Columnist Kate Maddox: On a lark, Williams dons pricey piece

Kate Maddox

Tuesday, May 9, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

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

Lark Williams will wear an $8,000 necklace to Thursday night's premiere of the new John Travolta flick, "Battlefield Earth," at the MGM. The KXPT 97.1-FM disc jockey will be sporting the very same pricey piece worn by "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

So what's the connection? Well, Jen's boyfriend, Brad Pitt, just happens to be the worldwide spokesperson for Damiani, the jeweler who makes the necklace, (it's one of those deals where Pitt gets oodles of money to appear in ads that will never run in the U.S. -- a popular celebrity marketing tactic) and Aniston wants to help her man, so she plays a real-life advertisement at most events and wears their jewels.

And Williams? Well, any chance to be just two degrees from Pitt is incentive enough -- kind of a "touch the necklace that touched the girl that touched Brad Pitt" sort of thing. Who can blame her?

The necklace is being loaned to Williams, who is also the host of "The Home Show," by Ca'd'Oro, the jewelry store at the Venetian's Grand Canal Shoppes. After the red-carpet arrival, premiere and party at Studio 54 following the movie, Williams will have to hand over the necklace to the kind folks at the store.

Speaking of Brad and Jen, the buzz has already started that the two will pull a Jolie-Thornton and get hitched next month when Pitt is in town filming "The Mexican." Snoops from the New York papers have already put their feelers out around town in the hopes of getting help on the story. And, if and when it happens, it'll be a big deal. Some are saying that the Mirage will play host to the couple and that folks there are already playing the "no comment" game.

Let's hope Aniston and Pitt have a chat with Angelina Jolie and Billy Bob Thornton (and he could really give marital advice -- this was No. 5), before heading for Vegas to tie the knot. Jolie and Thornton were chased by photographers from the Star tabloid outside the Clark County Courthouse when they picked up their license a couple of hours before their nuptials at the Little Church of the West. After sending the tabs on a wild goose chase to the downtown chapels, the couple high-tailed it to the Strip.

Greg Smith, who owns the chapel, has been plagued with calls from magazines and TV shows offering big bucks for wedding photos of the celeb couple. Smith, who has never sold any famous photos, was once offered as much as $250,000 for pictures of Cindy Crawford and Richard Gere getting hitched at his chapel.

Thornton and Jolie opted for the most basic wedding package -- only seven photos were taken to mark the occasion, one 8-by-10 and six 4-by-5s. Smith said he's gotten the pictures back and plans to forward them to the happy couple as soon as possible.

When magician Lance Burton proposed to his girlfriend, Kim Barranco, last month he reportedly modeled the engagement ring on one that he saw on one of America's most famous brides. Darva Conger's $35,000 diamond sparkler caught the eye of Burton -- who quickly commissioned a jeweler to design an exact replica, only his was a little bit bigger in the carat department.

By the way, according to the New York Daily News, Conger has already done her nude spread for Playboy, and it should hit the stands sometime this summer.

Comedienne Roseanne chowed down at Wolfgang Puck's Chinois on Saturday at the Forum Shops at Caesars. Roseanne, who was joined by three other people, played it low key, avoiding chitchat and sporting a baseball cap.

In June's issue of Tennis magazine, Las Vegan Andre Agassi speaks candidly about his yearlong relationship with Steffi Graf and the efforts it took to win her heart. "It's been 10 years coming," he says. "She's like a tennis match. I had to take it one point at a time."