Pageant judges overcome trials

Shoe designer Taryn Rose and "Dancing with the Stars" pro Tony Dovolani, two of the seven 2011 Miss America judges, know something about living the American dream.

Their gritty back-stories as immigrants emerged Wednesday at Planet Hollywood Resort during a news conference introducing the judges for Saturday's 6 p.m. pageant on ABC (9 p.m. tape delay, KTNV-TV, Channel 13).

They've come a long way since fleeing their war-torn homelands.

Rose was 7 when her family escaped Saigon in 1975 three days before the country collapsed. After their evacuation, they were taken to Wake Island on their way to an unknown destination in the United States.

"We landed in Fort Smith, Ark.," she told me after the news conference.

"That's where I learned my English," she said, adding that her native Vietnamese mixed with a Southern accent -- "Whaddya all doing?" -- was priceless.

It was during her family's two-year stay in Arkansas that she recalls being fascinated by the pageant. She grew up to be a famous shoe designer and, in her words, "a feminist in stilettos." She so strongly believes in the Miss America ideals that she welcomed the invitation to be a judge.

Dovolani was a pre-teen Albanian when he began watching the Miss America broadcasts in Pristina, the capital of Kosovo of the former Yugoslavia.

When Miss America was crowned, "I thought she was like Mother Teresa," said Dovolani. Mother Teresa, the Catholic nun who won the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with slum children in India, was part Albanian and part Indian. She died at age 87 in 1997.

Dovolani was 12 and took part in armed defense efforts when Serbs began the expulsion of more than 100,000 Albanians in Pristina in the 1980s.

"They were trying to take away our language," said Dovolani, who was 16 and carrying a machine gun the day his family fled for Italy.

Thirty-six of his relatives died during the conflict: "17 young adults, and the rest were women and children," he said.

Dovolani, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in the last year, said he was honored when asked to serve as a Miss America judge.

Along with Rose and Dovolani, the other judges include TV talk-show host Joy Behar, former Miss America 1990 Debbye Turner Bell, "Desperate Housewives" creator Mark Cherry, actress Marilu Henner and country music star Mark Wills.

THE SCENE AND HEARD

Prominent food critic Ruth Reichl had raves ("spicy, sexy food" that included "complex curries, sweet tropical desserts") this week on her Twitter site after a visit to Lotus of Siam of New York City, a spinoff of the legendary Las Vegas Thai restaurant.

SIGHTINGS

Pop star Katy Perry and Russell Brand, at "Viva Elvis" (CityCenter's Aria) with a large group and later playing blackjack at Planet Hollywood Resort, where they were staying with family. Their celebration of the 90th birthday of Katy's grandmother included dinner at Strip House. ... Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub and his wife, at Blush (Wynn) on Tuesday.

THE PUNCH LINE

"You know the naked guy on the subway? Today he's wearing earmuffs." -- From David Letterman's "Top Ten Ways New York City is Preparing for the Blizzard."

Norm Clarke can be reached at (702) 383-0244 or norm@reviewjournal.com. Find additional sightings and more online at www.normclarke.com.