Chez Paree Petite Adorables

We originally started off with six girls in Chicago. Dorothy Dorbin also had a line at the Chez Paree, which we were too short to be able to work there. She decided to give us "little" girls a chance to work and started the petite line. I was the tallest at 5'3-1/2.

During my tenure at the Hotel Last Frontier, MacDonald Carey and Jane Greer had just finished a film and I believe they were there to promote it. It was very windy that day with sand blowing all over. The following pictures show Danny O'Neil, myself, and some of our girls in the background. In one of the pictures you can see a steeple in the background. This was the Little Church of the West. I was married there to the sax player in Ray Herbeck's Orchestra, and had a wedding reception at Hoot Gibson's D4C Ranch, all compliments of the orchestra and girls.

The picture of Maria, left, and myself in front of the covered wagon was used in the Helldorado Parade. Another girl and myself were dressed in cowgirl outfits and rode the old fire engine. All the other five girls rode on a float depicting an old dance hall. They were dressed in can-can dresses. The second picture is of Maria and Gwen.

Francis, right, and myself posed with a big clock for the newspaper. One night, as our last show was closing, the sheriff came up on stage and arrested the entire orchestra and put them in the Hoosegow, which was located in town. What fun!!

I just loved the Modernaires and had the camera girl take a picture of them for me.

This is a newspaper clipping was from our first show. I never heard of Eddie Peabody, but he was really fantastic on the banjo. Also mentioned on the bill was the Merrymutes. This is the act of Dick Van Dyke. Next the Burns Twins and Evelyn.

Laugh Magazine came to the hotel to do a feature spread on the hotel. Top shot is of the "Claire Sisters" during their act. The lower one is of Helen and I taken in our dressing room. My name at the time was Dee Vasta. The description states: "Somebody always has to get in a plug for Pacific Coast fruit and even though stuff is obviously made of wax, Dee Vasta, right, doesn't mind doing her bit for local growers."

I was "swinging" a number that week and didn't need to rehearse so the photographers took me outside and took a dozen shots. The first one is at the pool, at the fence along the drive of the Frontier, and across the street from the hotel in front of the "howdy partner" billboard. He was a fixture in Vegas.

Unlike today, our shows lasted only two weeks. During the second week of the show, we would start rehearsing for the next show. We carried nine girls but only eight were on the floor. The extra girl was a "swing girl" and learned everyone's part in the numbers so that we all had a night off. We really worked our buns off!

One early afternoon, as were rehearsing a new show number in the Ramona Room, in walked Zsa Zsa Gabor, her husband George Sanders, and George's brother Tom Conway (the Saint). They had just been married and entered the Ramona Room to get to the Canary Room. They had to pull Tom Conway into the Canary Room. I guess he thought we were more interesting.

After our shows, we usually headed to the Club Bingo (which is now Sahara). Club Bingo was the only place that had a late, late show (3:00am). Breakfast was $.49, and offered bottomless coffee.

Stan Irwin was starring at Club Bingo. A very funny comedian.

We often got together with the girls from the El Rancho at the Chuck Wagon, and then we would host them at the Frontier for steaks.

The weeks we were off from rehearsals we spent at the pool. Bill Henry was the life guard and had appeared in many films, mostly Westerns. If I remember correctly, he was a very young soldier in "They Died With Their Boots On" with Errol Flynn. Some of us never learned to swim and he offered to teach us. Although he would call our room every morning to wake us, we never quite made it. We lived at the Desert Spa (now a strip mall) next to a plot where they had just broken ground for the Desert Inn. Work was stopped on the hotel for the rest of our stay there.

The first picture is on the front lawn of the Desert Spa with the Thunderbird in the background. Pictured is a man whose name I can't remember, me, Gwen, actor Dick Van Dyke, and Lois. The second picture is again on the front lawn of the Desert Spa with the Thunderbird in the background. Pictured are the man whose name I can't remember, Dick Van Dyke sitting, Gwen, Marie, and Lois is sitting. I took that picture.

My then husband and I left the show in September of 1949, and went back to Chicago. It wasn't until 1956, while visiting his parents in Los Angeles that we decided to visit Vegas again. We couldn't believe our eyes coming over the mountain and saw all the lights on the Strip. We stayed at the New Frontier. What a change! One afternoon, we were snooping around and found the French doors that opened on to the Ramona Room. It was a storage room.

What happened to us girls? Lois stayed in Vegas and eventually worked as a cocktail waitress at the Sands and married the pit boss. She recently passed away. Gloria (not in the picture) married the gas station attendant at the Frontier. Francis married an Officer stationed at the Air Force base. Helen married a real-estate broker and had five girls. Maria went back to Chicago and married a TV and appliance dealer. Gwen just plain disappeared. As for me, I went on to have two boys and a girl - Greg, Gary and Dawn. Dawn has a seventeen year old daughter, Jennifer, who I treasure.

I have mixed feelings about the Frontier being imploded. I hate to see the name go, but time does go on.