Burton conjures memories at UNLV hall of fame event
It’s been so busy lately in VegasVille that this column started at Starbucks at the Tropicana and is wrapping up at the RJ mother ship.
So as Earth Wind & Fire famously sang, let’s groove tonight: MAGIC MOMENT
“Master Magician” Lance Burton met Debbie Reynolds’ son Todd Fisher on Tuesday night at the UNLV Fine Arts Hall of Fame event at the school’s Student Union Ballroom. Out of thin air, Burton made an anecdote appear.
The longtime headlining magician at Monte Carlo told Fisher, standing with his wife, actress and hypnotist Catherine Hickland, of meeting his late mother at the old Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel on Convention Center Drive.
“She had her name along the marquee and I thought, ‘That looks great!’ and I walked in to see if I could find her,” Burton said before being honored at the event (along with Reynolds and a host of other entertainment greats). “She was inside, dressed in this beautiful, sparkly gown — and she was pushing a vacuum cleaner. I’ll never forget that.”
Reynolds approached Burton, at the peak of his fame on the Strip, and yet set.
The hotel is playing off Clay’s exposure on his Showtime series “Dice,” which resumes Season 2 in July; and the winning run of he and his wife, Valerie, on the Fox show “My Kitchen Rules.” MAMA MARIA
I misfired on the surname of “Mama” Maria Perry in Tuesday’s column. Perry is her last name; I had it as Bono, which is the name of her son-in-law Dennis Bono and a name shared by Maria’s daughter, Lorraine Hunt-Bono. WHO WAS WHERE
Flamingo Las Vegas headliner Tape Face, visiting the similarly muted Blue Man Group on Monday night at Luxor … Belated report on the English rugby team — as in, the entire squad — at “Mystere” at Treasure Island on March 1 … Harrah’s headliner Mac King and Johnny “The Great Tomsoni” Thompson at the UNLV Hall of Fame event (King introduced Burton; both hail from Kentucky). John Katsilometes’ column runs daily in the A section, and Fridays in Neon. He also hosts “Kats! On The Radio” Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and appears Wednesdays at 11 a.m. with Dayna Roselli on KTNV Channel 13. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.