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DESERT INN _ ($3. Minimum,) Las Vegas, Jan. 3.?╟÷Before Louis a Keely Smith made their tw * here m a regular show room, SSSSBk&$L dlscussion about whether the transition from a lounge (team has long been a atTh?'?╜USif Io^nge attraction here would be success- ?½ answer is obvious?╟÷Prima ^imit<\?re better than ever. Ac- fnr1^?╟╓ ?╟≤ blg/????ms?╟Ñ are no novelty for their act, since they have been using lounge format with great suc- cess m rooms everywhere they ai>- IMmBM VegSo, with the flexibility of a big stage plus thp embellishment of the Donn Arden Production numbers ?╟╓ L?Σ≤iftey are integrated, and th i, /o^lnC .of Carlton Hayes?╟╓ with (2K?>TuPnma & Smith emerge thi?╜h ini* f buster Proportions in this initial six-week stint. Sam Butera & The Witnesses (6), regular members of the Prima-Smith organization, as usual provide fine batoning. Butera ?√ß w SaXLR2,n?. Dee> bass; John I Nagy 88; Bobby Morris, drums; t>??u rlno?╟╓ trombone; and Robin Roberts, guitar, contribute in- strumental and vocal solos which add to the festivities. Trumpet man Prima, with his distinctive New Orleans drawl, gets yocks , with his unique brand of dialogue and poker-paced Miss Smith was b?½^er voiee- L??oks as if tke DI s $3,000,000 investment in I the team was a sound one. Duke. ****THE LOOKS OF FAMOUS MEN AS THEY LOOK AT-*** Zim-----?╟÷?╟÷ --------ififiiiiiLr -m OLIVIER: ?╟ So those are Bluebells . . . ?" DALI: ,rStrange . am I dreaming f * i CHEVALIER: "They're ?· COWARD: "Darling, all enchanting." it's just great." TODAY'S lesson concerns 1 geography in a vague sort of way?╟÷so repeat after me, please, that Big Ben is in London, and the Lido is a spectacular night spot in Paris where a new floor-show opened on Wednesday. With no regard at all for modesty, the Lido announce on the programme that their cabaret is ?╟ú The Most Famous In The World.?╟Ñ THE DUKE: " I've "i? it all before , . /' Personally, I prefer the Tropic an a in Havana ?╟÷ but it may well be that other students of world affairs would not % agree with ' me. Anyway, to Paris we went on Monday for the birth of a new Lido show. At 11.50 p.m. I presented myself at the Lido?╟╓s front l door. This did not help me at all, as the door was ' closed. Across it, in French, were the welcoming words a Keep Out.?╟Ñ ? α DOWN A PASSING citizen _ came to my rescue. He led me a few yards through a public lavatory and dpwn two flights of stairs into the undressing- room erf the famous Blue- bell girls. ***-*&?. can {0TSet about tonights show/* said Miss Bluebell, It is not going on. We don?╟╓t like it/?╟╓ It is very seldom that producers of a show reach this conclusion without be- ing told to do so by the public and the Press.' ?╟ú Bit down and watch a thing or two,?╟Ñ said Blue- bell. ?╟úWe are going to 'rehearse.?╟Ñ The rehearsal started with the finale. Naturally. REPORT^ FROMjg5^ PARIS^^- mm * * M ? αI m & m & fed ?╟÷ and once fed they won?╟╓t they are they are work. So it was decided to leave the seal until breakfast, and rehearse the circus horses instead. This also proved difficult. It would have been much better for the Lido if a couple of the horses hadn?╟╓t been fed at all. Donn Arden, the pro- ducer, looked as if he was about to cry. i ? α SONG FOE four hours and eight minutes I listened to an out-of-tune piano playing the opening chords of a song called With Pleasure.?╟Ñ For four hours and eight minutes?╟÷and with no ap- parent pleasure?╟÷the Blue- 3011 girls marched down the stage, trying to wiggle in _ the right places at the right Ftime. I went back to my hotel. Bluebell and the girls stayed working until 9 a.m. ?╟ú Come and see the fin- ished show tomorrow.?╟Ñ they said. Donn Arden, the pro- ducer of the show, looked as if he was about to cry * SEAL Dutifully, i re- ported back at 11.30 p.m. on Tuesday. J, Still no show. We don?╟╓t like it. Stick around- We are going to rehearse the seal act.?╟Ñ This .p pp v e d difficult. Seals won t work unless ? α ?╟ ORF* WANDERED back* - stage, absorbing a little culture here and there. ?╟ú Get orf the end of my ruddy dress or there?╟╓ll be trouble,?╟Ñ one of the elegant beauties said to me. I got orf?╟÷lively. At one stage of the show trapeze artists are whirled round the ceiling by some hidden motor. The machinery, at the re- hearsal I saw, did not work. Donn Arden, the pro- ducer, looked as if he was about to cry. * WINE THROUGHOUT ail I this, food and wine was available for anyone not working. I seemed to be the only person permanently ntft working. They rehearsed a Rus- sian scene. In this, ten Bluebell girls wear magni- ficent dresses of brocade trimmed with white fox. The dresses cost ?·500 each. The whole scene?╟÷I suppose it lasted about five minutes?╟÷set the Lido back ?·10,000. It is that sort of show. I left the rehearsal at 4.30. Everyone else stayed on until 8 a.m. Donn Arden, the pro- ducer, looked as if he was about to cry. Glamour ? α? σ? α? σ? α? σ? α? σ? α? σ ? α? α? σ? α? σ? α Two days late?╟÷but who'd mind waiting for a lavish Bluebell-girl routine, like this? ? α LATE A T midnight on Wed- ,, nesday, the curtain went up?╟÷two days late. It was a fantastic evening. Everyone was there?╟÷me, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Noel, Marlene, Sir Laurence, Maurice, Sophia, and the surrealist painter. Salvador Dali The Lido was Jammed Every time you moved a fork you ate someone else?╟╓s dinner. And the show ? Fabulous. As usual. I couldn?╟╓t hear what the famous people Tye named were 1 sayMg 4b0Ut it. but 1 could guess from their faces?╟÷see the pictures above. On the way out Noel Coward said to me, ?╟ú Wasn?╟╓t it great ? ?╟Ñ ; Donn Arden, the pro- ducer heard this ?╟÷ and cried. ? α NUDE THEY asked me in ?√ß Paris, ?╟úWould you like to meet a nude who is different ? ?╟Ñ ;LSb I met nlneteen-year- Qld .Mlr^ule, uaulouSon Mireille |s a third-year student at Paris?╟╓s Sorbonne University. She is study- ing psychology. . At night?╟÷to pay for her studies ?╟÷ Mireille appears without clothes on the stage I of the Casino de Paris. Mireille was reading a forbidding book?╟÷?╟Ñ Know- ledge and Experience.?╟Ñ ?╟úI don?╟╓t understand why people want to look at 1 nudes,?╟Ñ she said. Perhaps they haven't I J?║MQXLJiGL #1 the nnmpxMjL 1