Columnist John Katsilometes: Manly rights, Buddy’s show and Darva

Monday, Feb. 28, 2000 | 9:14 a.m.

John Katsilometes is the Sun assistant features editor. His column appears Mondays. Reach him at kats@vegas.com or 259-2327.

Today the Scrawl crawl looks at the week that was:

We received word this week that the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District Board of Trustees will celebrate Women's History Month, which is March, by inviting a series of female authors to give weekly lectures at Las Vegas Valley libraries (for information, call 733-0549).

Not that celebrating women's undeniably influential role in our nation's history isn't a fine idea, but Women's History Month does remind us: Where is men's history month? Why can't we, guys, mobilize and organize something more meaningful than fishing trips, bachelor parties and Super Bowl office pools?

The only truly organized all-male organization was the Little Rascals' He-Man Woman Haters' Club. And maybe the Village People.

The musical "Buddy ... The Buddy Holly Story" opened this week at the Las Vegas Hilton. Quick synopsis: The engaging Van Zeiler couldn't have been more convincing in his portrayal of Holly, and his backing band happily ripped through all of Holly's hits.

It was a fine depiction of the captivating Holly story, but for a few flaws:

At a little more than 2 1/2 hours with a 20-minute intermission, it ran awfully long and even the most fervent Holly fans had more than their fill of Holly music. As the curtain closed after what seemed to be the show's finale, Zeiler & Co. returned to the stage for one more song as fans and the short-attention-span audience waded toward the exits.

The real Holly, history shows, never held an audience hostage.

Also, the portrayal of Ritchie Valens (by Rob Langeder) was uncomfortably comedic. Langeder did what he was asked quite well, which was to gyrate around like a twisted amalgamation of Denny Terrio and Adrian Zmed. "Valens" didn't even play guitar. His memory deserves a bit more consideration than to be depicted as a reject from "Grease 2."

Adding to the oversaturated coverage of "Who Wants to Marry a Multimillionaire," here's a true story from the potential brides' Vegas night:

A friend visited town a couple of weeks ago as the TV show was being taped at various locales throughout the city. He was just returning to the States after spending several years overseas and was seeking (among other things) a heavy concentration of single women.

During his stay "Chuck" attended the Wayne Newton show at the Stardust on the very night the "Multimillionaire" contestants were being videotaped at a show in Newton's theater.

Chuck was fortuitously seated directly behind the long row of tables occupied by the 50 contestants. Jackpot! A few of the ebullient women even mistakenly thought Chuck might have actually been the multimillionaire himself, who turned out to be lecherous, unfunny comedian Rick Rockwell.

Several of the contestants had their pictures taken by a roving photographer during the show, and one presented Chuck with a copy of her photo. Chuck later learned it was "winner" Darva Conger.

Chuck is one person happy that, in the sordid "Multimillionaire" aftermath, the soon-to-be-former Mrs. Rockwell will be single again.