Party with the Stars

Las Vegas in the 70's was fascinating: invitations to Strip stars' parties, crossing paths with infamous mobsters Tony Spilotro and Lefty Rosenthal, and bit parts in television series like "Vegas."

Two parties stand out in my mind:

One was a roller skating party that Cher threw. A rink was set up behind Caesars Palace and I skated around with Foster Brooks, a comedian and opening act on the Strip. He had been a judge for a silly television show I participated in called "The Unofficial Miss Las Vegas Showgirl Pageant." It was a spoof of beauty pageants in which the participants represented hotels along the Strip and had the most ridiculous and outrageous "talents" possible. The fun part of the show involved the host, Steve Allen. He was not permitted to see or know ahead of time what each contestant was going to do. His jokes were all spontaneous and made the reactions of the judges - Jayne Meadows, Rich Little and Foster Brooks - hilarious. Being pretzelish, my talent was to put one leg behind my neck, then pretend to be stuck. For the rest of the show, I was brought onstage on a dolly with my leg still "stuck" behind my neck and with my "Dunes" banner draped over and around my leg. I ended up damaging a nerve and had no feeling in my foot for almost three months but that's a different story.

The second was another Caesars Palace bash. I don't recall if it was thrown by or for Sammy Davis, Jr., but the ballroom was swarming with dancers and stars and, being starstruck, it was a perfect combination. I made the rounds, meeting Sammy Davis, Jr., an actor from "Vegas" named Charlie Callas and Alex Haley, the author of "Roots." Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think that's also the party where I met Anthony Newley but I could be wrong about that one. One of my fellow performers, a classic English beauty, pretended to be horrified that I was plotting ways to meet the stars - that is until I got a couple of photos. Then she wanted me to introduce her.

I was thrilled with my photos and sent copies home to Texas. When I didn't hear anything from my mother, I called and asked her what she'd thought of the pictures. Having grown up in a small Texas town long before races mingled and schools were integrated, she told me she was impressed that I was meeting famous people but she wasn't comfortable showing the picture with Sammy Davis to her friends because I was standing so close to a black man. She eventually did, but it took her a number of years.