Kerkorian Launches Las Vegas Mega-Resort : Entertainment: The reclusive billionaire attends groundbreaking ceremonies for his $1-billion MGM Grand Hotel & Theme Park.

By ALAN CITRON

Oct. 8, 1991 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

LAS VEGAS — The old Hollywood met the new Las Vegas on Monday as a flock of celebrity look-alikes--and a few real celebrities--attended groundbreaking ceremonies for the $1-billion MGM Grand Hotel & Theme Park, which has come to symbolize the city’s hope for attracting more families as visitors.

The hotel’s Wizard-of-Oz theme was heavily emphasized at the event, held under a white tent at the center of the 112-acre development site. A succession of Burma Shave-like signs touting the hotel’s features ended with one that said, “You’re Not in Kansas Anymore.”

There was also a scale model of the hotel, which includes an 88-foot lion and a replica of the Emerald City. Visitors were encouraged to chat it up with ersatz versions of Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart, W. C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and other celebrity impersonators who were on hand. Some television stations even interviewed the imposters.

Real stars such as Burt Reynolds and Loni Anderson also joined in the elaborate ceremonies on the edge of the Las Vegas Strip, which ended with a display that included ground explosions, smoke and fireworks.

But it was a lesser known figure, MGM Grand majority shareholder Kirk Kerkorian, who attracted the most attention.

The reclusive Beverly Hills billionaire--who sat in the front row through a series of speeches and spoke briefly himself--was mobbed by reporters and well-wishers when the ceremony ended.

Looking relaxed as he stood in the blazing sun in an open-neck shirt and white sport coat, Kerkorian said he had every confidence that the hotel/theme park would succeed in drawing families to Las Vegas.

He even posed for tourists to take pictures before disappearing into a long gray limousine.

At 74, Kerkorian is taking his biggest gamble yet in the MGM Grand. Some have said the hotel will help Las Vegas become an Orlando of the West when it opens in 1994.

With 5,000 rooms, the MGM Grand will be the world’s biggest hotel. It will include a 15,000-seat sports and concert arena and a 33-acre theme park.

Las Vegas has enjoyed strong growth in recent years, with gaming revenue surpassing $4 billion. Two new mega-resorts--the Mirage and Excalibur--helped draw more than 20 million tourists to Las Vegas last year.

The Excalibur, which carries its medieval theme to previously uncharted areas--with restaurants such as Lance a Lotta Pasta, minstrels singing Beatles songs and a Sayeth Cheese photo booth--is geared, somewhat, to children.

But the MGM Grand will be the first hotel to offer a full theme park.

Amid the hoopla, MGM Grand stock rose 25 cents to $12.50, while some key Las Vegas competitors lost ground in New York Stock Exchange trading Monday. Circus Circus fell $1.375 to $36.875, and Caesars World lost 50 cents to $30.875. But Mirage Resorts added 75 cents to $24.375. Local officials, mindful of growing casino gambling competition in other states, expressed strong support for the MGM Grand project at Monday’s ceremony.

The governor’s office proclaimed the MGM Grand site the most exciting intersection in the world. State Assemblywoman Myrna Williams said children, who now constitute only 5% of the city’s visitors, will soon be as high on Las Vegas as their parents. “Thanks for giving us the opportunity to walk down the Yellow Brick Road to the Emerald City,” she gushed.

Another politician predicted that the hotel would pump $6 million a day into the local economy.

“I just have these final words for you,” Clark County Commissioner Jay Dingham told MGM Grand officials: “Hurry up.”

At the end of the speeches, Dorothy and her pals from Oz led the crowd down a yellow carpet to an MGM Grand sign that dramatically burst into flames. Kerkorian’s big bet is that the hotel and park will have the same impact on the traveling public.