Ken VanBibber of Las Vegas e-mailed me to express what many U.S. troops who were in Vietnam have wanted to say: Thank you, Ann-Margret.
VanBibber was serving in Bien Hoa with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in 1966 when the USO arrived for a show on another "hot dusty day."
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Johnny Rivers opened the show, and Ann-Margret turned up the heat even more in a sizzling black leotard outfit.
"It was a special feeling we had for her," wrote VanBibber, who was among a handful of troops who met her afterward. "She seemed so happy to be putting smiles on our faces."
And how's this for coincidence: Both Ann-Margret and Rivers are in Las Vegas this weekend.
Ann-Margret, fittingly, is performing for Operation Welcome Home, a tribute to Vietnam vets at Nellis Air Force Base and Fremont Street.
Rivers is performing tonight at Texas Station.
Two words to all of you: Thank you.
THE BACK STORY
The most dangerous mission of Robert Maheu's often-clandestine career is linked to Paris Hilton's latest beau.
The year was 1954, more than a decade before Maheu became Howard Hughes' go-between.
Maheu, a former FBI man, was hired by a Greek shipping mogul, Stavros Niarchos, who wanted to scuttle archrival Aristotle Onassis' plan to monopolize Saudi Arabia's oil market.
"What Saddam Hussein tried to do with an army is exactly what Onassis was trying to do: control all the oil in that part of the world," Maheu said by telephone from his Las Vegas home.
Maheu's mission was to convince the king of Saudi Arabia to dissolve the deal. The CIA helped Maheu get into the oil-rich kingdom but told him he was on his own if things turned bad.
"I had to give evidence to the king that one of his top people had sold him down the river," said Maheu. If the king didn't like what he was hearing, "I figured my chances of coming back were remote."
Maheu succeeded, and the Niarchos family was able to remain dominant in the shipping business.
The Niarchos-Onassis rivalry had another fascinating twist: When Niarchos' wife, Eugenia, died under mysterious circumstances, he married her sister, Tina Onassis, the ex-wife of Onassis.
Hilton's new boyfriend, Stavros Niarchos, 20, is a grandson of the family patriarch, a family said to be worth $7.5 billion.
SCENE AND HEARD
Here's the skinny on Kelly Osbourne's 21st birthday bash tonight at the Hard Rock Hotel: The action starts at "Beacher's Madhouse" before moving to Body English for a performance by burlesque star Dita Von Teese, a contortionist act and an Agent Provocateur lingerie fashion show. Among Osbourne's galpal posse will be Hilton, I hear. Osbourne turned 21 last month. ...
Crustacean, a sister eatery to the Los Angeles dining icon, has closed at Desert Passage after two-plus years.
SIGHTINGS
Patrick Swayze and his wife, Lisa Niemi, having the time of their lives Friday at N9NE Steakhouse (Palms) for the Nevada Ballet Foundation dinner. At another table: Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child. ... Burt Bacharach, at Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak & Stone Crab at the Forum Shops at Caesars, after his show at The Orleans. ... Osbourne, at Lawry's and Tao (The Venetian) on Thursday night.
THE PUNCH LINE
"President Bush's popularity at home has slipped to thirty-five percent. In fact, it is so low he may get his own show on NBC." -- Jay Leno
