Getting to know stars of ‘The View’

The women of "The View" are shooting their morning show at Caesars this week, and they all come across as sure of themselves.

At Monday's shoot, a production person asked Whoopi Goldberg to move quicker from one spot to another, but she took her time.

"I don't move fast, because I don't have to," Goldberg said lightheartedly.

During commercial breaks, Barbara Walters and Elisabeth Hasselbeck kept to themselves, while Sherri Shepherd posed for fan photos and explained why she didn't fly her son here.

"He's still tantrum-ing. I couldn't bring him," Shepherd told the crowd of 400 or so.

Afterward, Joy Behar gave me a funny and spirited 10-minute interview. Since it took me forever to line up a chat with any of the "View" women, I told her it's gotten harder to get their attention.

"You're talking to me right now. What are you bitching about?" Behar said in her cutting, stand-up comedian tongue.

At this point, she already had lost a couple of hundred bucks at blackjack, though she figured she'd just reclaim her losses.

"I'm gonna go there in a little while and get my money back. It's a plan," she said.

Then Behar got distracted by a cell phone call or something, so I paused, but evidently she didn't want to pause.

"OK, come on, what else do you want to know?" she said.

I asked about ex-"View" co-hosts Rosie O'Donnell and Star Jones. Behar is still friends with Rosie. She wishes "no harm" to Star.

"You have to understand that we are professional women," she said. "We are doing a job on the air. It's television. It's not junior high school, even if sometimes people act like that. You do the job on the air, you have arguments on the air, and then at the end of the day, you go home and you collect a check. That's what it is. It's a job."

A good job.

"It's a lot of fun, actually," she said.

And that was that. As for Walters, publicists wouldn't let me talk with her. So I hunted her down at the radio studio of KNPR-FM, 88.9, where she was giving a live and intimate, post-"View" interview to Dave Berns regarding her new book, "Audition."

Her dad, Lou, ran superstar nightclubs on the East Coast, but they failed, he tried to commit suicide, and he moved to Las Vegas with Walters' mom and beloved sister.

I met her in the lobby at KNPR and asked her for five minutes. She said she could give me two. That's what I got.

She said she lived or visited here during her family's Vegas time, so she came to know Milton Berle's act well enough that she can still recite it. I asked her about Berle, but she told me I was missing the better angle.

"I could do a lot of Milton Berle's act, but what is more interesting is my father and mother and sister lived for many years in Las Vegas. My father brought the Follies Bergere to the Tropicana," she said. "Las Vegas resurrected his life. ... I knew all of his showgirls, the major acts.

"So when my time came to do interviews with celebrities, I was not afraid of them," because she was familiar with their lifestyles.

I told Walters the surprise of her book is her admitting to having less confidence than she exuded earlier in her career.

"Nobody has all that kind of confidence," she said. "Television was very hard for a young woman, even for a not-so-young woman. So I don't know anybody who has full confidence. Very few people in this business do. I think most of us are afraid it may all be over tomorrow."

That reminded me of the quote from "Bull Durham": You gotta play this game with fear and arrogance.

"I don't think I had fear or arrogance but somewhere in between, thank you so much, I appreciate your talking to me, OK? Goodbye."

And she was gone.

"The View" set up shop at an outdoor stage in front of Caesars. It's very hot. Mostly older women stood in line at about 5 a.m. for an 8 a.m. start on Monday. The bulk seemed happy, but a few left furious after melting under a sweltering sun.

One woman bolted, griping, "This has been the worst experience of my life!" But whatever, no one told her to stand in line all day to watch a TV show for free.

If you're up for the challenge, get in line early today or Wednesday. Your chances range from crappy to fairly good you'll see a show. Two are being shot today, and two Wednesday.

Doug Elfman's column appears on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Contact him at 702-383-0391 or e-mail delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.