Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002 | 9:43 a.m.
N-day is less than a month away. So is B-day. But H-day isn't going to happen.
Yes, the much anticipated openings of both Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom at the Fashion Show mall will still happen Nov. 1.
But a try by Donald Trump to get the distinguished London-based dry goods emporium Harrods to open on the Strip has been rejected by Harrods head Mohamed Al Fayed.
Al Fayed is perhaps best known as the father of the Egyptian playboy and erstwhile film producer Dodi Al Fayed, who courted Princess Diana during the final days of her life and died with her in a 1997 Paris car crash.
Trump and a partner, Kansas developer Phil Ruffin, are creating a Trump Tower West on the New Frontier site, just across from the Fashion Show mall, as part of a San Francisco-themed multiuse development combining high-end residential, retail and commercial space. Trump and Ruffin were put together by prominent Las Vegas development consultant Jack Wishna.
According to a source close to the billionaire developer, a Trump team recently flew to meet with Al Fayed at his store's famous flagship locale in the Knightsbridge section of London.
"Al Fayed said that he would lend his name and his store's prestige to the project, but would not kick in any money," Wishna said.
To make a short story somewhat longer, Trump and Al Fayed did not see eye to eye on that particular issue.
Hearing that Trump had struck out, MGM MIRAGE Chief Executive Terry Lanni made Al Fayed an offer to develop the 16 acres where the failed MGM theme park was located.
But Al Fayed passed on that as a potential Harrods locale, as the real estate is in the back of the MGM Grand property, and not visible from the Strip.
When VegasBeat called Trump in his New York office, he deflected questions about the Harrods flirtation, but did talk for a while about other matters.
"Trump properties are the best in the world," The Donald, with his typical modesty, told me.
Says Trump: "Our residential buildings sell out before they are completed. The retail is always the best the world can offer. When we are finished in Las Vegas it will be another spectacular project that the community will embrace -- and real estate values for miles around will shoot up as a result."
Dream performances
Artistic Director Bruce Steivel said his cast and crew at Nevada Ballet Theatre were quite gratified by the thunderous standing ovations after their weekend performances of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at UNLV's Judy Bayley Theatre.
They'll return in December with the seasonal favorite, "The Nutcracker."
Viva TV
The wonderful 1964 Elvis Presley-Ann-Margret movie, "Viva Las Vegas" airs again tonight on TNT.
Today is also the 29th anniversary of Elvis' divorce from Priscilla Presley.
The movie is part of a special Las Vegas-themed month on the cable network.
The other flicks being broadcast at various times in October include "Leaving Las Vegas" (with Nicholas Cage in his Oscar-winning role), "Showgirls," "Indecent Proposal" and several others.
It is also airing several TV shows and specials with a local bent, including the first season of "C.S.I: Crime Scene Investigation" and the Oct. 20 premiere episode of "Fame for 15," which will focus on Scott Alan Thorson, who, by suing Liberace for palimony, was lambasted for having outted the famous entertainer.
As if anyone didn't already know.
Supreme sisterhood
Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee is in town this week for the national convention of the American Osteopathic Association.
Ross-Lee, the newly appointed dean of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine, has been to Las Vegas previously.
Her sister -- Diana Ross -- has performed here often.
And Diana's daughter Rhonda Ross is also in town -- starring in "The Vagina Monolgues," which opened Tuesday night at Cashman Center.
Too busy
Even before Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman's TV commercial for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., had aired, 3rd Congressional District candidate Dario Herrera was on the phone to Hizzoner, asking him to do a commercial with him.
They finally filmed the 30-second spot on Tuesday. The mayor was too busy last week to make time for it.
And what was Goodman so preoccupied with?
Well, among other chores, he did step out on city time the other day to shoot a scene with the noted thespian Daffy Duck for the "Looney Tunes" movie now being shot around town with Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman.
Wheely big
Las Vegas resident Fawn Dowd won a big-time jackpot the other day, but she had to leave town to do it.
A contestant on the game show "Wheel of Fortune," she walked off with more than $15,000 after solving several of the ever-challenging puzzles.
Three putt
This is real three-on-three.
On Nov. 5 three player teams from the PGA Tour, the Senior PGA tour and the LPGA Tour will compete for bragging rights -- and cash -- at a charity event in Henderson.
The nationally televised match is slated to pit PGA champ Rich Breem, John Daly and Jim Furyk against Gary McCord, Ben Crenshaw and Tom Kite against Karrie Webb, Laura Diaz and Julie Inkster.
Over the last 10 years, the DragonRidge Country Club event has raised over $7.5 million for the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.
Hoofin' it to NYC?
"Comfortable Shoes," the musical based on the life of Las Vegas headliner Clint Holmes -- which just opened to generally positive reviews in Chicago -- may eventually get to the Great White Way.
According to Rialto sources, Rocco Landesman, president of the Broadway powerhouse Jujamcyn Theaters ("The Producers," "The Full Monty," "Kiss me, Kate") is considering the play for a future run at his company's newly named Al Hirschfeld Theater on New York's West 45th Street.
The former Martin Beck Theater will be entirely revamped by June 21, which is Hirschfeld's 100th birthday.
The theater premiered such classics as "Bye, Bye Birdie," "Guys and Dolls" and "Annie."
Four-time Tony Award-winner Jerry Zaks will direct the first show after the reopening, a summer-long tribute to Hirschfeld.
Then the calendar is open.
Backers of "Shoes" are aiming first for a more modest move to either Pasadena, Calif., or London's West End; Holmes' mother, Audrey, is British.
The play documents Holmes' youthful struggle to overcome society's pressures on the child of a black father and a white mother.
It stars Christopher Jackson, who is a proven legit stage commodity -- he starred in "The Lion King" on Broadway.
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