Columnist Kate Maddox: Reconciliation is Taylor-made

Kate Maddox

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2000 | 2:06 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach her at kmaddox@lasvegassun.com.

The upcoming TV movie, "These Old Broads," is all about rekindling careers. But according to one of the stars, Debbie Reynolds, the appearance of her former pal Elizabeth Taylor wasn't about making an acting comeback. It was about making amends.

Reynolds, a Las Vegas staple and upcoming New Year's Eve headliner at the Orleans, plays an aging screen star in the TV flick, and is joined by Shirley MacLaine and Joan Collins. The former queens of the silver screen are in the throes of an attempted comeback in the movie, and they enlist the help of their old Hollywood agent, played by Taylor.

But the way Reynolds tells it, Taylor only came out of her acting retirement to make up for mistreating Reynolds years ago, including stealing Reynolds' husband, Eddie Fisher, in 1959.

"(Elizabeth) had told Carrie Fisher, (Reynolds' daughter), who wrote this (script), that she wanted to do this (movie) to pay me back," Reynolds explained in an interview with Steve Bornfeld in the Dec. 24 issue of Showbiz magazine. "(Elizabeth) wanted to do something nice. She felt that she had made an error in her life earlier and if she could help, she wanted to."

Um, error? The Reynolds-Fisher-Taylor love triangle was one of the biggest Hollywood scandals of all time. Fisher didn't help matters when he wrote a juicy tell-all last year, ticking off both of his famous exes. Seems the two former Mrs. Fishers bonded over the published slight and resolved their differences, and just in time for February sweeps. How nice.

The Blue Note Las Vegas has landed a name for New Year's Eve. The Godfather of Soul, James Brown, will take the stage Dec. 29-31. Always an interesting showman, Brown should be just what the club needs to boost ticket sales.

The controversial 67-year-old singer has managed to keep working plenty of high-profile gigs, as well as remaining a popular tabloid presence. Brown has spent the past decade getting down with his bad self a little too much, tangling with drugs, guns, violence and alleged sexual harassment. Unwinding appears to be tough for the hardest working man in show biz.

The Blue Note tickets ($85 for the 29th and 30th, $150 for the 31st) should be hot items. Get on it.

Things are looking good for David Brenner. The comedian has been performing at the Golden Nugget since Nov. 21 and was scheduled to close on Jan. 27. But a spokesman for the hotel says Brenner is doing so well that they want him to stay on. Brenner is in negotiations to extend his contract with the Golden Nugget trough April.

President Clinton likes games. He especially likes mind games. Just ask local real estate heavy and FOB Stephen Cloobeck.

Cloobeck, president and CEO of Diamond Resorts (which owns the Polo Towers and the Jockey Club), spent a night at the White House this week, playing Upwords with the president into the wee hours. (For those of you who are a little rusty on board games, Upwords is a five-dimensional Scrabble-type game.)

Cloobeck and his wife, Chantal, have been presidential pals for many years and when Clinton and Sen.-elect Hillary called and invited them for a casual dinner, the couple immediately hopped a plane for the nation's capital.

A cozy evening and overnight stay in the White House's Queens Room (a guest suite usually reserved for dignitaries -- and Barbra Streisand) followed. But bedtime had to wait until Clinton and Cloobeck finished their game and, as Cloobeck said, "the President doesn't like to lose."

Too bad. At around 1 o'clock in the morning, Clinton threw in the towel. "It was really a once-in-a-lifetime feeling," Cloobeck said. (I'm thinking he meant the whole presidential sleepover thing and not his apparent panache for word games.)

Luckily this trip won't be the last presidential visit the Las Vegas residents make before the Clintons pack it up. The Cloobecks plan to attend the annual White House Christmas shindig later this month.