Monday, October 20, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
NORM: Affleck, Schwimmer extend poker play
Correction on 10/25/03 -- In Monday's Review-Journal, Bill Acosta's name was omitted from the inductees to the Casino Hall of Fame.
On October 20 and 25, the Norm! column reported that Ben Affleck purchased and drank wine at MonAmi Gabi at the Paris Hotel. We have been advised that Mr. Affleck did not purchase or drink wine at the restaurant. The Review-Journal retracts these Norm! items about Mr. Affleck in their entirety.
Ben Affleck in town for charity poker event.
Jack Carter recalls Army incident.
Connie Stevens among honorees.
Roy Horn to get A&E airtime.
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When the smoke finally cleared on that celebrity poker tournament at the Palms, the real games were just beginning.
Tipsters tell me Ben Affleck and David Schwimmer were among a group of VIPs who stayed around Sunday night for a high-stakes poker game.
Affleck, with girlfriend Jennifer Lopez watching from the stands, and Schwimmer were in town for the Bravo cable network's four-day charity poker tourney that ended Sunday.
The Jen-and-Ben show had its revealing moments over the weekend. Witnesses said Affleck, who had sworn off drinking after a 2001 rehab stint, which followed a well-publicized drinking and gambling binge at the Hard Rock Hotel, was imbibing after ordering a very pricey bottle of wine at Mon Ami Gabi, the French steakhouse at Paris Las Vegas, on Friday night.
The Bravo winner in the charity winner-take-all game of No Limit Texas Hold 'Em, spies tell me, was Nicole Sullivan, who plays Holly Shumpert in "The King of Queens." She beat out Paul Rudd, who recently played the boyfriend of Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) in a "Friends" episode.
Brush with fame
Years before Jack Carter became a comedian, there was nothing funny about his run-in with Gen. George Patton.
Carter, a Casino Hall of Fame inductee on Sunday at the Tropicana, was serving in the Army Medical Corps at Camp Essex in Boulder City with Patton's troops when he found himself in the sights of the hot-tempered tank commander.
Carter had just climbed out of a tank when he found himself confronted by Patton, who was still being punished for slapping U.S. soldiers a month earlier in August 1943 in Sicily.
"He swung me around, lifted me up like an Abbott & Costello bit, because I didn't salute him. He said, 'Young man, don't you believe in saluting officers?' "
Carter saluted and beat a hasty retreat, he said during a backstage gathering.
Joining Carter in the Hall of Fame were Frankie Valli, Breck Wall, Cook E. Jarr and Connie Stevens, whose submitted introduction ran longer than some Vegas acts.
Murray Hertz, the founder of What's On, was awarded the inaugural Joe Delaney Award for his entertainment contributions.
The Scene and Heard
Audrey Holmes, the 88-year-old opera-singing mum of Harrah's headliner Clint Holmes, has been booked to sing at the Southern Wines and Spirits Christmas party. "Next thing you know, she'll have her own showroom," Clint said. "We're going to get Mama Scinta and my mom together, and we'll name the place 'Mom's.' "...
"Biography" on A&E is airing its rush-job production on Siegfried & Roy on Cox (Channel 33) at 9 tonight. Interviews were added after the Oct. 3 mauling incident.
Sightings
Burlesque legend Tempest Storm, taking in Clint Holmes (Harrah's) and the Checkmates (San Remo) on Saturday and among the VIP crowd at the Casino Hall of Fame ceremonies Sunday. ... Don Cheadle of "Ocean's Eleven," at the Palms' ghostbar on Saturday, casing the joint.
The Punch Line
"To attract men, I wear a perfume called 'New Car Interior.' " -- Rita Rudner
Norm Clarke can be reached at 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com.
