Sinsational Celebrity Tales

Skippy (Photo by Tom Donoghue)

Hey all:

Well, we launched Sinsational Celebrity Tales last night at the Playboy Club at the Palms and what could be more appropriate, in the Land of Bunnies, than having a talking rabbit make the introduction?

Our thanks to Bruce Bloch, who brought Skippy ala King, who won America’s hearts with his appearances on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. We’ll have the video up and running very soon.

In two words, Skippy killed. Everyone came up to me raving about the Skipster. He was definitely a hit, Hef-esque even.

Bunnies, bunnies, bunnies! (Photo by Tom Donoghue)

I told the crowd “the best word in my job description: bunnies.” They were everywhere, posing with Hef, who was in PJs, and George Clooney, who was near the bar passing out fake money with my face. Tom Jones was there too, exuding all his massive charm.

Did I mention that Hef, Clooney and Sir Tom were there, thanks to Madame Tussauds?

Hef and Tom, Circa 1970s (Courtesy Photo)

Tom Donoghue, the gifted official photographer for Planet Hollywood Resort, felt right at home. Back in the early 1970s he was the photographer at the Playboy Club in Detroit. “I have a photo of Hef and I in 1972 in our leisure suits,” said Donoghue, who proved it by emailing it to me today.

My thanks to everyone involved in making it such a memorable evening, with a special bow to Flamingo headliner Donny Osmond. I was told I had a surprise guest so we temporarily suspended an interview with KVBC-TV, Channel 3 entertainment reporter Alicia Jacobs and headed off to Nove Italiano, with a pack of paparazzi following along.

Surprise guest Donny Osmond (Review-Journal/Duane Prokop)

On the way, there was buzz — wishful thinking would be more accurate — that Pamela Anderson was going to be waiting in a penthouse suite in her birthday suit, when she surprised Hef for his birthday.

We walked into Nove and there was Donny, pulling on an eyepatch. (By the way, he gave it to me later. Can you say “E-Bay?”

I’ve chatted with Donny on the red carpet and by telephone and he’s truly one of the most accommodating celebrities I’ve met over the years. It was incredibly kind of him to take the time to come to the event. He couldn’t join us at the Playboy Club — that would be a no-no — but he was one floor away and nobody got hit by lightning, so we’re all happy about that.

It was an off-the-charts party that I’ll never forget. Thanks again to everybody who made it such a special night.

Norm!

Rumors of the death of Tom Jones, shown at MGM Grand with the violinist group Alizma, have been greatly exaggerated. Photo by Norm Clarke/Review-Journal

Superstar Tom Jones has incorporated a recent bogus Internet report about his death into his act.

He opens his show these days with “I’m Alive,” which is on his upcoming first U.S. album in 15 years.

Jones, playing the MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre, learned about the Internet report earlier this month when a friend asked him how he was feeling.

Then the friend showed him the Internet story.

“I read my own obituary,” he told the audience during Monday’s first show.

Backstage, he told me one of the first calls he received came from Las Vegas lounge legend Cook E. Jarr, his longtime late-night running mate.

When Jones checked his voicemail, a distressed Jarr had left a tell-me-it’s-not-true message. The stress in Jarr’s voice was the opposite of his usual high-energy, dog-barking persona.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to stay on this planet if something’s happened to you,’ ” said Jones, who was touched.

Jones co-wrote much of the new album, “24 Hours,” because “I wasn’t getting any good material coming my way,” he said.

His 2000 album, “Reload,” featuring the club hit “Sex Bomb,” wasn’t released in the United States.

The new album comes out Nov. 25 on S-Curve Records, and he has high hopes after a strong start in Europe. It features two covers, Bruce Springsteen’s “The Hitter” and “I’m Alive” by Tommy James and the Shondells. Bono and Edge of U2 join him for the song “Sugar Daddy.”

Rumors of the death of Tom Jones, shown at MGM Grand with the violinist group Alizma, have been greatly exaggerated. Photo by Norm Clarke/Review-Journal

Superstar Tom Jones has incorporated a recent bogus Internet report about his death into his act.

He opens his show these days with “I’m Alive,” which is on his upcoming first U.S. album in 15 years.

Jones, playing the MGM Grand’s Hollywood Theatre, learned about the Internet report earlier this month when a friend asked him how he was feeling.

Then the friend showed him the Internet story.

“I read my own obituary,” he told the audience during Monday’s first show.

Backstage, he told me one of the first calls he received came from Las Vegas lounge legend Cook E. Jarr, his longtime late-night running mate.

When Jones checked his voicemail, a distressed Jarr had left a tell-me-it’s-not-true message. The stress in Jarr’s voice was the opposite of his usual high-energy, dog-barking persona.

“He said, ‘I don’t want to stay on this planet if something’s happened to you,’ ” said Jones, who was touched.

Jones co-wrote much of the new album, “24 Hours,” because “I wasn’t getting any good material coming my way,” he said.

His 2000 album, “Reload,” featuring the club hit “Sex Bomb,” wasn’t released in the United States.

The new album comes out Nov. 25 on S-Curve Records, and he has high hopes after a strong start in Europe. It features two covers, Bruce Springsteen’s “The Hitter” and “I’m Alive” by Tommy James and the Shondells. Bono and Edge of U2 join him for the song “Sugar Daddy.”