‘Jubilee’ milestone was without Fluff
Notably absent from the 30th anniversary celebration of "Jubilee!" on Saturday at Bally's was Fluff LeCoque, our grande dame of entertainment.
LeCoque, who was ailing, has been company manager of "Jubilee!" since it opened and before that, its predecessor, "Hallelujah Hollywood."
She was missed but not forgotten.
LeCoque, who turns 88 on Aug. 7, was at Thursday's show but was ordered by her doctor to rest in bed over the weekend.
Two video tributes were shown during Saturday evening, one at the opening of the show and another at the after-party, which attracted 800 to the Vendome Ballroom at Paris Las Vegas. The second one was to be a surprise from the dancers.
It was to be a big night for LeCoque, who has been working in the building since 1973, when it was the original MGM Grand.
A case of bronchitis sent her to bed.
"Been waiting 30 years for the 30th anniversary and didn't get to enjoy it," LeCoque said Sunday in a telephone interview .
"All the preparations and plans. Not a good thing. It was sad not to be there.
"I never know when I'm sick," said LeCoque, who comes from tough stock. Her father was a miner in rough-and-tumble Butte, Mont.
"I just keep going like that battery bunny."
She could have retired years ago, but "I like to work. I spent a third of my life there. I don't watch TV, don't even have the radio on because I hear music every night.
"Just don't know what I'd do without it. I love to work. I love the people I work with," LeCoque said.
Get well, Fluff.
SIGHTINGS
Kim Kardashian, dining with friends at Sushisamba (Palazzo) on Saturday. ... On the "Jubilee" 30th anniversary pink carpet: Caesars Palace headliner Matt Goss, who capped the celebratory show by singing "Lovely Las Vegas" while descending the stairs with cast members. ... Teller of Penn & Teller (who opened the show with remarks), the cast of "Absinthe" (The Gazillionaire, Penny Pibbets and Melody Sweets), Flamingo headliners Nathan Burton and Vinnie Favorito, Paris headliners Anthony Cools and Stephane Vanel, Chippendales special guest star and emcee Jeff Timmons, Pussycat Dolls creator Robin Antin, and celebrity photographer Denise Truscello, who spent the past two months shooting "Jubilee!: Last Showgirls Standing." Thirty prints of her work were on exhibit Saturday. ... Pamela Anderson, greeted at her 44th birthday party Saturday at Chateau (Paris) by cocktail servers in French maid outfits with "Happy Birthday Pam" on their tank tops.
THE PUNCH LINE
"A forklift apparently dropped more than a million dollars worth of wine that was about to arrive in the United States. Kathie Lee and Hoda are inconsolable." -- Jay Leno
Norm Clarke can be reached at 702-383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com. Follow Norm on Twitter @Norm_Clarke.
