ent001702-002

This item has not been digitized in its entirety. The original item is available for research and handling at the UNLV University Libraries. Additional digitization is available upon request. Please contact Special Collections to request additional digitization or with any questions regarding access at special.collections@unlv.edu. VOLUME 25/NUMBER 04 AUGUST 24 to SEPTEMBER 06, 2001 THREE DOLLARS Fluff LeCoaue THE PERSONIFICATION OF ELEGANCE By Bill Sewers The streets of Spokane, Washington, glistened in the reflected light of the strfeetlamps as a small group of young dancers made its way to the theater through the pouring rain. Upon arrival the preparations began for the performances to follow, among them the stripping of the soaked cardboard soles from their only pair of shoes. The cardboard was carefully laid on heaters to dry and then, with equal diligence, painstakingly glued back onto the shoes before curtain time. Tlte ritual was repeated every rainy night; for those were the years just following World War II and rubber soles, as well as many other staples of American life, were unavailable. Among the dancers was a young lady ~ by themame of Ffolliott Chorlton, a Butte, Montana, native who had been raised in Seattle and had attracted attention at the age of four as she danced, as children will, to the music of a Salvation Army band on a street comer. In its joyous innocence, this was to prove prophetic of the life to follow* Today, we know young Ffolliott as Fluff LeCoque, Company Manager and Associate Producer of ?╟úDonn Arden?╟╓s Jubilee!?╟Ñ how celebrating its 20th Anniversary at Bally?╟╓s Las Vegas. Times and fortunes have changed drastically since those early days when, on another occasion, she lived on a small bag of peanuts for a week. ?╟úI had one peanut in the morning, one for lunch and one for dinner,?╟Ñ she said of the experience. Fluff attended the University of Washington on a scholarship and majored in drama and dance and, as she explains with a grin, ?╟úI was convinced Hollywood needed me as an actress ... but they didn?╟╓t.?╟Ñ So dance it was. While appearing at the ' Last Frontier in Las Vegas in 1947, she met her first husband, bandleader Chuck Gould. Later, while working at the Thun^erbird, she - got a call from Jerome Medrano, owner of the 300-year-old Cirque Medrano in Paris, who asked her to dance in his new ?╟úHollywood Rhythm Extravaganza?╟Ñ in the French capital. There she worked on a hemp floor that was ?╟úthick enough for the horses and ^elephants but murder to dance on.?╟Ñ Fluffs return to America in 1953 marked the beginning of her work with the late Donn Arden in both Cincinnati and at Wilbur Clarke?╟╓s Desert Inn in Las Vegas, where she taught crooner Andy Williams a tap routine for his act and also worked with a fleet of Hollywood .stars, including Dagmar, Jerry Lewis and Carmen Miranda. Then it was off to the famous Frank Sennes?╟╓ Moulin Rouge nightclub in Hollywood for a string of featured dancer, captain and assistant choreographer positions in exotic French-style shows entitled ?╟úVoici Paris,?╟Ñ ?╟úCa, C?╟╓est Paris,?╟Ñ ?╟úParis Toujours,?╟Ñ ?╟úC?╟╓est La Vie?╟Ñ (which had an admission price of $6.85, including dinner), and 1958?╟╓s ?╟úPariscope.?╟Ñ It was in ?╟úVoid Paris?╟Ñ that Fluff met Jezebel, a pigeon that was trained to perch on her shoulder.. ?╟úJezebel would often lay an "sat there,^"says Fluff, ?╟úand it ?╟≤would break all over everywhere. The wardrobe lady used to hate me ?╟Ñ By the time the Moulin Rouge?╟╓s ?╟úWonderful World?╟Ñ and its cast of 100 performers opened in 1959, Fluff was Donn?╟╓s production assistant and her continued association with the master showman, in both Paris and Las Vegas, was cemented. It was in Donn Arden?╟╓s ?╟úHello America!?╟Ñ at the Desert Inn in 1964 that Fluff gave her last performance as featured dancer and company 9aptain. Her final role? Ironically, as Mrs. Kent in a huge production number entitled ?╟úA Disaster at Sea: The Sinking of the Titanic.?╟Ñ Following her marriage to Archie LeCoque, lead trombonist with the Russ Black orchestra at the Flamingo, Fluff became company manager for several editions of Donn?╟╓s ?╟úPzazz,?╟Ñ also at the Desert Inn, and the Arden super-spectacular ?╟úHallelujah Hollywood?╟Ñ at the MGM, now Bally?╟╓sLas Vegas. I Continued on page 3... What?╟╓s Inside AUDITIONS. .......... Breck-A-Brac..... ...... Aloha.................... Did You Know?...... Boniour............ To the Points...... Scene In LA........ . Pages 5-12,16 . Page 2 .Page4 . Page 5 .Page 13 .Page 10 Page 13 2375 E. TROPICANA AVE., SUITE 6 LAS VEGAS, NEVADA 89119 -o