Columnist Kate Maddox: Adam Sandler delivers at ShoWest

Kate Maddox

Sunday, March 12, 2000 | 9:05 a.m.

Kate Maddox's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays, only in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach her at kmaddox@vegas.com.

The closing of ShoWest brought a bevy of A-list stars to the National Association of Theater Owners awards dinner on Thursday night. Hundreds of convention-goers (still by invitation only, of course) packed the giant Paris Las Vegas ballroom for dinner and stargazing.

NATO honored its choices in categories including actor and actress of the year, male and female star of tomorrow, director of the year, comedy star of the year, producer of the year ... OK, you get the point. Eleven awards in all.

Highlights included Adam Sandler presenting Drew Barrymore with comedy star of the year honors. Sandler, true to form, delivered a hilarious speech paralleling his life to that of Barrymore's. He pointed out that at the age of 6, while little Drew was charming the pants off everyone in "E.T.," Sandler was home, eating a Lincoln Log that he had mistaken for piece of chocolate.

Sandler continued the entertaining comparisons up to the age of 19, when Barrymore performed her infamous on-air topless flash for talk show host David Letterman. Sandler admitted that he too had exposed himself to Letterman at the very same age, but unfortunately it had been to a TV at Circuit City. Even though the speech leaned more toward laughs for Sandler than to professional praise for Barrymore, the crowd loved it. And the ever-goofy Barrymore did a cartwheel as she crossed the stage to accept her award. Easy there -- she was wearing pants.

Jon Voight presented his daughter, Angelina Jolie, with the supporting actress of the year award -- the same category in which the 24-year-old has been nominated for an Oscar for her work in "Girl, Interrupted." Jolie, who has dyed her hair jet black, looked a little scrawny, perpetrating the "heroin chic" look that was popular a few years back. It wasn't terribly glamourous.

What was glamourous was the array of stars seated at the front tables and presenting awards on stage. "Star Wars" guru George Lucas, along with Ben Kingsley, Matt Damon, Burt Reynolds, Sherry Lansing, studio head Ron Meyer, director Milos Forman and Warren Beatty, were just some of celebrities on hand to lend star power to the evening.

The only down point was Hollywood producer Armyan Bernstein, who apparently thought the event was a tribute to himself. Bernstein, who has produced numerous films including "Air Force One," the Kevin Costner snoozer "For the Love of the Game" and "The Hurricane," rambled on for 20 minutes accepting his award for producer of the year. Incredibly full of himself and obviously aware of the spotlight, Bernstein gave a full family history and a play-by-play of all of his movies -- even the bombs.

Despite that very disappointing pitfall, the night was pure Hollywood. Other stars on hand to collect awards included Jim Carrey, Annette Bening, Ving Rhames, Michael Clarke Duncan and Hilary Swank.

The grand opening of "Blue Man Group: Live at the Luxor" on Tuesday night is drawing a rather impressive celebrity hit list. Dreamworks honcho Jeffrey Katzenberg, Penn & Teller, Councilman Michael McDonald, Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt, actor Liev Schreiber, actresses Samantha Mathis and Marilu Henner, "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" Melissa Joan Hart , E!'s John Henson, Dave Adelson and David Cassidy are all scheduled to watch the Blue Men take on the Strip. A series of previews have been performed since Feb. 25. Tuesday's show is a press preview, followed by Wednesday's official opening. As a devoted Blue Man groupie, I can tell you that this is something new and exciting for the Las Vegas entertainment scene.

Don't hold your breath for a Supremes reunion tour. Original Supreme Mary Wilson has told Liz Smith that financial negotiations for what would no doubt be a sellout tour -- which was scheduled to stop in Vegas -- have broken down due to some serious greed on Diana Ross' part. Ross would probably pocket some $15 million to $20 million from the tour, but her people say they would only be willing to offer Ross' former partner $3 million of the earnings. Wilson, who wants at least $5 mil, plus a slice of the merchandising profits, says talks are on hold indefinitely, unless Ross loosens her grip on the purse.