Sammy got out of the limo and did his ‘Singing In the Rain’” (song and dance routine) in front of a disbelieving crowd. “It was spontaneous. This was his personality. Altovise just laughed and laughed.” When Robert died in October 2007, “the second call I got was Altovise. The first was Julie Andrews,” Robert’s Broadway co-star in “Camelot.”

SIGHTINGS
Steve Wynn and his girlfriend, Andrea Hissom, attending a birthday party for the wife of South African hotel and gambling magnate Sol Kerzner at The Dorchester in London on Saturday night. Also in attendance: Sarah Ferguson, Simon Le Bon and Geri Halliwell. … Famous sisters Joan and Jackie Collins, meeting with Cher backstage after her show Tuesday at Caesars Palace.

Recommended: Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Norm Clarke’s new book, Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales which is jam-packed with gossipy stories of (mostly) bad star behavior while cavorting in Sin City. Norm’s been on the Vegas entertainment beat since 1999. That he’s managed to keep a sense of humor about some of the insufferable stars he’s covered (including Jerry Lewis and Robin Williams) is remarkable.

Mark Wolf of the Rocky Mountain News and his readers interviewed Norm this morning “live”. Here’s a transcript  link with some interesting tidbits of “dish” for lovers of all things “sinsational”.

Which celebrities get the perks in Las Vegas? And which ones demand them? Who are the cheapest celebs and the most generous? Who are the best and worst tippers? And who is likely to have a public meltdown whenever they venture out?

Norm Clarke, a former columnist at the Rocky, reports on the Vegas celebrity culture for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. When celebs behave badly, Norm gets the scoop.

Norm chatted online Monday and shared the Barack Obama/Las Vegas connection. Read the transcript here.

He will discuss and sign copies of Sinsational Celebrity Tales at 7:30 p.m. at Tattered Cover LoDo, 1628 16th Street at Wynkoop.

The person I’d like to take to coffee soon would be … 1960s pop singer Sue Thompson.

On January 13, 1962, her hit “Norman” debuted in Billboard’s Top 40 and reached No. 3.

According to a number of Internet sites, Thompson, now in her 80s, has lived in Las Vegas for years.

For starters, I would like to tell her that I made the mistake of looking up “Norman” on YouTube last week and playing it for the Leggy Blonde, who missed that era.

She now uses (abuses?) the song to get my attention by singing the “oooo, oooo, oooo” lyrics. Apparently little else works.

At the time the song came out, I was dating the daughter of a local farmer. He was not impressed — and not many parents would be — that I was a college dropout with no focus and little future. The night he banned me from the farm, he gave me something to think about with his parting shot, “You aren’t going to amount to nuthin’.”

A year later, opportunity knocked when I was a 20-year-old grocery store delivery boy in a small Montana town. I dropped off an ad at the weekly newspaper and asked the editor if he was covering the upcoming basketball tournament.

He couldn’t get away, he said, but knowing my interest in sports, he asked if I would like to freelance it.

He paid me the princely sum of $5 for covering a three-day tournament 80 miles away. But the money didn’t matter. I had my break. Ten years later, I was covering sports out of the Cincinnati Associated Press bureau, and thankful for a swift kick in the right direction.

From Norm’s Column December 31, 2008

Aussie Robbie Maddison Photo by Tom Donoghue

Don’t ask Robbie Maddison, Australia’s Evel Knievel, to compare himself to Robbie Knievel or their dueling New Year’s Eve jumps tonight.

They are oceans apart, said Maddison, in so many words.

“There is no comparison,” a fuming Maddison said Tuesday.

“He is a disrespectful drunken bum, a no talent who is making a joke of a jump,” he said.

Their feud isn’t being manufactured for TV ratings: Maddison is on ESPN and Knievel is on a Fox special.

Maddison, who grew up idolizing Knievel’s father, told him so at the iconic daredevil’s funeral a year ago in Butte, Montana.

“We sat down and drank into the night, talked, and he told me how much he respected me,” said Maddison.

The wheels came off their friendship when Maddison learned Robbie Knievel “tried to sabotage me.” The bad blood involves a confidential conversation Maddison said he had with Robbie Knievel’s stunt coordinator about bringing him on board for Maddison’s New Year’s Eve jump.

“After he (Knievel) found out, he went about planning to kill my thunder,” said Maddison, who will attempt to race his bike 100 feet straight up a ramp and land on top of a replica of the Arc de Triomphe at Paris Las Vegas and freefall into a safety net.

Down at The Mirage, Knievel will soar 200 feet over the refurbished volcano.

“There are thousands of guys in the world who could make that jump,” Maddison said. “There’s … only one guy who could do this jump.”

“New Year, No Limits” airs on ESPN beginning at 8 p.m.

Fox’s “New Year’s Eve Special” begins at 11 p.m.

From USA Today December 19, 2008:

For nearly a decade, Norm Clarke has tracked VIP high jinks for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. His new Norm Clarke’s Vegas Confidential: Sinsational Celebrity Tales (Stephens Press, $15.95) chronicles star turns that happened in Vegas, but didn’t stay there. He shares some with USA TODAY’s Kitty Bean Yancey.

Show-pals: Donny Osmond matches eyepatches with Norm Clarke. Clarke has worn one since a childhood injury. By Duane Prokop, Las Vegas Review-Journal

Q: Your book talks about Jennifer Aniston getting onstage at the Forty Deuce club to dance for Vince Vaughn, Britney Spears having to be helped out of Pure nightclub a couple of New Year’s Eves ago, the late Anna Nicole Smith coming on to Chippendales dancers. Celebs can play in L.A., too, so why do they go wild here?

A: It’s one-stop shopping. You can go from gambling to fine dining to clubs, even in one (casino resort). Celebs come to Vegas and have three shots of Cuervo and think they’re invisible.

Read entire article . . .

From Norm’s column December 18, 2008

Encore, Steve Wynn's bookend to the lush Wynn Las Vegas, opens December 22 amid much anticipation. Photo by www.danperry.com.

Hotel developer Steve Wynn, confident he’s sitting on the next big thing, has a response for an arch rival’s proclamation that the Wynn era was over.

Back in January 2008, fellow gaming giant Sheldon Adelson, then the third-richest man in America with a $28 billion fortune, said Wynn’s time “has come and gone.”

Wynn held his fire until Wednesday, five days before opening Encore, his high-end followup to Wynn Las Vegas.

“Yeah,” Wynn said in an interview with Vegas Confidential, “and I remember when he said it, I started to pack up. I figured anybody who is the master of the universe must know everything. Who am I to argue?

“My reaction,” said Wynn, “is the same as since his arrival on the scene. Total incredulity. He has surprised me in every single way. He’s quite an extraordinary fellow, Sheldon, and his approach has been singular, to say the least, to the industry and to life in general.

“And I think it’s pretty safe to say that hardly any of us have seen anybody quite like Sheldon and we wish him well.”

Whiplashed by an economic storm, Adelson, who built The Venetian and The Palazzo across from Wynn and went full throttle overseas, saw 95 percent of his wealth disappear this year.

“You have to give him credit for being fearless,” said Wynn. “Who else would have enough guts to start six hotels at once without the money to finish them? That’s extraordinary. I know it’s an old-fashioned idea but I’ve always had my money all done before I broke ground. I know that’s old-fashioned these days, but that’s why our interest rate is 3 percent here on our bank line, here and China. I don’t know what anyone else is paying but I borrowed the money before I started anything and my builder told me he’s going to give me back $40-odd million. We’re getting a refund.”

Asked if he made a bid for Treasure Island, which billionaire Phil Ruffin purchased from MGM Mirage this week for $775 million, Wynn shook his head no.

In November, Wynn had predicted that MGM Mirage would have to start selling some of its Strip properties to pay for the rising cost of the CityCenter, which started with a projected cost of about $7 billion and has soared past $10 billion.

Ruffin’s purchase means “that place is bulletproof,” said Wynn.

“Now we’ve got one guy who is only worried about Treasure Island. That’s good for Treasure Island and good for the Treasure Island employees.

“The unbundling of Las Vegas is going to be a positive thing. I didn’t think bundling, or consolidation as it was politely referred to, was good and I expressed that thought to (then) governor, (Kenny) Guinn. And I’m totally in favor and I think it will be better for MGM and better for the town and better for Treasure Island to have these places get sold off.

“It means (MGM executive) Bobby Baldwin and (MGM Mirage CEO) Jim Murren have more time to worry about places like CityCenter. That’s a good thing. Having 10 hotels in one city is not a bright idea in my opinion.

“You can’t focus enough. I know there are really good managers in each hotel, but having run four or five at one time, I will tell you there’s nothing like focus. … When you have your eggs in one or two baskets, you tend to watch the baskets. That’s a good thing.”

In another development, Wynn confirmed he has entered into an agreement with brothers Barry and Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees to produce a musical based on the group’s music. The show would be similar to “Jersey Boys,” the hit musical that Adelson brought to The Palazzo earlier this year.

Wynn said the treatment is being done by Bob Martin, who did The Drowsy Chaperone, the Broadway musical that received 13 Tony nominations, including best musical, best lead actor in a musical (Martin) and best book of a musical (Martin co-wrote it).