John Katsilometes gets an eyeful at the Miss America Pageant, where Miss Nevada got the cheers but Miss Oklahoma got the crown

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2007 | 7:16 a.m.

All week I had Miss Oklahoma winning this thing.

Twenty-year-old Lauren Nelson was named the 87th Miss America during Monday's live broadcast from the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood Theatre for the Performing Arts. She succeeds last year's Miss Oklahoma, Jennifer Berry, and is the first state repeat pageant winner since Mary Ann Mobley and Lynda Mead won from Mississippi in 1959 and 1960.

More notes from Monday's slice of Americana:

Forty-five minutes before the show's 5 p.m. start, organizers were asking casino guests to serve as seat-fillers. Several hundred were needed to fill spots as the live broadcast approached. ... Posing (together) for photos near the stage: Gov. Jim Gibbons, Miss America Organization Chairman Sam Haskell and Miss America Organization board member (and, of course, a former Miss New Jersey) Lynn Weidner. ... Not part of the group, the buffed prop comic Carrot Top (real name, Scott Thompson), seated near one of the largest contingents in the theater, the raucous Oklahoma crew. ...

Unlike last year, when host James Denton frequently strayed from the prompter to ad-lib, this year's host, Mario Lopez, played it mostly in the middle of the fairway. ... Miss Nevada, Caydi Coyle of Las Vegas, didn't make the final 10 but did come away with the consolation prize of a thunderous ovation, one of the biggest of the night. ... Great ad in the pageant program, showing Berry spooning a big scoop of ice cream (with her tiara in place). ...

"Hardball" host and pageant judge Chris Matthews, describing the swimsuit competition: "It takes a lot of guts for a girl to walk around onstage in a swimsuit like that. Guys like guts, and they like girls in swimsuits." ... The renovations to the theater include a new seating configuration, but those changes were hard to detect during the show. The theater looks much the same as it did during last month's show by Barenaked Ladies, although the theater lobby has been refurbished. ... One of Matthews' questions during the week of interviews was, "Faulkner never used commas when he wrote. Why was that?" That bit was shown in the theater on videotape; the answer (and the contestant) was not aired. ...

Big applause for top-three finalist Miss Georgia, Amanda Kozak, when asked who she would rather sit next to on a plane, Bill Clinton or George W. Bush. "Bill Clinton. I have seen enough of George." ... Smallest sign in the theater: "We Love You Miss Maine."

NoteMart

The Miss America Pageant always prompts pangs of nostalgia for Smith Center for the Performing Arts President Myron Martin and his wife, Dana. The two met while judging the 1999 Miss Texas pageant. Myron is a native of Houston who got involved in pageants as a music director, and Dana is from San Antonio and is a former Miss Texas who was a top-10 finalist in 1984 (the year Vanessa Williams won the pageant before stepping down because of those compromising photos). Myron and Dana bonded while spending a week together judging Miss Texas - Myron's mother spotted the two sitting together during the TV broadcast of the show and noticed her son seemed quite taken with his co-judge. Six months later, on Jan. 4, 2000, Myron and Dana were engaged. On April 4, 2000, at 4:44 p.m., (they met on July 4 and kept with the "4" pattern) they were married. ...

Time passages: Steve Wyrick has passed along a statement regarding last week's closing of "Defending the Caveman," which was one of the shows he planned for his entertainment complex at Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood: "I understand that construction has taken exceedingly long. But, as they say, all good things are worth waiting for. I'm a big fan of 'Defending the Caveman' and I know whatever course they choose, they are sure to succeed. I wish them the very best. The replacement celebrity headliner announcement will be made shortly." The Steve Wyrick Entertainment Complex did open (without a show) over the weekend; Triq nightclub, the box office and the souvenir shop (where you can buy stuffed rabbits peeking out of little top hats) were all up and running on Monday. Wyrick is said to be performing this week, with Ronn Lucas following Saturday night and Martin Nievera on Feb. 14. ...

One theory posed during Miss America week was that the timing of the Miss USA scandal suspiciously coincided with the Miss America Pageant's return to Vegas, thus sucking some of the air out of the more established Miss America event. ...

Trickle-down notes from Saturday's Nevada Ballet Theatre gala program at Wynn Las Vegas honoring Paula Abdul as Woman of the Year: Up for bid during the live auction was a trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina. When the bidding reached $28,000, the man raised his hand and auctioneer Wade West called "29!," which held for a moment as the high bid. Then someone near the front of the stage upped the bid and West shouted the full amount, "$30,000!" At that, the woman's face fell and she grabbed the man's arm. "Thousand?!" she said, thinking wrongly that her beau's bid was $2,900. ... Unable to find a suitable coat rack at the Cartier boutique during the predinner VIP event, former Supreme Mary Wilson dropped her fur coat into the awaiting arms of relentless hobnobber Robin Leach, who held it for a time before saying, "What am I supposed to do with this?" ... No one can explain a figure we'll call Random Elvis, a guy dressed as Elvis in a sequin-encrusted jumpsuit who had no affiliation with the event but who worked the room anyway. ... Coincidence? On Sunday, as I was writing about Abdul's lapse-littered comments to the media, my e-mail popped with the Dicionary.com Word of the Day: "Maunder: to talk incoherently, to speak in a rambling manner." ...

Someone who knows such things swears the beds at Hooters are as comfortable as those at Wynn Las Vegas. We'll check and report back. ...

"Yo Rock-o! Yer breakin' the ribs!" On display at the mezzanine level of Aladdin/Planet Hollywood is the side of beef prop beaten bloody by Sylvester Stallone in the original "Rocky." At least that's what the sign under the big plastic slab says. ...

Trivia time! In a story published Sunday, the London Observer referred to whom as "the most important woman in the world gambling industry?" Answer: Former Las Vegas Mayor and current Harrah's executive Jan Laverty Jones. ...

Clever is as clever does: A colleague reports a plate on a silver VW Jetta, RUN4EST.

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