VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Horn, Lewis return for the holidays

Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2003 | 10:55 a.m.

Two of Las Vegas' favorite sons will be home for Christmas.

Jerry Lewis arrives home today from an undisclosed area rehab facility to spend the holidays with his wife, Sandee, and daughter Danielle, 11.

Roy Horn arrived back at his west-side home late Monday after an eight-week stay at the UCLA Medical Center.

"Roy continues to make progress in his recovery from the Oct. 3 incident," Siegfried & Roy's manager, Bernie Yuman, said in a prepared statement. "He will continue his rehabilitation under the care of a team of doctors and therapists from Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

"Siegfried & Roy extend their sincerest appreciation for the remarkable efforts of the UCLA Medical Center doctors and medical staff who provided world-class care and treatment each day of Roy's stay.

"At the request of family members and those closest to Roy, no further information about Roy's care, treatment or progress will be disclosed at this time. No interviews will be available and we ask for the media's respect for the privacy of all involved.

"Siegfried & Roy extend their thanks for the continued outpouring of support during these difficult months and wish everyone a joyous holiday season and a happy and healthy 2004."

On Dec. 11 we accurately reported that Dec. 22 -- Monday -- was the target return date for Horn.

Many questions remain unanswered, such as the future of the duo's Mirage show, which Siegfried Fischbacher has publicly said will return.

Lewis, meanwhile, is temporarily home from a program he admitted himself into to wean him off steroids used to combat a life-threatening respiratory condition, pulmonary fibrosis.

He is looking to return to his pre-disease weight of 180 pounds. At one point he ballooned up to nearly 250 pounds and was nearly unrecognizable.

"I feel fantastic," Lewis told us Monday. He said he has lost more than 40 pounds and hopes to beat his March 4 deadline of returning to his old weight.

Red good

Penn Jillette's appeal last week on behalf of United Blood Service's "12 Days of Christmas" campaign has led to one of its most successful drives ever.

On three local newscasts, Jillette vowed to give a pair of Penn & Teller tickets to anyone who donated -- and so far more than 1,200 people have responded. The offer ends Christmas Eve.

"Would people make up their minds? Sometimes it is bad for us to be bloody and sometimes it's good. We just like blood," Jillette said. "Fake blood in entertainment, real blood to help people. It's all good to us."

Posers

After Sunday's report here on KVVU Channel 5 anchor Cher Calvin's personal website -- and its glamour shots of the fetching newswoman -- we got a note from KVBC Channel 3 weather forecaster John Fredericks.

Fredericks, a pet activist, called our attention to two websites where his pet pup is featured, JordanFredericks.com and Paws-Across-America.com. Jordan Fredericks is a yellow labrador retriever.

As with Calvin's site, there is a series of glamour shots of Jordan on both the sites.

"However, Cher is pretty tough to compete with when you have four legs," the human Fredericks told us.

Reunited

It ain't John, Paul, George and Ringo, but it isn't bad nevertheless.

Producers of the ABBA musical "Mamma Mia!" are trying to get the four principals of the group -- Benny Andersson, Bjorn Ulvaeus, Anna-Frid Lyngstad and Agnetha Faltskog -- to reunite, for at least a short time.

Seems that the fifth anniversary of the show's London opening coincides with the 30th anniversary of the group's rise to fame as winners of the Eurovision song contest.

The group split somewhat acrimoniously in 1982.

A production of "Mamma Mia!" opened on Broadway in 2001 and in Las Vegas last February.

Producers are hoping to get the quartet to at least appear on the show's Broadway stage, and they say they will try to get the group to tour all the show venues, which also now include Toronto, Hamburg, Dublin, Edinburgh, Seoul, Utrecht, Tokyo, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide.

VegasBits

Fan: Mike Tyson took in the Mariah Carey show at the Aladdin on Saturday night ...

Hotel: On Saturday, Michael Jackson hosted his friends and family at a Neverland Ranch get-together. Friday night, he commandeered an entire floor of the Four Seasons (Mandalay Bay), where he spent the evening ...

Talk: Harrah's headliner Clint Holmes can multi-task. He was able to deftly sip his drink and talk on his cell phone when he walked from the Starbucks at Sahara and Fort Apache to his shiny red Thunderbird in a nearby lot ...

On screen: Fischbacher will appear with Barbara Walters on ABC's "20/20" on Friday night. He also appeared with her last week on her show, "The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2003" ...

Sin City: Las Vegas attracts potential sinners of all ages. AARP has booked its 2004 "Life@50+" convention at The Venetian's Sands Convention Center from Oct. 14 to Oct. 16.

From Sun wires

White Stripes lead singer Jack White was charged Monday with aggravated assault after a fight with the lead singer of another band.

White went to a police precinct early Sunday morning and gave a statement saying he struck Von Bondies lead singer Jason Stollsteimer in self-defense.

The Dec. 13 fight between White and Stollsteimer began shortly before midnight at the Majestic Theatre Center in Detroit, where both men were in the audience for another concert.

Stollsteimer, 25, told police that White had punched him seven times in the face. Police said Stollsteimer's right eye was bruised and swollen and he was bleeding from his nose. He was taken to Detroit Receiving Hospital, where he was treated and released.

White, 28, faces anywhere from no jail time to a maximum of one year in prison if convicted.

Ranch hand: Jackson has found a friend in another celebrity who's had his own brushes with the law -- former baseball star Darryl Strawberry.

Strawberry, a member of the Without Walls International Church in Tampa, Fla., ministered to Jackson during a trip to the singer's Neverland Ranch this weekend, said Randy White, the church's head pastor, on Monday.

Strawberry attended a gathering titled "You Are Not Alone," after a Jackson song. The event drew about 600 people, including tennis star Serena Williams, rapper MC Hammer and comedian Eddie Griffin.