Columnist Kate Maddox: Raucous fun at Puck’s new Postrio

Kate Maddox

Friday, Jan. 21, 2000 | 9:01 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, only in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com. To subscribe to the Sun, call 383-0400.

The grand opening of Wolfgang Puck's new restaurant, Postrio, at the Venetian, kicked off with a dinner and auction Thursday night benefiting Alzheimer's disease research.

Film legend Gregory Peck, with his glamourous wife, Veronique, along with actress Angie Dickinson, were special celebrity guests. Sex doc Dr. Ruth Westheimer attended -- auctioning off a dinner and private therapy lessons to one lucky party-goer -- as did emcee and scene stealer Robin Leach. He was overheard down-playing his well-publicized tryst at another Venetian restaurant a few months back, insisting that it wasn't as juicy as the press and the rumormongers made it out to be ... sure, Robin.

The four-course meal, prepared by Puck and his good friend, French chef Jean Andre Charial, was followed by an extravagant live auction, the proceeds from which will go directly to help those with Alzheimer's.

"Extravagant" might be too simple a description, however. Items up for grabs included: an all-expense paid trip to Rome; a year's lease on a brand new Mercedes Cabrioloet; a walk-on part in the hit show "Ally McBeal"; custom jewelry; a pure-bred, 10-week old Labrador retriever; and private dinners by some of the finest chefs in the country -- including one provided by Puck himself, which went for a mere $50,000.

Guests including Gov. Kenny Guinn, Elaine Wynn, Congressman Jim Gibbons, wine guru Robert Mondavi, Bellagio President Bobby Baldwin, political honcho Sig Rogich, Venetian President William Weidner, Dick and Tommy Smothers and many other well-known Las Vegans had a raucous time enjoying dinner in the stunning new restaurant and trying to out-bid one another. More than $300,000 was raised at the live auction alone -- a silent auction, with equally spectacular goodies, was held during cocktail hour.

If you didn't make it to the $1,000-a-plate dinner, catch the highlights on TV tonight. "Entertainment Tonight" was on hand and is scheduled to air its coverage on tonight's show, shown locally at 7 on KLAS Channel 8.

Vegas is scoring on the Hollywood movie front. Two new, big-budget features will be filming here in the next couple of months.

The movie "3,000 Miles to Graceland," starring Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell, is set to start shooting around town in early March, and "Pay It Forward" will use Vegas as a back-drop when it films here in mid-February.

"Pay It Forward" stars Oscar winners Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey, who is Hollywood's hot new leading man following his highly-acclaimed turn as an unhappy husband in the throes of a mid-life crisis in "American Beauty." "Pay It Forward" will include scenes shot in Summerlin and on the Strip.

Las Vegas' popularity as a movie location is due in part to the Entertainment Development Corporation, a nonprofit group that actively pursues the film industry in the hopes that it will bring its Hollywood business here, instead of other sites around the Southwest. EDC is responsible for partnering with a number of Hollywood productions and TV shows with sites and crews in town.

Another EDC-assisted production is the upcoming "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire" on Fox. The show will be taped live at the Las Vegas Hilton in early February, and it's loosely based on a pageant-type show -- only instead of winning a crown and scholarship money, the lucky lady walks away the wife of a bona fide multimillionaire. OK, so it does beg the question: What is the world coming to? But it also has "good TV" written all over it.

One woman from each of the 50 states was selected to come to Las Vegas and spend a week cavorting with her fellow "competitors," all in an effort to charm the wallet off a willing multimillionaire ... till death do they part, etc.

Approximately 15 willing multimillionaires came out of the woodwork to volunteer for this lifetime commitment, and about a dozen were chosen -- after a careful screening process. Most of the men claim that work and the pursuit of making money occupy too much of their time and they simply haven't had the opportunity to seek out Mrs. Right. So, the kind folks at Fox will do the dirty work for them, and the lucky winner will get to marry her deep-pocketed prince at the end of the show ... how romantic.