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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Friday, January 16, 2009

Tropicana boots showgirl revue

Advertiser News Services

Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

After 49 years of Las Vegas topless showgirl follies, the Tropicana will cancel "Les Folies Bergere" as of March 28.

Associated Press

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Hawaii news photo - The Honolulu Advertiser

Howie Mandel

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LAS VEGAS — The topless revue "Les Folies Bergere" is hanging up its feathers after 49 years at the Tropicana hotel-casino.

Casino executives announced yesterday that the show will close March 28 to make room for an undisclosed new production.

That will leave Bally's "Jubilee!" as the last full-scale showgirl revue on the Las Vegas Strip.

Showgirl productions have fallen out of favor, with the acrobatic Cirque du Soleil dominating entertainment on the Strip in recent years.

"Folies" came from Paris in 1959, opening when the Tropicana's entertainment director was Lou Walters, the father of newswoman Barbara Walters.

'JACKASS' STAR HELD OVER DUD GRENADE

LOS ANGELES — Authorities detained Johnny Knoxville yesterday for allegedly bringing an inert grenade into Los Angeles International Airport.

After security screeners spotted the grenade in the "Jackass" star's carry-on luggage, a bomb squad found that it lacked a firing pin or explosive. Knoxville was later released and allowed to board a flight to Miami.

Prosecutors will decide whether to charge the 38-year-old with a misdemeanor.

Knoxville, whose real name is Philip John Clapp, told officers the grenade is a prop he forgot to remove from his bag, an airport spokeswoman said.

MCMAHON OWES BANK $180,000

LOS ANGELES — Citibank has won an $180,000 judgment against Ed McMahon.

The former "Tonight Show" sidekick never responded to the suit Citibank filed in June, and a judge in Santa Monica ruled yesterday that McMahon owes the bank for debt incurred over four years.

McMahon's money woes in the past year include foreclosure proceedings on his hilltop mansion. Investors recently bought that home loan and will allow McMahon to stay there and make payments.

McMahon has said he was unable to work after breaking his neck in a 2007 fall.

HOWIE MANDEL BACK ON THE SET

LOS ANGELES — Howie Mandel is back at work.

The 53-year-old reality show host was hospitalized in Toronto earlier this week following an outpatient procedure for an irregular heartbeat. Mandel said he returned to work Wednesday on his NBC hidden-camera show "Howie Do It!"

"I'm calling you from the set right now," Mandel said yesterday. "I'm OK. I didn't have a heart attack. I passed out. I fainted. Like a young girl.

"They put me on medication and I'm actually going to go back today just to make sure it's stable. It is and I feel good."

CARELL TURNS RUSTIC RETAILER

MARSHFIELD, Mass. — Steve Carell is going from "The Office" to the store.

Carell, 45, who plays the bumbling boss on the NBC sitcom, recently bought the Marshfield Hills General Store in the Massachusetts coastal town where he lives part time.

He put sister-in-law Tish Vivado in charge, but said customers will see him working there on occasion. "I will be manning the cash register, and stocking the shelves as time permits!" Carell wrote in an e-mail to the Boston Globe.

He said the 155-year-old building is more of an "emotional investment than a business one," to preserve a piece of Americana.