Vegas Voice 9-18 web

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Diggin’ a Golden Reunion
By: Sam Wagmeister / People & Places
Ten years is tin; 25 is silver; 50 is gold.
It doesn’t get any more Golden than
when a group of 22 ladies from across the country
gathered in Las Vegas to celebrate the days they became a sisterhood,
working together to delight the upcoming generation later labeled
“Baby Boomers.”
Dean Martin’s Golddiggers, the backup girls whose audience appeal
earned them their own television show, celebrated their 50 th reunion
over a long July weekend reminiscing, celebrating and hugging…lots
of hugging. Former Golddigger Shelia Allan of Henderson orchestrated
a cocktail party, dinners at Casa Di Amore and Celli restaurants and
other events, including a guest spot on Fox 5 television.
In 1968, the call went out for “chorus girls” to become cast members
on The Dean Martin Show, giving birth to the Golddiggers. They proved
so popular that they were spun off into their own television shows and
later featured in the top Las Vegas showrooms as the opening act for
Martin, Sinatra, Joan Rivers and Steve and Eydie.
What the television viewers saw 50 years ago was a sorority of
talented “sisters” …singers and dancers who entertained with a
lighthearted approach that inspired smiles, hope and optimism during
some troubled times. Amid the celebration of this year’s opening night
cocktail party, several revealed the impact their Golddigger days had
on their lives.
Community service and veterans’ causes dot many of their resumes,
September 2018
a result of their USO Christmas tours of Viet Nam with Bob Hope, who
all refer to as “Mr. Hope.” One account recalls travelling from base
camp to base camp in bullet riddled helicopters.
Amid warm embraces, laughs and a few tears of both joy and
sadness, Kansas City Golddigger Liz Kelley shared a behind-the-scenes
insight. “1970 changed who I was going to be for the rest of my life,”
she confided. “It humbled me,” she says of her Viet Nam tour that year.
Today she continues working with veteran’s groups and received the
National President’s Award and lifetime membership from Veterans of
America Chapter 243.
Kathy Wright of Tustin, California echoed Kelley’s sentiments. After
appearing in a sketch with Mr. Hope, the grateful comedy legend asked
what he could do to thank her. “Take me to Viet Nam to see my brother.”
The Hamilton Ohio Daily News later reported, “Golddigger
Kathy Wright…provided one of the most touching moments…of
Bob Hope’s Christmas tour when she met her 18-year-old brother
Tommy, a Marine Corps ofc, backstage at Danang in Vietnam. The
blonde singer-dancer wept her mascara all over her face and even
the colonels on the sidelines were moist-eyed.”
“I believe tonight (the reunion) was a gift,” Wright confessed. The
mother of five who cares for her own mother had been cleared just four
days earlier by her physician to attend. She had recently completed 30
straight days of radiation to combat stage four brain and lung cancer.
Originally planned as a 3-day event, most of the troupe arrived for a
cocktail reception at the Henderson home of their hostess Shelia Allan.
Early arrivals were treated royally at Bally’s Casino as guests for The
Bronx Wanderers Show.
Lead singer Vinny Adinolfi, a Dean Martin memorabilia collector,
invited the ladies on stage, serenading them with Martin’s Everybody
Loves Somebody. Although carefully preplanned, Adinolfi admitted he
was overcome with excitement, momentarily blanking on some of the
lyrics.
As the closing evening dinner wound down, crooner/pianist George
Bugatti struck up the emotional That’s What Friends Are For with the
Golddiggers compulsively joining hands in a circle and harmonizing
with tears of happiness before transitioning into What I Did for Love
from A Chorus Line.
“It was a perfect way to end the evening,” observed the hostess, Sheila
Allan.
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