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ent000591-003
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    University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Libraries

    Donn Arden Biography -3- in New York and Miami, the Moulin Rouge and Ciro's in Hollywood, the big "Holiday on Ice" and "Hollywood Ice Revue" touring spectacles and the Desert Inn and Stardust Hotel extravaganzas in Las Vegas. Arden1s association with the Desert Inn shows is something of a show business saga - he has been directing all of that hostelry's stage productions for almost 15 years, almost since the very day it opened. But perhaps his finest achievement in Las Vegas was the unprecedented Lido show at the Stardust; never before in the desert resort's history had any offering ever garnered such ecstatic applause from the press and enthusiastic audience acceptance. This extraordinary attraction - certainly the most elaborate extravaganza in the annals of stage entertainment - changed the whole concept of show business in Las Vegas and remains by far the most popular "ticket" on the Nevada show scene. "Hello America," his latest production, utilizing for the first time all of the dramatic new technical improvements in the Crystal Room of the Desert Inn - recently installed at a cost of $2,000,000, is a proud achievement for the energetic showman. A company of 125 are involved in the glittering show which covers turn-of-the-century U.S.A. New York's Lillian Russell-Diamond Jim Brady period of 1890; Chicago's boisterous Exposition of 1893; St. Louis' Forest Park Exposition circa 1904; San Francisco's famed 1906 earthquake; the spectacular 1911 sinking of the "Titanic;" and a delightfully nostalgic remembrance of Atlantic City's colorful boardwalk as World War One ended are among the scenes in the many-faceted offering. With the Stardust and the Desert Inn shows playing simultaneously, Arden has almost 250 performers and technicians working under his direction in Las Vegas alone, plus many more in Paris and other cities where his productions are appearing.