An Interview with Dorothy Lee

AN INTERVIEW WITH DOROTHY LEE

An Oral History Conducted by Claytee D. White

The Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project

Oral History Research Center at UNLV University Libraries University of Nevada Las Vegas

©The Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2012

Produced by: The Oral History Research Center at UNLV – University Libraries Director: Claytee D. White Editors: Maggie Lopes, Stefani Evans, Franklin Howard Transcriber: Kristin Hicks Interviewers and Project Assistants: Barbara Tabach and Claytee D. White

The recorded interview and transcript have been made possible through the generosity of

Dr. Harold Boyer. The Oral History Research Center enables students and staff to work together with community members to generate this selection of first-person narratives. The participants in this project thank the university for the support given that allowed an idea the opportunity to flourish.

The transcript received minimal editing that includes the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader’s understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. In several cases photographic sources accompany the individual interviews.

The following interview is part of a series of interviews conducted under the auspices of

the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project.

Claytee D. White, Project Director Director, Oral History Research Center University Libraries University Nevada, Las Vegas

PREFACE

Dorothy Ann Lee (née Damrow) was born in 1941 in New Jersey. Her family came to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1946 in an effort to improve her father’s health but chose to stay after she and her sister contracted chicken pox during the trip. She attended John S. Park Elementary School and Las Vegas High School. She moved around the city of Las Vegas a number of times during her childhood before settling in the Huntridge neighborhood with her mother in 1950. She worked for the Huntridge Theater during her high school years. She was also a member of the Rhythmettes, Las Vegas High School’s dance troupe, for three years and performed all over the United States during her time with them. After high school, Lee attended the University of Illinois until she met her future husband and dropped out. She lived in Chicago for six months before she and Danny Lee moved back to Las Vegas to get married. They married in 1960 at the Little Church of the West. The couple had four children together.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Interview with Dorothy Lee June 2, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada Conducted by Claytee D. White

Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………..iii Dorothy remembers her parents; moved to Las Vegas; describes her childhood home; moved to Paradise Valley in Las Vegas; describes how she traveled to school; describes her neighborhood in the 1940s; remembers the teachers of the John S. Park elementary school; her parents divorced; moved to the Huntridge neighborhood; describes the Huntridge neighborhood and the house she lived in; worked at the Huntridge Theater; saw premieres at the Huntridge Theater; worked as an elevator operator at the Riviera Hotel…………………………………………..1-10

Auditioned for the Rhythmettes; remembers Evelyn Stuckey and the beginnings of the Rhythmettes; describes the uniforms, how they were made, and how members obtained them; performed with the Rhytmettes; traveled with the Rhythmettes; performed for the Helldorado Parade; describes the honor of being a Rhythmette; rehearsed with the Rhymettes; remembers the Rhymette Reviews; describes her relationship with Evelyn Stuckey; left the Rhythmettes due to internal tensions...... ………………………………………………………………………..10-17

Remembers her mother; describes the advertising in the Rhythmette Review booklets; attended the University of Illinois; returned to Las Vegas and worked in restaurants; married at the Little Church of the West; moved to Chicago; returned to Las Vegas; describes her children’s education; remembers entertainment in Las Vegas during the 1960s; bought a house; describes the house she bought with her husband; discusses Las Vegas’ reputation as a city………….17-27

Danny remembers the YMCA in Las Vegas; Danny describes creating a basketball league in Las Vegas and playing for a team; Danny discusses high school clubs like the Wildcat Lair and high school rivalries; Danny worked with the Boy Scouts of America in Las Vegas; Danny met General Dwight Eisenhower; Danny was elected president of the Nevada Library Association…………………………………………………………………………………...27-35

Today is June second, 2016. I am in Dorothy home's this morning here in Henderson. This is Claytee White.

Dorothy, could you please give me your full name and spell it for me?

Dorothy Ann Lee. My last name is Lee, my married name, L-E-E, and my maiden name was

Damrow, D-A-M-R-O-W. I was born in Newark, New Jersey because that's where the hospital was, but I was raised in Mountain Lakes and Glen Ridge, New Jersey. My father had a business in Hoboken, New Jersey, called the Pie Pack Company. It was a paper pie pack. He invented the pie pack thing that pies are made in now where the plate and the overhead cover. Of course, it's been modernized with plastic and everything, but this was in 1940 when he did this. But because my father had a ruptured gallbladder in 1944, he had to sell his company in 1946 and move out here because of health reasons.

My father went to Annapolis. He did not have to go into the service because he graduated in 1919, which was the end of World War I, and they said it was the war to end all wars.

My mother was born in England, Maidstone, Kent, and she and my grandmother came over here, back and forth, back and forth. She was raised basically in Boston and then came out to California.

We came out to Las Vegas in 1946. The only reason we stayed in Las Vegas was because my sister and I came down with the chicken pox. In those days there were only the Last

Frontier and the El Rancho and there were some small motels. They would not let us stay because it was a contagious disease. So my father called down to California and they said, "If you can buy anything, get it because all the boys are coming home from the war." This was

February 1946. So we bought the second house on Maryland Parkway and Oakey [Boulevard].

If you are facing the Strip [Las Vegas Boulevard], it is on the left-hand side. Oakey then was a dead end street and Maryland Parkway was much larger, the island in the middle; we all played games in there. Now, I was only five and a half then.

So is that near the circle?

It's farther up. It's going toward Oakey, which now goes all the way through. Maryland

Parkway goes all the way through. It was a dead end street. There were things past it, but Oakey stopped right there. There was a house right there on the end of Maryland Parkway and Oakey.

We enrolled in John S. Park [Elementary School] then and that's when I had Ms.

Hancock as my teacher. When we were there, my mother wouldn't even unpack because, of course, we had a beautiful home in New Jersey and she said, "I am not staying in this little two bit town." Because there was nothing. You have no idea. There was absolutely nothing here.

And so we stayed in this little house on Maryland Parkway for maybe a half a year.

Describe the house.

It was just a small, little Huntridge home, probably two bedrooms, maybe, very tiny. I don't think it's changed much. If you drive by it, it's still there. It hasn't changed in size, I don't believe.

Then my mother, who loved animals and horses, decided, well, maybe it wasn't too bad.

So we bought five acres on West Charleston, which if you're going to it, it would be across from

Southern Nevada Memorial Hospital, a little...one way or the other, and we had five acres there and we got into horses; we had five horses. My sister, who was five years older than me, who was Barbara, she and my mother rode the horses quite a bit. I never really cared for horseback riding, but I would get on and get off. My mother got into a group called the Frontier Riders and they rode in the Helldorado parade and on weekends they would all get together and ride their

horses and then have breakfast or something at each person's home, I guess. I can remember my mother making waffles or something for breakfast for everybody and they'd all come with their horses.

Who were some of the women?

I couldn't tell you. I was only six years old probably, seven at the most. So we still went to John

S. Park. My sister rode horses with Rex Bell, who was called Tony in those days. They would ride down to the Helldorado Village. So I mean it was not a big thing to see people on horses around here. This is 1947 and it sounds very funny now when you think of it.

Rex Bell, Jr.?

Yes, Rex Bell, Jr., who was called Tony when she went to school with him. Then, of course, when he got older he took the name Rex.

So we went to John S. Park. Then we moved out to Paradise Valley, probably 1947, beginning of 1948, and we bought sixty acres, which paralleled Tomiyasu's ranch and it was across from Kell Houssels's ranch, which was now Wayne Newton's ranch.

So you were at Sunset area?

Yes, it was past Sunset [Road] and it was on Pecos [Road], which would be Pecos now. My mother put the road in; if you see Five Pennies Lane, my mother had to put that road in and then she called it Five Pennies Lane being English. But we had sixty acres there. That's when I went to Paradise Valley School, which was a two-room schoolroom at the time. There was nothing out here, nothing.

How did you get back and forth to school?

My dad drove us and I think some of the kids might have had a bus or some kids, I think, rode their horses. I was in the second grade then. And my sister was in the seventh and eighth and

she skipped both because you're in a room from kindergarten to fourth and then fifth through eighth, I think it was. Mrs. Peterson—I don't know why I remember her name—but I believe it was Mrs. Peterson was my teacher. There was nothing. I mean we're talking nothing. Now that's part of the university where the Paradise Valley School was. It was an elementary school and now it's part of the university. It was a two-room schoolroom just out in the middle of

nowhere. For recess, the boys would go out and chase lizards.

So describe from your house, the Pecos/Sunset area to the school. What did it look like that

area?

Just desert. I mean very few houses out there, houses here and there, but nothing, no congestion.

You rode your horses. My mother and my sister—I don't even know if you know where the

Round-Up was, but that's where Main Street and Fifth Street combined and it was a drive-in. My

mother and sister rode their horses from our ranch all the way to the Round-Up and then rode

back just for a little afternoon stroll, I guess. So I mean that's how desolated it was. So it was

very different.

Tell me about Ms. Hancock.

Ms. [Doris] Hancock was very strict and if you didn't have a handkerchief, she told you to have

your mother take a hem, the hem on your dress and cut out a little thing and make a pocket from

your hem in your dress so you could carry a handkerchief in your dress or your pocket, or the

little boys had to have a safety pin with a handkerchief on it. So you had to have that. You came

in and you sat down and you were well-behaved. Unfortunately, they don't do that anymore.

And the handkerchief is so that if you sneezed?

Oh, yes. You always had to have a handkerchief. That's just one of the things that I remember

about her. Anybody that went to school at John S. Park will remember Ms. Hancock. Our

principal was Ms. Thomas; Ruby Thomas was the principal of John S. Park School. She was probably about five-three. But I'll tell you, if Ruby Thomas told you to do something, I don't care if you were a six-foot-three boy in the eighth grade, you jumped because that's how John S.

Park was. We had wonderful teachers. Our English teacher was Ms. Schultz. When we went into high school, our English teacher said, "We know where you went to grade school." Because she taught us English and we knew our English. So those are teachers that stand out in your mind. Ms. Chandler was my fifth teacher and she was excellent. John S. Park was a wonderful school.

Now I will take a change because my parents got a divorce then. So I went to private school for a year down in California and then we came back and I went to Fifth Street for a half a year. Then in 1950, my mother remarried and we moved back to Huntridge, 1145 South Tenth

Street, which was between Charleston Boulevard and Franklin Avenue. And then I went to John

S. Park School from fifth to eighth grade again.

Did you remember some of the kids from before?

Oh, yes. I've got friends that I still—well, I just lost a friend last year that I had gone to school

with since kindergarten. Huntridge was a very close community. Richard Bryan you'll know. A

lot of people that have gone on to be quite popular in our state. But we could go to a party and

we could tell you where everybody lived in Huntridge; that's how close-knit it was. You realized

how small this town was in those days because everybody knew where everybody was. And

you'd go out, anywhere you went to you'd meet people that you saw, but now you can't do that

anymore.

Right. So tell me what the 1950 house looked like compared to the first house.

It was a corner house and it had a white picket fence all around it. My stepdad built a great big

room off of it, so we had a large living room. Then the bedrooms were quite small. It originally probably only had two bedrooms to begin with and one and a half baths. Then there was another room off of it and it had another full bath and they combined that into the house and my dad built another big room. So we had a living room, dining room and a big living room with a fireplace and everything in it. It was a very nice home right there. Jimmy Cashman Jr. lived two houses down. Toot Shore lived on the corner. Those are names that you might know or hear from. But it wasn't that far from school; in other words, it was like three and a half blocks to John S. Park.

It was a nice community. Huntridge was a very nice community in those days.

Some of the homes were custom homes?

Only on Park Paseo. A lot of the homes that we were like ours, we added on or built on to them, but the original home was probably...They were probably a tract home in those days, majority of them. Now, you get over to Park Paseo, which is up farther, those were all basically custom homes, yes. So that was just about two blocks up, Sixth Street, and we were on Tenth [Street].

So if you crossed...Is it Maryland Parkway that I'm thinking?

Yes.

On the other side of Maryland Parkway, so east of Maryland Parkway where St. Anne's

[Catholic School] and some of the other schools are if you go—

You mean where [Bishop] Gorman [High School] used to be?

Yes.

Okay. That wasn't even there, of course. Gorman didn't come in until my sophomore year in high school, I don't think, oh, no. See, when I went to Vegas High School, which was 1954,

Rancho [High School] started in the middle of the year. So in other words, all the kids that were going to Rancho had to leave Vegas High School, which really upset a lot of them because then

they started a new high school, and Gorman was about the same time. So in other words, like my husband graduated in '53 and there was only one high school then. When I was a freshman,

Rancho started. Gorman, of course, was started about the same time...They might have had St.

Anne, but I don't know. But I know Gorman didn't start then. See, we were like two blocks in from Charleston; our house was two blocks in from Charleston going toward John S. Park

School.

Wonderful. So when you started high school, did you walk?

Yes, I did. We walked to school in the morning, we came home for lunch, walked back to high school and came back after school.

How far is that?

It's quite a ways. Unless we were lucky and somebody came by and gave us a ride...Of course, when you're freshmen, you're only fourteen. So there's very few. Unless an upper class man was living by you and they would give you a ride. But, no, we walked. That's why we were all in good shape.

I love it.

I laugh at these parents now. I used to live across the street from the lady and it was two blocks to the school and she would drive her child to school instead of walking her. I thought? But, no, we walked and we came home for lunch.

Wow. Tell me about the movie theater.

My very first job, I worked at the Huntridge Theater. I lied about my age and told them I was fifteen and I wasn't—I told them I was sixteen; I was only fifteen. And so I was an usher. I walked down to work; that was on Charleston [Boulevard]. So I walked from Tenth Street down to 12th [Street]. So then I walked there. That was my first job.

Huntridge was owned by the Fremont and the Palace—I mean Fremont Theatre. So there were three theaters. In other words, sometimes they'd say, "We need you to go..." Somewhere.

In other words, they're short today. And you'd have to take a bus down or something like that.

That's how we got around was a bus.

When we were children, I would say ten years old and more, we would take the bus downtown to Doolittle and go swimming in the summertime because that was the pool.

Dula?

Dula Center, yes, right, Dula Center. So we would take the bus there. We would always take the bus everywhere.

Do you remember the Biltmore at all?

No. My husband does, but I don't remember it. No, I don't remember that.

So as an usher do you remember participating in any of the premiers?

Well, when I was a Rhythmette we were there for the premier The Las Vegas Show. I think it's called The Las Vegas. And it was with Dan Dailey and Cyd Charisse. So we got to...I don't know what we actually did, but we were there for that.

But the theaters were interesting because in those days you didn't have television. So you had commercials during the show. Also, we saw a lot of movies when we were kids because the

Huntridge Theater had a children's show in the morning on Saturday morning, which had all the comics. They had a lot of comics in a series like Superman or something like that and then they'd have a children's movie. So I would take my brother and sister to that. Friday night, the older kids got to go Friday night to the movies. Saturday morning, I took my brother and sister to that. Then Sunday afternoon was a new movie. So we would go to like three movies. I'm sure it was a way for our parents to get us out of the house.

Yes. How much did it cost?

Oh, twenty-five cents; something like that. It wasn't very much. I think the most was thirty-five

cents. So it wasn't...Of course, everything is relevant. Popcorn now, my goodness, it's like an

arm and a leg.

It is.

But that was my first job. I worked that and I worked at the El Portal Theatre. I worked at

almost all the theaters. Then when I was a senior in high school, I became an elevator operator

at the Riviera Hotel and I made a dollar an hour, which was, wow, really a lot of money in those

days. I think the minimum wage was fifty-five cents at the most. So when I got a dollar an hour

at the Riviera—and I worked from four to twelve, midnight. But it was my senior year and I

only had to go a half a day to school because I had all my credits. So that's what I did. So I

saved my money for college.

So what was it like being an elevator operator in a hotel?

It was exciting because all the stars—you're talking about Red Buttons and Red Skelton,

Liberace and George Gobel; those people—all stayed up in the penthouse when they were there.

So they would all come in the elevator because it was the only way to get up there. They didn't

have private elevators. Some of them were so gracious and so charming. You'd get on and we

would express them down. And they'd say, "No, I know all these people want to get on." And

they would be just so charming and they treated us so nicely. The bellmen always made sure—

because we were quite young; we were only seventeen years old—they always made sure we got

in our cars at night safe. They took care of us like little babies. It was a wonderful education.

Wonderful. Did you wear a uniform?

Yes, we did. They had it laundered. You had two. So you had one on reserve. You had a little

uniform. It wasn't the silly little hat and all that, no. It was just a blouse and a skirt kind of thing. We got tips, which was amazing. In those days you got silver dollars. They thought of it as pennies, I guess. They'd come in, "Well, here, honey, go buy yourself a Coke." We'd get tips.

So it was just a fun, fun time.

Oh, that is amazing. So tell me about the Rhythmettes and becoming a Rhythmette. So

you started high school in '54.

Fifty-four, yes. You try out in the spring. There's like three hundred girls that try out for it.

There were, I think, six or eight of us that were picked—I forget if it was six—out of that. So I

got it my freshman year.

So you started your freshman year.

At the end of it. So actually I started in my sophomore year, sophomore, junior and senior. So

it's a three-year; that's as long as you can be, yes, right. So I was in there. That was it.

So tell me what the tryouts were like. What did you have to do?

Well, you had to learn...I guess you had to see if you could walk in a straight line and you had to

know some kind of music. Your freshman and sophomore year, you had to take PE [physical

education] and you also had to do some dancing. So I'm sure [Evelyn] Stuckey kind of checked

you out to see if you had any dancing abilities. And then I guess there was a panel that selected

you. I don't know exactly. We had to do all kinds of things. They'd break us up in groups and

have to march with some group and have to see if you caught on. They'd give you some steps

and see if you could do it. It was just kind of fun.

Did Stuckey teach PE?

Yes, she was a PE teacher, she and Ms. Halverson were at the time. I can't think of the other

lady that came on after her. But, yes, she was PE teacher. That's how she started. She went

back evidently to New York and saw the Rockettes and that's how she got the idea. I think there's a story about her in there. So I think that's how that started. It started in Danny's, my husband's class. It was pretty raw at that time. By the time I got in we were very popular.

So that class was which year?

Fifty-three. But I think it started in '52 or '51, probably. Fifty, yes. So that was pretty raw.

When they first started they were kind of laughed at. I guess they went through a lot of stuff. By the time I got in it was pretty prestigious to get in it.

So tell me about the uniforms.

Well, they were handed down every year. So I think that's also one of the reasons you're picked is because you could fit into whoever was going to be out. In fact, the girl that pulled my name was Nancy Presages and who pulled her name was Earlene Witt and we're all about the same.

So I thought that was funny. Then every year we would have a new uniform because some of them would be getting pretty old. So every year we'd...I don't know if we designed them. I can't remember. I know one year one of the girl's mother made them. She and another mother were good seamstresses, evidently. They were the black ones and they made them that year. But other than that every year we had a new uniform. The pink tuxedo, I know we had to pay for our own. Evidently after the Rhythmette Review, I think we got our money back, but I'm not sure.

It's been a long time.

So each girl would have to pay for her own. Could everyone afford to pay for it?

I don't know. I think they did. If they didn't I'm sure Stuckey took care of it or something. We got the money back. That's the only year I remember we had to pay for it was the pink tuxedos.

That's the only year of the three that I can remember that we ever had to pay.

So describe the pink—what was your favorite one?

Well, I loved the red velvet with the fur on it; I mean it just was Rhythmettes; that's all it was.

Now, these that are in this picture here were pink, kind of a fuchsia pink, which were real cute.

So you're talking about these?

Yes, these are pink.

And describe that one.

It was a fuchsia pink and then had had a polka-dotted scarf that we wore inside here. Then we had a turquoise one.

These are all like a dress, but—

Yes, very short. They were corduroy. These were corduroy. We had a green one that was velvet and we had a red one that was velvet and they were more like winter ones. Then these were more summer. Then we had a cowboy one, which were shorts and a shirt, I think it was.

Then we had cowboy hats. So that was that.

How is it possible for all the dresses to be the same length in the photographs?

Well, because you stood in line like that and then they measured from the floor up. So I think ours were a lot longer, and the end of the line, the shortest girls, as short as they could legally have them that's where they had them because ours, by the time they got up to us, they were much longer. You can almost see how it goes down. I think they measured from the floor up and then by the time they got up to us, the tall girls, our skirts were a lot longer, but you don't see it unless you're standing right next to it. But that's it.

We had to shine our shoes and we had a certain black to put around the edge to make the black shiny.

And these are like majorette boots, similar to majorette boots.

Yes, right. I don't think we had the tassels. We didn't have the tassels like the majorettes.

What were some of your favorite activities, of places that you performed?

Well, we went to BYU [Brigham Young University] and saw The Four Freshmen, which was really great. Down out at the dam, we were out at Boulder Dam and we got to perform out there.

In Collier Magazine, we were out in the middle of the desert trying to stand up and kick for the photographer. Oh gosh, it's been a long time. I can't remember.

Did you travel?

Yes, we went on buses. We went a lot of different places. Like if it was up in Reno [Nevada]

we played, a lot of times we'd go up there, perform. It seemed like we went to BYU a couple of

times, but I'm not sure. Like a fraternity sponsored us to come up there. The fraternity boys

picked the girls they wanted to go out with that night. They would take us—nothing romantic or

anything. Then you had like an escort kind of thing. I can't remember. I know we went on trips,

but I wasn't in the trip that they went to Ed Sullivan. That was the year I got in. So I was a

freshman and they were leaving that summer and, of course, we didn't get to go that one. But

that was the biggest trip that they took, but I wasn't in that group.

Tell me about Helldorado Parades as a Rhythmette.

Hot. And you'd have little kids with BB guns shooting at your legs.

Real BB guns?

Yes. I mean not BB guns, but...What are those? Peashooters. Yeah, BB guns. Pea shooters. It

was just hot and you were dodging horse doo-doo. It wasn't one of my favorite times in my life.

So it was not as glamorous as it looks.

No, it was not as glamorous, no.

But now, you showed me one photograph, though, of the Helldorado Parade where you're

dressed as a showgirl. Tell me about that one.

They came and asked Terry Jeffers and myself. The two tallest girls in Rhythmettes.

And when you say "they"...?

They came from the hotel. So I think it was the Thunderbird Hotel. I'm not sure what hotel we were walking by. They wanted to know if we wanted to be in the parade as walking along. So

Terry Jeffers and I went out there and we had these uniforms and they put us on and they had all this glitter and all that stuff and we walked in the parade by the balloons and all that stuff, had to walk up in these showgirl outfits.

So how was it being a Rhythmette? How did it make you feel?

Well, when you're selected it was a great honor. Everybody knew who you were. You were A

Rhythmette. It was a very big honor to be a Rhythmette. You figure out of a high school...There was only eighteen girls in the whole high school. In those days you were either a Rhythmette or a cheerleader. In other words, now they have ball girls for every sport. They have flag twirlers, cheerleaders, drill team. They have everything in all these high schools, which is wonderful. In my day you were either a Rhythmette or a cheerleader; that was it.

And the other girls just did not participate on that level.

Oh, no. Oh, no. That was it. You were...You'd say the cream of the crop. You were up there because there were no other activities. They didn't have anything like they have nowadays, which is wonderful now because everybody gets a chance to be something.

So tell me about Ms. Stuckey.

She was a lovely person and she got this started, which had to take a lot of nerve and a lot of ability. She had to push for it and get it appreciated.

What kind of disciplinarian? Tell me about rehearsals and what time you had to be there and all of that.

We had to be there at six o'clock—well, let's see. School started, I think, at nine. So we had to be there at seven. So you had to get up and six and you'd be there, I think, at seven. So we had practice for like an hour and a half every morning, most every morning. Then we had one at night, like Thursday night if we were going to perform on Friday, just to have a run-through.

But in the practices is when we created new routines.

And who did that?

We all did. In other words, she'd put on a record. She'd pick a record. Or maybe somebody might say, "Let's see if we can do something to this." We're all pretty talented in the musical abilities. One girl went to Broadway. A very talented group. So, in other words, we would put on the music and we'd say, "Okay, let's try this." And maybe four of us would get up and try to do that routine. So that's how you created a routine. That's basically how it was. Those were the practices.

Then you performed basically Friday night for a football game or a basketball game; that was basically what we did unless there was something special. But it was just...That was it.

Tell me about the reviews.

The reviews were lovely. The seniors all had to do their own dance; in other words, they had to create their own dance and do it. It was always in a gym. It was just in the gym. So it wasn't anything special. Now, that's from the movie. You had so many routines. You started out and it was in the gym. So all the people, the audience is all in the gym. At the end they had like revolving doors kind of thing. So the senior girls, we'd all have formals on and she would introduce each one of us one, one at a time. So the doors would open and here you would be in your formal and beautiful. Then we would all go back and change and then we'd start our routines. We'd do a couple of routines. In between...Say there were six seniors that year, so

each girl had her own dance, single dance. Usually there were boys in the class that were good dancers, not just our class, but throughout the high school. So they would dance with them. I can remember one girl was a pirate. She came out of the ceiling. Some of them were really very, very creative and some were not.

Tell me about your senior dance.

I didn't have one. It's a different story. You want to hear it?

Yes.

Well, Ms. Stuckey and I did not get along.

Oh, I see.

She wanted to be my controller and my mother instead of just a teacher and a director. She became very dominant in a sense. I rebelled.

So with you more than other girls, you thought?

A lot of them didn't talk back as much as me.

I see, I see, okay.

When I got in trouble, I talked to a couple of girls that were older than me that had been in it and they said, "No, we didn't put up with that." But by the time I got in, I was the only one that said,

"No."

And what kind of things did you say no to that you didn't like?

Oh, she wanted to know if Rhythmettes was the most important thing in my life. And I said,

"No, it's not. My family, my religion."

I see.

So I was put out of Rhythmettes my senior year, middle of my senior year. But it was a growing

experience.

Was it worth it?

Oh, yes.

Okay, good.

Oh, yes. Oh, no. No, I didn't ever regret that. I had so many friends, because I didn't do anything—I was accused of doing something wrong and I did not. And so my mother, being the strong woman that she was, she went up and she said, "I want to talk to the board that's in charge of you, Ms. Stuckey." And she said, "I don't want this on my daughter's record. She has done nothing except a personality conflict here. This is just a little high school drill team and I don't want this on her record." Nothing was ever put on my record.

Now, I had so many friends that said...They were really very upset. I mean I had boys and girls come up to me and say, "No." I was a very good girl and I was accused of not being a good girl.

Okay, I see.

So that was that. That's a different story of a Rhythmette that you'll never hear.

Exactly. But thank you for that. Tell me about your mother, what kind of woman she is.

Very strong woman, very, very strong woman. Loved her dearly. I can't say anything except she was a very strong woman. She was raised by a single woman; my grandfather died when she was just a baby. So I had a lot of strong women in my life. If you believed in something, stand up for it. That's why mother said when I got in trouble, she said, "I want to know the truth. If you're telling the truth, I'll back you all the way. But I want to know the truth." And hopefully I raised my children the same way.

Oh, that is wonderful. That's a great story. I appreciate that so much, so very much.

In the review, the Rhythmette's Review booklet, there are all kinds of ads.

Yes.

How did that happen?

You had to go around; as Rhythmettes we would go around. Most people that we went around to had done it for years and they would buy. I think they were twenty-five dollars or fifty dollars; I don't even know what they paid in those days. But it wasn't very hard to get sponsorships.

When we had a Rhythmette Review, they were very professionally done. Stuckey had to hire light guys and all that, the arcs and the music. So it was very professionally done when you're thinking it was in a gym. So I give credit where credit is due and Stuckey did a wonderful job. It's just that we had different personalities. No, she did a wonderful job. A lot of girls, she was a mother figure to them. A lot of girls didn't have a strong mother like I did. You will get all kinds of input from her. But I will give her credit because she started with nothing and she built it up to something that was on The Ed Sullivan Show. You're pretty good there.

Yes. And Collier Magazine.

Yes. It was very well-known.

So tell me when you left high school, where did you go to college?

I went to University of Illinois.

Why?

I wanted a Big Ten and don't ask me why. I was going to go to Oregon. I was going to go to

Oregon and then I saw that it had like forty inches of rain and I thought, no, I don't want that.

Then my friend was going to Nebraska and I thought, well, I'll pick Illinois. So I just picked

Illinois. I just went one year and then I came home and fell in love and the rest is history.

Oh, that's great. So as a young bride coming back to Las Vegas—well, coming back to Las

Vegas and then getting...Did you have a job in between?

I was a hostess cashier at the Blue Onion Restaurant, which was a drive-in.

Yes. Tell me about the Blue Onion.

See, there were three. There were Sill's Drive-In and there was the Round-Up Drive-In and the

Blue Onion. Blue Onion was where the kids from Rancho went, Sill's was where the Las Vegas

High School went, and the Round-Up was kind of like the second place that kids from Vegas

went, but mostly at Sill's. You all hung out at Sill's. Those were the days when you sat in your

cars and wherever and had a Coke.

But the Blue Onion, I was inside as a hostess cashier. I worked a split shift, which was

great because I was busy all the time. I just loved it. You had your regulars and it was fun. That

was about the only job. I started to work at the Aku Aku.

Tell me what that is.

It's a restaurant. It was a Polynesian restaurant and it had the big statues. It's no longer there.

It's kind of by the Stardust. It was out on the Strip.

So near the Peppermill area?

DANNY: It was in the Stardust.

It was in the Stardust. But it burned down. They had a big fire the day I was going to start working. Danny said, "You'll do anything not to have a job."

And then I worked at the Silver Slipper just for two weeks. A friend of mine was going on vacation and she asked if I could be a cashier for her while she was...And then we got married and went back to Chicago [Illinois] for six months.

Oh, that's right, yes.

Fifty-six years ago.

This is the wedding? Oh, this is amazing. Oh, you have it identified. He's good. Which

year?

Nineteen sixty. [1960]

Oh, this is great. So who would like this picture in the book?

Oh, I don't care. It doesn't matter.

So this is your picture. That's beautiful. Where did you get married?

At the Little Church of the West.

Really?

Yes.

The Little Church of the West, now, that's the one on Las Vegas Boulevard and...

Yes.

It's been moved four or five times. It was in front of the Frontier Hotel then.

When we got married it was by the Frontier Hotel.

Now it's by the...What is the big one?

It's out there.

Yes, it's all the way out there by Mandalay Bay.

Yes, right.

Oh, that's wonderful. So describe a Las Vegas wedding to me in 1960.

Well, we had a small wedding because most of my friends were in college and we got married in

March because he had a job waiting for him in Chicago. So that's the only reason we got married. Now, if you would have had a June wedding, you would have had a wedding like most people have with a reception and the bridesmaids and all of that. But we had a small one because nobody was here, basically. There were very few of my friends that were here.

At that time almost everybody went away to college.

Oh, yes. They either went to Reno [Nevada], Arizona or...

Or away.

We had friends that went to Cornell [University], Nebraska, Colorado, Reno [Nevada], Arizona.

Basically that's where most of them went.

And when you came back from Chicago, which year was it when you came back to Las

Vegas?

Nineteen sixty...Well, yes, we came back in 1960 because we got married in March and I came back in September. So it was 1960 when we came back.

Oh, so you really weren't gone that long.

No, we were only gone six months. He had a job.

I stayed there awhile longer.

He stayed there and I came back and stayed with my mom and then we rented a house from my mom. I was pregnant then. We rented a house on 12th and Stewart [Avenue].

So that's Maryland Parkway?

That's over off...Stewart is...You've got Fifth Street going all the way over toward...

I think Maryland Parkway ended at Fremont [Street] and it was 12th across the street.

Yes. It's quite west—I mean it's east.

East, right, because Stewart is the street where the post office was.

Yes.

So if I'm going to go—

North of 12th to Steward-Corner House

So if I'm going to go down to 12th Street. And those were all houses at the time.

Right, they were very small houses, very funny houses.

What do you mean?

Well, my mother owned the corner there. So there was a dance studio and a shop underneath it.

The dance studio and then the lady lived upstairs. She also owned this little house next to it that we rented and it had a little, little living room. I mean it wasn't as big as this dining room. But it had a big bedroom and a big kitchen and a big bathroom, which was wonderful because we had twins. So I had room for two bassinets and I had room for a bassinet in the bathroom. So it worked out perfectly. But at the time we thought, oh my gosh, this is the weirdest looking house

I've ever seen. We only lived there for, oh, probably six months and then we bought a house up on Bannock and then that was our first house.

Bannock?

Bannock Way, way up west. It was a Sproul Home.

So near West Charleston area?

West Charleston, yes. And there was nothing out there. 6301 Bannock Way was our address.

What is the other cross street?

Charleston [Boulevard] and Evergreen [Avenue], I think, probably.

So are we near Scotch 80s; that area?

No. Way past it.

No, no, no.

You're way out, way west.

Way out. There was nothing out there.

So are you past Decatur [Boulevard], Rainbow [Boulevard]?

Yes.

Oh, really?

Yes. There was nothing. It was a tract home called Sproul. They were called Sproul Homes and that's where we lived and we lived there for ten years.

So you saw the area develop between?

Oh, yes, develop. Oh, yes. By the time we left it was pretty well filled in with homes.

And did you work while you—

No, I've never worked.

Wow. Wonderful. But you raised how many children?

Four.

Four children.

Yes, yes. So, no I didn't work.

Yes, you did.

No, I just played around all day long. [Laughing]

Yes, right. Yes, I see. Where did your children go to school?

They went to...I can't think of the name up there, the first one. Rose Warren? Rose Warren

[Elementary School]. Then they went to...Barbara and David went to George E. Harris

[Elementary School]. All the teachers that went to George E. Harris went to the Meadows

[Elementary]. They had a very strict principal like my grade school was. George E. Harris was very strict. They came in from an auditorium and they'd say, "Excuse me, excuse me," and they sat down and they'd be quiet, very well-behaved. They were wonderful teachers at George E.

Harris.

My daughters went to Chaparral High School. David went to Chaparral. Barbara went to

Chaparral for two years, then she decided she wanted to be in the culinary and at Vo-Tech they had a culinary program. So she went out there and became a sous chef for Andre and then went

to college at Reno. She went into geriatrics.

I thought—went into geriatrics?

Yes, right after doing all of that.

But she worked downtown at Andre's?

Yes. She helped with the salad, sous chef the salad at Andre's. When you talk to Patty Sears and

Maria Wadsworth that's where they grew up.

In that house.

That was their home, yes.

As a young couple getting married, 1960 coming back here, what did you do for entertainment?

We had neighbors over for coffee and we played Pinochle. We couldn't afford to do anything else. We went to a movie once in a while; that was a great treat. This was when we very first got married. Our parents had us for dinner once a week. Danny's parents had us one day a week and my parents had us one day a week; otherwise, we would have starved.

But you were ready to buy a house, though, after only a year?

Oh, yes. But in those days the payment was about $117.00 a month.

Tell her how we got it.

Oh. Danny didn't have a GI loan because he was in that...whatever it's called in the middle that they didn't get it. So he had a friend that said, "Well, I don't need mine. I've already got a house and I'm not going to buy another one. I'll give you mine. So I'll buy the house for you and then turn it over to you in six months and it will cost you a case of beer."

And a hundred dollars.

And a hundred dollars. So that's how we qualified for the house.

Oh my goodness.

Yes. So that was it. Our payments were like a hundred and seventeen dollars a month.

A hundred ten to start.

A hundred and ten.

So is that friend still around?

No. He passed away.

Wow. Oh, what a friend. That was a great friend.

So it was just a typical, small, little three-bedroom, two baths. Then we built on. Danny built on a great big room on it and includes the garage, all that kind of stuff that everybody did in those days. Then we had our last child, which was a surprise, so we had to get a bigger home. Then we moved to 3611 Maria Street and we were there for twenty years.

Where is that?

That's in...Well, let's see. It would be between Pecos [Road] and Sandhill [Road] and DI [Desert

Inn Road] and...Not Warm Springs, but Warm Springs [Road] and Viking [Road] or something like that. It's in that area over there.

Not the area where doctor...Warm Springs? Oh, Warm Springs, no. I'm thinking where the doctor is with his...

Oh, no, no. We're east of that. You're talking about—yes, right.

The neurosurgeon [Lonnie Hammargren] whose I can't think of right now.

Yes, I can't think of him now either.

Yes, right.

I was lobbying when he was lieutenant governor.

Anyway, yes. No, we were past that. That was where George E. Harris was on Sandhill and we

were like four blocks up from it.

Okay, good. Great. Well, this is wonderful. I really, really appreciate this. Any other stories you want to tell about cruising Fremont Street?

We all did that. We all knew one another. We walked everywhere or you were a kid, you rode your bicycle everywhere. It was just a nice town. Everybody kind of watched out for everybody else it seemed like. We had lasting friends. I thought that's nice. You've done the Fieldens. But

I've known Jane before she even had her last one, Scott. So we've kept our closeness with friends.

One thing I will say that Dan Rather gave an expo on Las Vegas years ago. He just showed the seamy side of it, all the crummy stuff. We were very big basketball fans and we went with the Rebels everywhere. We were on a trip down to Tucson and I would say there were probably at least ten couples. We were in a big long table. We were all sitting in a restaurant.

And we were all married to the original spouses, all raised every one of our children in Las

Vegas, all very successful. And why wasn’t he interviewing us?

Exactly. You should have called Dan Rather.

Yes. That's right. But we always hear Sin City and all this; and, yet, they never show a really good part of Las Vegas.

Exactly. Even when people are trying to be positive, somehow the word Sin City is still thrown in. It just seems to rub me the wrong way now that I know so much about the good of this city. So I know exactly what you're saying.

Well, I was in a Bible study group, which was international. We traveled. When we traveled across the country, I would always go once a week to wherever these Bible study classes were because you had the same lesson wherever you went. So, of course, being from Las Vegas

they'd always say, "Oh, I'm so glad to know there's some Christians in Las Vegas." So I got to laughing so hard. I said, "Well, I've noticed there's a lot of gambling out here." Because there's a lot of Indian reservations all across the country. So I get to Savannah [Georgia] and they

introduce me Dorothy is from Las Vegas. "It's so nice to have you here," and everything. I said,

"I have to tell you you're the first ones that didn't say, 'I'm so glad to know there's Christians.'"

She says, "Well, we're all thinking about it, Dorothy, but we just couldn't tell you."

That's a lady from Louisiana she was talking to.

Oh, then this one lady—we were in a convention one time and we were in New York. She was

sitting there. You're talking to her. "Where are you from?" I said, "Las Vegas." "Oh my gosh, I

couldn't wait to get out of that town. What a terrible town." I said, "Well, we don't live on the

Strip." I said, "Where are you from?" She said, "New Orleans." I said, "You're telling me about

a town?" I said, "Do you live on Bourbon Street?" "Well, of course not." I said, "Well, we don't

live on the Strip."

[Laughing] Yes, yes. I think sometimes we have to defend it—

Yes, we do.

—because we know what a great place it is.

Yes.

[Colloquy not transcribed; discussing collection of photographs]

So, Danny, what do you have there?

Well, I've got one here. This is kind of interesting. They had a YMCA in Vegas, but they didn't

have a YMCA in Vegas; it was behind the cleaner's on Fremont Street. As I mentioned to you

once before, school was more of a social event than it was a learning center.

For you.

So sometimes I had a little problem getting my grades to play on a high school team. So I'd play on other teams.

Oh, so what kind of team did you play on?

Well, this team right here in 1952 won the West Coast YMCA Championship in Long Beach.

So did we have a YMCA here?

They had a room behind a cleaner's on Fremont Street. But this guy got us a sponsor, which was the Monte Carlo Casino. So anyway, here was a bunch of guys that were all good basketball players, but were just like me; they were more socially active than anything. So we put a team together in the City League here and we won the City League and we went to Long Beach,

California and won the West Coast YMCA. We were supposed to go to Pennsylvania later for a national tournament and we couldn't raise enough money to go. But the team that won, we could've beaten them.

Wow. Who is the person right here?

That was our coach. He was a chiropractor here in town. He wasn't very well—he was our coach.

And this person?

He was the director of the Y [YMCA] and I cannot tell you his name, but we called him Dr.

Quack-Quack. Our girlfriends at the game for our cheers would go, "Quack, quack, quack,

quack," because he was a quack.

These are the pictures of my buddies that was in...

So do you have this as a photo like these others?

Not that I'm aware of. I might have a bigger one.

So this is the only one you have. And this is out of?

That's from the [Las Vegas] Review-Journal.

That was in the Review-Journal of Pete and you? No, that wasn't in the Review-Journal. That was just a picture that your mom took a picture of the three of you.

Yes, I guess it was. I guess it was. We had a social club called the Mint Juleps. It was the first jacket club in town. They had the Wildcat Lair. Did you ever hear—

Yes.

Okay. And the Wildcat Lair, we had this in the old what they called the War Memorial Building, which is where City Hall was and now it's the headquarters of what's his name. We had a party there.

Headquarters of?

The guy that was funding downtown, owns the—

Oh, where Zappos is?

Yes. This war memorial was where that building is now.

Okay, good.

So we had this fundraiser to buy furniture for the Wildcat Lair, new furniture, and we raised quite a bit of money.

Is this the only photograph you have?

I can look for something else, but I'm not sure.

This would be a great photograph.

He doesn't need them back. Our kids don't want them.

I'll try to find it.

I would love to have that.

You're painting. See, you ink came through.

It came out of the paper, so I don't think I do.

So the '53 Review-Journal. Maybe we can find that. That's great.

Actually, yes, that was '53. Let me see what else I have. I put this together for my class on the

Wildcat Lair.

Oh, good.

So this would be the Wildcat Lair. I put that together to give to my class on our reunion one time.

We hear about the Wildcat Lair all the time.

Oh, it was the most beautiful place.

It ended my freshman year. I got to go to it one time and then they closed it.

And why would they close it?

Because Rancho [High School] started and they were going to get kids from every high school and then fights would start and all that kind of stuff.

Oh. And do you think that would have happened?

I don't know.

I think it would have happened, yes.

Was there animosity as Rancho became a high school?

Well, yes, you always had that intercity rivalry. So I don't know.

And Gorman entered at that time.

I just told her Gorman started. So there were three high schools then.

Right. Wow. It's too bad. I heard good things about the Wildcat Lair.

This is a commencement program from the Fifth Street School.

Good. Now, this is a copy. Do you have the original?

I don't know. What I did...I found out I've got to go through my stuff.

I thought you did.

I didn't go through it enough.

Yes. So we would love to have a commencement program from Fifth Street School. So you put the names on it, good.

Yes. I knew you said that. Now, you talked about where we hang out.

Oh, this is wonderful. I don't know if I've ever seen this. Is this the only photograph you have of this?

There is a big one somewhere around and I know one of my classmates will have it to get it back.

You had a lot about libraries in our deal. This was when we made our commitment to the future and started doing bond issues and so forth. That's probably about 1988, probably, 1988.

It doesn't have a date anywhere in it.

Do you want this Department of Public Instructions that shows that I graduated from the eighth grade and onto a high school?

It's from which school?

John S. Park.

Yes. What is that?

Well, in 1950—I'll tell you a bigger story about that.

Are these Boy Scouts?

Boy Scouts and that's at the Boy Scouts Jamboree at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. They had a lot of ways of raising money, these kids. Mine was somewhat unique. The Mormon Church—we used to have what they called Helldorado Village. The first booth you came into that had games was our booth on the left side. You had one where you throw balls at a bottle and others were

darts. We had a Scout troop that ran it.

The old Scout cabins, you probably have heard about the old Scout cabins, the old rock cabins? Oh, we've got to find some information for you on the old Scout cabins. Maybe the Boy

Scouts will have it. There were only four troops and each one of them built a cabin, which is about where Dula pool would be now. Dula pool, in that area?

Yes. And they built a cabin?

Yes, they built the cabins and the Boy Scout headquarters. They were all made out of rock. All had fireplaces in them and they belonged to...And the first baseball stadium was right next to them when they got a parole team. It was behind the post office over there, the county campground—I mean fairground used to be there. The county barns used to be there. My granddad used to keep his horses in that general area; that's between Second Street and Third

Street basically was where it was, Second [Street] and Fourth [Street]. So that's where it was.

But anyway, the Scout troop had a deal—I couldn't have gone to this; we didn't have enough money to pay for this trip. So each week, each time we got together as Scouts, they would vote who they wanted to send with the money that we made at that and they picked me. So

I got to go to the Jamboree.

Wow. So where are you in this photograph?

I'm down front someplace.

Are you interested in Rainbow Girls?

I don't know what Rainbow Girls are.

It's a girls' organization of the Masonic Lodge. Masons.

Oh, yes.

There's a lot of people in that.

I'm there.

So you are standing?

Yes.

Okay, good. Oh, yes, I see you made a little note.

I'll tell you a funny story that happened at that. I was a patrol leader. We were into patrols. We had tents and stuff. And we had a little Hoover Dam in front, to draw it. Well, they had a big thing going on one of the last days, a big fireworks display. And General Eisenhower, who was not a general at that time, was going to be the main speaker. The Scout master came up to me and said, "You're squad has to stay here and watch the camp." We were really mad that we weren't going to get to go. One of them in my patrol was Richard Bryan. So we're there feeling sorry for ourselves and we see this limo coming down this grass area. The limo stopped and the door opened and Eisenhower got out. Richard Bryan was over there and Eisenhower said,

"Who's in charge here?" And he says, "Danny is," and he pointed to me. Eisenhower came over and he says, "Would you show me where you sleep and tell me how you cook your meals and so forth?" So I took him and showed him our tents, showed him where we cooked and that we'd go pick it up and we had to cook it ourselves. He made me talk about the dam, tell him about the dam. He was probably there—it seemed like a long time—ten or fifteen minutes, which was quite a while. He got in this limo and drove off.

Now, the fireworks—and we look at each other like, holy cow, what just happened to us?

I introduced him to everyone on my squad. Well, they started the fireworks and that. We had the best seat in the house. We were on a hill; we looked right down. We could hear his speech and we got the fireworks.

Good. And you got to meet him. Oh, wow, wonderful story.

Anyway, so that was Richard Bryan.

Here is some stuff. This was a groundbreaking ceremony in the paper.

For one of the libraries?

Yes. Here's another library thing.

And you don't know the date of this groundbreaking, do you?

No, I didn't put it down. I wonder what library that was. This would have been the first one after...This was the one on Las Vegas Boulevard North, the groundbreaking for that.

The downtown?

Yes. I can't tell you exactly.

But this is Las Vegas Boulevard.

The paper put this in. We had a bus. We had to go to Kingman to get on a train. We had to charter a train in Kingman to go back to the Jamboree. They had that in the paper of us getting on the bus. It was kind of a big occasion.

So this is the Jamboree right here that you're talking about?

Yes. This was the letter I got when I got Trustee of the Year. This was a letter I sent to people.

Oh, for the library. So Hunsberger, okay.

Yes. This right here is unusual only in, when I tell you this, I was president of the Nevada

Library Association and it was the first time that a non-professional librarian had ever held that position at any state in the union. So it was a big thing. When I went to conventions and I'd be a president, they'd say, "Well, what library are you the president?" "Well, I'm just on the board."

"What?"

So where are you here?

I'm making a speech.

But where? Where is this?

This is at the State Library.

Up in Carson City [Nevada]?

Yes. That was in 1991 because I had to leave early because my mother was dying of cancer and

I had to leave early that year and I missed the convention.

This is just a picture for you, but those are two pictures of my mother and me when I was pretty young. That was my parents' fiftieth wedding anniversary.

Kay's picture.

This is one of your daughters?

No. This is one of my friends that I went to kindergarten with.

Oh, good. Oh, that's great. Did she become a Rhythmette?

No.

That was my Grandpa Lee and that was our old trailer. That trailer didn't disappear from my life until...

Good.

Now, this one somebody wrote on the back.

This is the one you showed me earlier, yes. I wrote on the back. Oh, this is amazing. I thank both of you so much.

Well, you're quite welcome. We enjoyed it.

[End of recorded interview]