Columnist John Katsilometes: Reporting that a longtime LV staple — ‘The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon’ — is returning to town

Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006 | 6:58 a.m.

Fabulous Las Vegas runs Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday in the Las Vegas Sun. Reach John Katsilometes at kats@lasvegassun.com or at (702) 259-2327 or (702) 812-9812.

It hasn't taken South Coast long to make a significant move on the entertainment front, as the barely month-old resort has landed "The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon," which is set to be broadcast from a Las Vegas stage for the first time in more than a decade.

Officials from the Muscular Dystrophy Association's headquarters in Tucson were expected to meet with South Coast reps today to sign the final contracts that would bring the show to Las Vegas.

On Monday an MDA production team scouted the South Coast's 22,000-square-foot ballroom, which can house a large stage and bleachers, and deemed it fit for the telethon broadcast.

As part of the deal the 79-year-old Lewis (who has dropped to about 175 pounds and is said to look better than he has in 10 years) has agreed with longtime friend and Coast Casinos boss Michael Gaughan to perform from July 13 to July 16 at the Orleans.

The telethon most recently originated from Vegas in 1995, when it was staged at the Sahara. Prior to the Sahara, the telethon originated from Caesars Palace. As in the old days in Vegas, Lewis will have a wide assortment of Strip headliners (just finishing their own late-night gigs) to bring onstage during the show's wee hours.

While in L.A. the telethon was broadcast from the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif. ...

Rate-a-pageant: The ratings for Saturday's Miss America pageant at the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts were an all-time high for cable network CMT. A total of 3.1 million viewers tuned in to the live telecast, which surpasses the 2.9 million who tuned in to watch the "CMT Music Awards" in 2005.

And because the pageant has been repeated five times since Saturday's live cast (and VH1 is airing it yet again Friday), the total numbers of viewers who have watched the show has swelled to 12.5 million -- a larger audience than the 9.8 million who watched the most recent pageant, which was shown just once (live) on ABC in 2004.

Miss America President and Chief Executive Art McMaster and CMT Vice President of Programming and Development Paul Villadolid said Wednesday they were pleased with the numbers and with the success of the show in Las Vegas. But it will be several weeks before a decision is made whether to return the show to Vegas; several cities have contacted the two reps about hosting the pageant ...

New anchor: KLAS Channel 8 has a new anchorwoman, Denise Valdez, station Vice President of News Bob Stoldal announced Wednesday. Valdez, formerly of KNBC in Los Angeles, will co-anchor the noon broadcast with Gary Waddell and the 4:30 'cast with Dave Courvoisier. The hiring of Valdez fills the spot left vacant by the tragic death of Polly Gonzalez in March ...

Ode to Turnblad: The cast of "Hairspray" was trotted out at the Luxor Theater to meet the local media on Tuesday. The great Harvey Fierstein and Dick Latessa took to the stage for a number, and also impressive was Katrina Rose Dideriksen, who reprises her role as matronly Tracy Turnblad, which she has performed on Broadway and in the show's touring company.

"I think any girl can learn from Tracy," Dideriksen said during a break in rehearsal. "She doesn't fit the media model of beauty. I don't fit that model, either, so I've always felt to be a performer I've had to be 10 times better than everyone else."