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PRESS CUPPING BUREAU 165 Church Street - New York NEW ORLEANS, LA. Times-Picayune-States Circ. S. 278.886 JUN 9 1957 I Chorus Girls Discover Las Vegas I Night Clubs Their Shangri-Las SAN ANTOMO, TEX. LIGHT 'Cifc. D: l03,8ff?½lJ33J598 W MAY 2 9 1957 % By JACK LEFLER LAS VEGAS, Nev. <*>?╟÷Willowy Carol Hoffman with the bobbing blonde ponytail devotes three afternoons each week to teaching palsied children to speak, hear and walk. At night, she's the one on the left in the high-kicking chorus line in one of Las Vegas' spectacular stage shows. Pretty Karen Downs spends her days practicing for an operatic career and taking care of her 3- year-old son. She's second from the left in the line. Red-haired Rita Richman is an Austrian refugee who puts in her spare time at a sewing machine, preparing to be a designer. She's third from the left. That's only starting down the lines of nearly 200 chorus girls who enliven and beautify the shows viewed by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year at the big Las Vegas luxury hotels. From New York, Miami and Hollywood, dancing girls converge on Las Vegas. They call this the chorus girl's Shangri-La. The pot of gold at the end of this neon-lighted rainbow is high pay, pleasant living and the possibility of springing to fame on screen, stage or television. Take 28-year-old Carol Hoffman. She's 5 feet 5, weighs 112, has a little-girl face and voice and used^ to be a nurse in an ear. nose and* throat doctor's office in Akron GIRLS IN THE CHORUS LINE OF LAS VEG AS, like this one at the Sand , linlnl iwiij mil i as much as $175 a week. Take the fitpt three (left to right): Carol Hoffman, Karen Downs and Rita Richman make lots of money and have a variety of outride Interests including work with handicapped children to kdpp them occupied when jint "in the line." wants to. be an operatic singer,iKing, ^tio has her own band. shows nightly. ^ |says the day doesn't have enough! ch0ru% girls here are paid up to' ???Σ≤ out of 30 dancers Carol took dancing lessons as hours for her work, voice prac-|$175 k( compared with a ^'"'~ v-ciiui iwr uctiv. fc tire. kep.Dine' house and takincr . -.. ?╟≤ ried, one out of 15 is divo a girl but never worked at it untilfc J^gJ^ ?Σ≤* ^fM $100 in New York. They're (J^J^^S*" of 7 ?╜* ?╜ ?Σ≤ *j xr v vi, rsf?╜ *rt care of son Gary. She was born in' f__?╟? ,, _,:_?╟?*?╟? :?╟? -ha wpnt to New York City to _ ,. * , istage 11 minutes in < sne went to new '?╟?.?╟?. Dallas and grew up in Los An-I >.-*?╟÷; * ?╟÷ visit her sister. She was spotted * y-?╟÷ by producer Billy Rosewhileshe^^^^ from ^ hugband|||r* of two to ^e* marrie^* was working as an usherette in: she came to?╟÷Las Vegas a year J and a half ago, hoping to get a'J the Roxy Theater, "He asked me if I was in show.ob m of ^ ( business and I was nasty to him, ^ found ^ 1 wouJd haye ?√ß Carol recalls. |start in the ch0rus," she says.j Rose convinced her that s^ -t wasn>t hard rd had should go to work in his Diamond j lj?ssons ^ a ^ &nd ^^^ ^ ** *. ~?Σ≤i, fn hp pvnlnded in Las A-bomb to De expwucu *?╜ Vegas, newsmen passed tne j&k by picking an "Atom ana Eve" girl. Lee Merlin, Sands hotel Copa girl, was mmxt-ftos**^ they would most like to survive the A-bomb. __ Horseshoe restaurant. That set her off on a dancing career that led to Miami and finally to Las Vegas. She's been here two years?╟÷ "wouldn't live anywhere else," she says?╟÷and has bought a house. Carol earns $110 a week now. uaioi eaL * . . . j mayor. He was executed by the Sometimes it i higher rfshe gets * ^ ^ ^^ ^^ ^ dancing in the. operettas. I like dancing and it's a lot of fun but it really isn't my line. I want to sing." Rita Richman, 24, was born Margorita Richow in Linsz, Austria, where her father Boris was specialty dance in ?╜ show. her mother came to the United StatejNfo 1949. Rita, who couldn't speak English when she arrived, II enrolled in the Universltjsyrt Washington to s&dy dramatics and won! a scholarship to Pasadena Play-I house. Then she worked two years in - .... . ?╟?ft .?╟? r:ja hnrsp. Auschwitz concentration camp. Carol likes to swim, ride norse- *,-. j "7 j ?╟?!?╟??╟?;?╟??╜ >.nt thP^P After being liberated, Rita and back and go on picnics but tnesej & pleasures aren't allowed to interfere with her primary interest- helping handicapped children. She donates this time to the Variety Club School for Special Education, which is supported by Las Vegas show people Of her ability with children, school director Jasper Harvevl Hollywood as a model and in the movies. "She's pleasant and kind and Rita makes her own clothes and knows how to get ideas across to works out designs, them. The children who don't get "i want to design simple things here as a teacher are upset. L^ are fettering to young girls,' Karen Downs, 23, the girl who she says. | Carol, Karen and Rita are mem-| I bers of Jack Entratter's Copa- fj Girls. In the last five years, 76 Las Vegas CofJ&Girls have jumped to) better jobs in Hollywood and New York. Among them are Felicia j Farr and Becky Nelson of the!