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Hollywood Daily Reporter HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. a* 12 1956 At Maggie Ettinger's party for Lida Livingston, Louella Parsons told us a ' horde of wasps has invaded her house and it's gonna cost her a buffSle to get rid of the varmints . . . Maggie's small mob: Katie & Ralph Dietrich, John Reed ' King, King Kennedy, Dorothy Manners, Dorothy McCann, Harriet Parsons, j i Cordon Maynard ... At Carroll Righter's Virgo romp Jacques Scott's date, Man' j j Blanchard, checked in with the info that she's off today for Vegas with Cora Sue I Collins to catch Frank Sinatra's ever-swingin' Sands, salaam . . . Also present: Carol Ohmart & Mike Strange, Anne Francis & Norman DuPont, Gloria Paul & J new groom . . . "Teahouse of the August Moon," third time around, weighed in j at the Biltmore, same night . . . Betty Garrett caught Larry Parks as Sakini for the 33rd time . . . Cia Scala was with Rod McKuen . . . Also spotted Lloyd Bridges, Sharlie & Keenan Wynn, Iris & Sid Miller, Dorothy McCuif^ & John ?╟≤ Swope, Barbara Hale & Bill Williams, Jeff Donnell, Teresa Wright, Fifi D'Orsay I . . . Rode our pogo stick back to the Hartford to count noses at the magnificent I tournout for those two magnificent mimes, Judith Anderson and Gladys Cooper f ... It was inspiring to watch these two troupers work magic with Enid Bagnold's- wry lines for "The Chalk Garden" . . . Inspired ones including Dolores Gray & I J. J. Cohn, Eugenie Leontovich, Gertrude Niesen & Bob Calhoun, Corinne Griffith, Orry-Kelly, Gail & Corney Jackson, Mary Nash & Albert Burke, Roger Davis ... ?√ß Afterward, in Miss Anderson's dressing room, we met her niece, Susan Anderson, I just hired to understudy Deirdre Owens in "Garden" ... It was a pleasure lunchJH ing with MGM's "Designing Woman" gang at the Bevhills yesterday and watching Lauren Bacall look cool and sexy in a mere nothing of a swimsuit . . . Gerd Oswald honked impatiently at a bicyclist, who pulled over to the side of the road and hollered at the honker: "What else did you get for Christmas?" CHICAGO, ILL. SUN-TIMES Ctrc. Q. 556,985 - S. jS73.3'2Z 'SEfrl'8ig5B \: KUP'S COLUMN CoasMo-Coast?╟÷ CHARLOTTE,N. C. OBSSttVER OcD. 1+1.557 --S-. IMj?╜8 FEB24J??║7;.:__.., GOING PLACES Las Vegcis Hotels Tops In Luxury By SHIRLEY AND Si Las "Vegas rises out of one in the. world as unexpectedly bloom'on the cactus. To the stranger barrelling J along "Suicide Highway," Route 91?╟÷everyone is always ! in a desperate hurry to get to ; I or away from this place ?╟÷ it | 1 is the most unlikely spot imag- j inable for one of the mostltix- I urious resorts in the United ?╟≤ States. j For many miles from Los Angeles nothing is seen but JP?½|| usual sleazy cafes and.j$p$?·?| filling stations that typify'the 1 rural" Southwest. | Then, suddenly- and as improbably as a mirage, "the :Strip" and its hotels. ?√ß These surpass even Miami I Beach in class, if not hi volume, and make Reno rajik like a honky tonk. "^V I One of the most impressive^; [things about Las Vegas is the * (superb quality of the hotels. ?╟≤We stopped at; the' Sands, easily one of the best run hotels we've ever stayed at, but by no means an exception for ftfte resort. One gets the impression that with so much money being tossed around neither guests nor; management would be bothered, with anything less than the best. The plush appointments of the rooms also surpass much of Miami Beach's best where. !<the glitter is often on the outside and in the public rooms, rather -than in the guest rooms. Room rates, food, and night club minimums, as you may have heard, are unusually reasonable fpr such luxury, in the obvious expectation that what you don't spend on accommodations you will on gambling. The entire atmosphere of the < hotels* is subtly conducive to I gambling. At. tVm Sj^ds- the I apartment-like bunaings which 1 comprise th^eJbjjJgL^re named I after race traces; and there is a jitney car that carries guests around the grounds so they won't be too tired to stand all night at the tables. In each of the main hotel buildings, everything surrounds the Casino. It. is almost im- BOB SLOANE of the mpst barren deserts as the bright flowers that possible to get to the newsstand, bar, coffee shop or men's room of any of them without passing a battery of slot machines or a blackjack table. Everything goes on 24 hours a day ?╟÷ gambling, food service, the bar. So much money is taken in, even the armored car service picks up cash for bank deposit periodically around the clock, '^tff^fjfl There are many little touches of largesse which promote the attitude of amidst - all - this-' money - who - cares - about- peanuts. , Drinks and smokes are free at the tables, presumably on the theory that the more you relax the more you'll gamble. &'t?*^ However the purpose of this is somewhat defeated by the fact that everything is served by .pretty girls, who can't be turned away without a tip at least approximating the cost of the drink or cigarettes. Most of the hotel operators and many of the guests are Easterners by birth and inclination, down to such little things as the Chinese cuisine in the hotel restaurants, reflecting New York's ; style of Cantonese food rather than the West Coast's version which dominates the country west of the Mississippi. One thing's for sure ?╟÷ it is and likely always will be the only resort of its kind in the country. That's probably a good thing, but right now it's a little depressing to think it's so far from where we live. J