Strip Scribbles: Is human mermaid swimming onto Strip in show?

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Luxor President Felix Rappaport, Fantasy producer Anita Mann, Angelica Bridges and Robin Leach at the 10th anniversary of Fantasy at the Luxor.

By Robin Leach (contact)

Monday, June 7, 2010 | 6:24 p.m.

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Louie Anderson at Frank Caliendo's grand opening at the Monte Carlo on Nov. 13, 2009.

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Dita Von Teese arrives for her featured performance in MGM Grand's Crazy Horse Paris on March 31, 2010.

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Melissa Rycroft and Tye Strickland at Encore Beach Club in Encore.

Gorgeous Australian model Hannah Fraser is known as the “human mermaid,” and she’s swum ashore at the Luxor today to investigate possibilities of bringing her underwater mermaid show to The Strip. Hannah has modeled and worked in film and television the past 12 years specializing in underwater mermaid performances. She recently appeared in the Oscar-winning film The Cove and is starring in a National Geographic special swimming with Great White sharks this year.

Hannah, who’ll be at Luxor through Thursday, holds her breath up to minutes at a time and swims to depths of more than 30 feet in her mermaid costumes. She has performed in top aquariums around the world, from Siam Ocean World, Sydney Aquarium and the Chicago museum and at Coachella and Burning Man.

In addition to meeting with Luxor executives, Hannah tonight talks with Fantasy producer Anita Mann to explore possibilities of staging an underwater sequence for the topless cabaret that stars Angelica Bridges. Hannah also travels the world speaking at events and conventions about ocean environmentalism and her experiences swimming underwater with Great White sharks, whales, seals, dolphins, turtles, manta rays and other marine life.

*Congratulations to father and son Bobby and B.J. Baldwin for placing in the Top 25 in a weekend Baja 500 race. Bobby, head honcho at MGM’s CityCenter, placed 21st out of 192 finishers from a starter field of 289. B.J. placed third in his Chevy Silverado and drove the entire race single-handedly at just over 45 mph. The terrain was so bad this year that one of the brothers on the Terrible Herbst team based here was injured and hospitalized, but his injuries weren’t described as life threatening.

*I broke the story on Twitter that comedy king Louie Anderson will quit his run at Excalibur on Aug. 1. MGM confirmed it over the weekend, saying that Louie has been selling out Las Vegas showrooms for nearly a quarter of a century. I hear Louie wants to take the show on tour. … Incidentally now comes word that striptease queen Dita Von Teese is likely to return to Crazy Horse Paris at MGM Grand in October. She’ll be here next Tuesday to dance on the wing of a Virgin Atlantic aircraft celebrating the airlines 10th anniversary of direct flights between London and Las Vegas.

*A remake of 1985’s Fright Night is being planned by DreamWorks to be filmed here. Chris Sarandon, who starred in the original, will play Peter Vincent, a Criss Angel-type master showman, according to ComingSoon.net. In the original, Peter was a veteran vampire killer, movie star and local late-night bravado played by Roddy McDowell. Chris played hypnotic vampire-next-door Jerry Dandridge, who this time around will be portrayed by Colin Farrell.

*Zappos.com millionaire chief Tony Hsieh launched his debut book Delivering Happiness at Jet in The Mirage, and Christopher Rauschnot @24K Media on Twitter was on hand to shoot this video. Iron Chef winner Kerry Simon was there to cheer on the Las Vegas financial whiz kid who sold his online shoe and clothing company to Amazon.com for $887 million.

WICKED WHISPERS & RACY RUMORS

What does the Queen of England have to do with a troubled Las Vegas hotel, and could she wind up being a new owner? … What new Strip entertainer who is about to open here had to come up with six months of funding for his show to guarantee its run? … What current Strip entertainer is rapidly running out of funding for his overly ambitious production that simply isn’t selling sufficient tickets for its high cost? … Hotel chiefs talking that the economic malaise and deeply discounted room rates here might last until 2014. They point out by year end with new rooms opening into the system, we’ll have twice as many rooms to sell than airline seats bringing in tourists. They say we need 45 million visitors a year now to use all the available rooms, and in the recession, we have dropped down to 37 million. … No wonder one big bank is trying to negotiate new operators for one of their hotel investments here or mothball the casino resort until the economy changes. That startling process is already underway apparently! … Another gaming hotel is up for sale to clean up the balance sheet of its large corporate owner, and two parties quietly are in the bidding process. … Hotel execs say that almost every hotel here, because of cheap rooms, simply is unable to service their debt and bank obligations.

STAR SURVEILLANCE

Celine Dion’s manager husband Rene Angelil dined on two consecutive nights over the weekend at Yellowtail in the Bellagio while here to play in the Poker Classic and meet with Caesars Palace executives about the March 15 opening night of Celine’s new concert run. … Boxing champ Floyd Mayweather Jr. hung out backstage with rapper 50 Cent before his concert at The Pearl in the Palms last night, and then wound up onstage with him throwing money out to the crowd in his “rain” giveaway. Earlier, he was in The Playboy Club playing blackjack. … Adult film actor Ron Jeremy had a cabana poolside at the Palms yesterday and posed for photos with fans. UFC stars Georges St.-Pierre and Diego J. Sanchez also partied at the pool. Diego hit Moon before the night ended. … Nicky Hilton went to Michael Boychuck’s Color salon in Caesars Palace to get her hair and nails done by Davone Philavong for her Las Vegas party weekend. … Melissa Rycroft and Tye Strickland hosted the US Weekly Hot Bodies party at Encore Beach Club in Steve Wynn’s Encore and danced and mingled with friends and fans.

TONIGHT’S TIPS

Magic legend Mark Wilson will teach a free magic class at The Flamingo Library for children and then follow it with a lecture for adult members of the Fantasma Magic Ring, which reportedly will include Steve Wyrick making a rare appearance after his recent woes at Planet Hollywood. … Comedians Vic Dunlop, Marty Pollio and Kevin Hancock are the twice-a-night headliners through Sunday at Riviera Comedy Club.

TOMORROW’S TEASES

It’s Election Day, but we’re taking a vote on the rival mob museum experiences planned for Las Vegas. Just as the Mob Museum unveils its debut exhibit of Mob-mabelia, the organizers of the rival Mob Experience at Tropicana are spilling their secrets. We’re also pulling the lever to spin out all the rest of the weekend parties, along with Editor Don Chareunsy’s wrap of the Burlesque Hall of Fame Weekend and Las Vegas International Film Festival.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter at Twitter.com/Robin_Leach.