VegasBeat — Timothy McDarrah: Alzheimer’s event brings cool millions

Thursday, May 8, 2003 | 10:42 a.m.

Muhammad Ali's eye caught mine right as the evening's auctioneer, Robin Leach, shouted out, "Hallelujah!"

Las Vegas builder and Rio hotel developer Tony Marnell had just won a lunch with Secretary of State Colin Powell for $200,000.

The Greatest cracked a grin and rolled his eyes, as if to say, "Wasn't that something?"

It sure was.

It was "One Cool Night," an Alzheimer's disease benefit headed by Southern Wine & Spirits of Nevada boss Larry Ruvo that wrapped early this morning at The Venetian restaurant Postrio.

The event raised more than $2.5 million. Highlights included Chuck Matthewson spending $100,000 to go to a few baseball games with Michael Milken, Greenspun Media Group President Danny Greenspun placing a winning bid of $200,000 for an Australian cruise vacation for 10, Miriam Adelson scoring a Siegfried & Roy birthday party for $45,000 and Ruvo pal and retired Los Angeles businessman Stan Bell spending $95,000 for a whirlwind trip to New York and another 100 large to spend a day with Ali and get a signed first edition of his lavishly illustrated new autobiography.

Video game developer Bobby Kotick spent $100,000 for five personally blended cases of Robert Mondavi wine. The 89-year-old Mondavi gave Kotick a big kiss after the winning bid.

Kotick is a great story. He got his start when he crashed a Texas charity event in 1985 and schmoozed Steve Wynn into financing a venture.

The last item of the evening saw Ruvo coughing up $250,000 to go to New York -- and then France and Monaco -- for dinners at all of celebrity Chef Alain Ducasse's restaurants.

Ducasse and Wolfgang Puck prepared the gourmet five-course meal that was served before the live auction, with assistance from Spago Chef David Robins, Simon Kitchen Chef Josh Thomsen and Renoir's Alex Stratta.

Bellagio mixologist Tony Abou-Ganim was behind the bar.

Some of the silent auction items were equally dazzling: skiing with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., skateboarding with Tony Hawk, dinner with Anthony Hopkins, a round of golf with Matt Damon, or a helicopter fly-along with Metro Police.

Some of the personalities in the crowd: Gov. Kenny Guinn, Bill Raggio, Tom Kaplan, Billy Walters, Elaine Wynn, Phyllis McGuire, Bill Young, Bob Arum, Phil Peckman, Don Marrandino, Sheldon Adelson, Donna Baldwin, Bobby Baldwin, Maddy Graves, Kenny Epstein, Joyce Mack, Vicky Fertitta, Jackie Gaughan, Susan Fine, Sun publisher Barbara Greenspun, George Maloof, Angie Dickinson, Rob Goldstein and Mike Mecca.

Mecca was in a fine mood -- hours earlier a judge had given a go-ahead to Robert Earl and the Planet Hollywood group that Mecca is aligned with to take over the bankrupt Aladdin.

Ali sat with his wife, Lonnie, longtime manager Bernie Yuman and longtime Ali photographer and pal Howard Bingham.

The Champ was gracious enough to chat with VegasBeat for a few minutes before Leach took the stage. Ali's mind and wit remain razor sharp, even if his speech is not as clear as it once was.

He said people were clapping for him beginning when he left the car in The Venetian's garage.

"It is nice to be appreciated, and I appreciate Las Vegas for the fine reception. This is a terrific event and I am happy to be here. Now get out of here so I can eat my salad!" he said with a smile and then a wink.

Needless to say, I did.

Remembering

Big turnout at the memorial service the other day for fabled Motown choreographer Cholly Atkins at the Palm Mortuary on South Jones Road.

Among the guests were 96-year-old Leonard Reed, who gave Atkins his first job in the chorus at Harlem's Apollo Theatre in the 1930s.

Also in attendance: Gladys Knight, Bubba Knight, Claudette Robinson (Smokey's wife), Mary Wilson, Ruth Brown, various Miracles, Manhattans, Temptations, O'Jays, Ink Spots and everyone from Spectrum, a Motown-type group performing at the Boardwalk.

We object!

Just what we needed -- more lawyers.

VegasBeat has learned that the state Supreme Court has quietly amended its rules to permit a February bar exam in Nevada, to be held the last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of the month.

Presently there is only a July exam. Because Nevada's bar pass rate is so low and there is only one exam per year, many people were crossing the state line to take the February tests in California, Arizona and elsewhere.

"Now that Nevada has a law school it makes perfect sense to have people sit for the bar exam the same as every other state," said Richard Morgan, who has been the dean of the William S. Boyd School of Law since it opened five years ago.

Morgan was instrumental in getting the change made.

Almost every state in the nation, except Delaware, offers biannual exams.

The deadline for the July exam passed May 1 with a record 720 applicants, according to Patrice Eichman, director of admissions for the state bar.

Living dolls

Have a desire to be served your drinks by a nurse? A school girl in pigtails? A biker chick? Or a firefighter, construction worker or football player?

Your dress-up dreams can now come true, thanks to Dollhouse, a new themed evening at Studio 54 where you can order your waiter or waitress to wear the fantasy costume of your choice.

"Playing house has never been this much fun," the club's director of operations, Mike Milner, told VegasBeat.

Starting today, the upstairs lounge at the popular MGM Grand club is being converted Thursdays nights into a new space with premium tables and models -- male and female -- who will dress up in the outfit of your choice.

VegasBits

Cap and gown: "CSI" creator and Las Vegas native and resident Anthony Zuiker gets an honorary doctor of humane letters degree at UNLV's 40th commencement ceremony Saturday at Thomas & Mack Center. Four years ago he was a tram driver at The Mirage ...

Cover girl: Celine is on the cover of the June edition of Ladies Home Journal. It hits newsstands Tuesday.

From Sun wires

Oscar-winner Halle Berry walks into a flashy restaurant flanked by two friends. The well-dressed group is directed to the dingy rear of the eatery. The camera pans past Berry to a sign that reads "colored section."

The scene is just one from a parade of thought-provoking ads, unveiled Wednesday, that will hit television, radio, newspapers and the Internet this week. They promote a memorial to the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. planned for Washington.

View to a spill: Roger Moore, who starred in a string of James Bond films, was recovering in a hospital today after collapsing during a stage performance.

Moore, 75, fell down Wednesday during a dance number in the second act of the comedy "The Play What I Wrote," and was taken to St. Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital in London, Gareth Owen, Moore's assistant, said.

"He is very comfortable and doing well. I've spoken to his agent and he's fine," Owen said.