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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. 4J/Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun/Sunday, October 19,1997 Dancer From 1J contrast of glamour ys. real life by pairing the photo with a shot of Green in full showgirl regalia. ?╟úPeople who saw the shot said it wasn?╟╓t me because I looked very severe, and I?╟╓m not stern,?╟Ñ Green says. She laughs. ?╟úMy parents saw that and they didn?╟╓t even recognize me.?╟Ñ Green, 44, has been a member of the ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ cast since rehearsals began on Sept. 15,1980, and she has participated in nearly every one of the show?╟╓s 14,500-plus performances. She performs in 10 shows a week, six days a week and is the show?╟╓s only remaining original cast member. Not bad for somebody who started dancing when she was 10 as a way of whiling away summer vacation in Deep Creek, Va., a small borough of Chesapeake. By age 15, she notes, dancing ?╟úbecame my life.?╟Ñ As a high school senior, only two weeks shy of graduation, Green auditioned for, and got a spot in, the Rebecca Harkness ballet company in New York City. ?╟úI went back home and said, T have a job. Can I leave school??╟╓ I was valedictorian in my senior class ?╟÷ and, I mean, it was only Deep Creek, Va., so it was a small class ?╟÷ so they said goodbye and good luck,?╟Ñ she says. Green spent four years with the company. ?╟úIn summers we?╟╓d tour Europe and the Middle East, in winters we?╟╓d tour colleges and universities across America, and six months of the year we were in Manhattan,?╟Ñ Green says. ?╟úI was really happy. I had a great time.?╟Ñ '' But when rumors began circulating that the company would disband, ?╟úI started to think: What can I do??╟Ñ she says. ?╟úI had grown into this very tall woman ?╟÷ I?╟╓m 5 feet 10 ?╟÷- a bit too tall for most ballet companies.?╟Ñ ?╟úI started thinking about Las Vegas because I I knew production shows were interesting and had big budgets. And, I had the right look ?╟÷ for once, my height would be appreciated.?╟Ñ In November 1974, Green drove cross-country in a rented truck, arrived in Las Vegas and found a. , job in ?╟úCasino de Paris,?╟Ñ a show at the Dunes. ?╟úIt was different,?╟Ñ she says, laughing. ?╟úWearing heels, wearing feathers, wearing a G-string was very different than a tutu. But I, had taken jazz, and I was able to use some of that. And, it was a paycheck. I know (Las Vegas shows are) long-running and I could dance as long as I wanted to if I kept my nose clean and worked hard.?╟Ñ Green was in that show for six months, but, she says, became ?╟úfrustrated dancing in the back line of the chorus.?╟Ñ She picked up experience dancing in a show in Spain, France*and Puerto Rico. When Green heard through the dancers?╟╓ grapevine that a show called ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ was being developed for the former MGM Grand Hotel, she returned to Las Vegas. ?╟úI wanted to be in a Donn Arden show and go with the whole thing from Day One,?╟Ñ she explains. ?╟úI came back and was unemployed for six months, waiting for this job. Turning down jobs made me very nervous, but I wanted to work here.?╟Ñ She survived four auditions with Arden, the producer who brought the big-budget, French-styled, feathers-and-sequins revue to Las Vegas, and became part of ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ ?╟úIt Was amazing to watch Donn Arden, to watch him create (?╟ Jubilee!?╟╓). Even when I wasn?╟╓t called for rehearsals, I used to sit in the audience and watch him put this together hour after hour. He was a brilliant man at what he did, orchestrating huge groups of people to do this show.?╟Ñ With its nightly sinking of the Titanic, the Samson and Delilah number and the cast of almost 100 dancers, ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ would be the most complex, most ornate show the city had seen. But, on Nov. 21,1980 ?╟÷- not long before the show was to officially open, a fire at the hotel killed 87 people. Three months later, rehearsals began again. And, on opening night in July 1981, ?╟úit was sort of bittersweet, because we knew all these people had passed away,?╟Ñ Green says. ?╟úIt was a horrible time.?╟Ñ Over the years, Green has seen the same sort of changes most longtime Las Vegans have seen *?╟÷ population growth, urban sprawl, the increasingly corporate casino world, even the passing of the days when people used to dress up to go to shows. One thing that hasn?╟╓t changed, though, is the mystique the Las Vegas showgirl has for locals and visitors alike. People are ?╟úfascinated by what we do,?╟Ñ Green says. ?╟úThey ask me questions endlessly. ?╟úThey say, ?╟ Oh, I could never do your job. I could never work six days a week and do the sarnie thing day in and day out.?╟╓ I go, ?╟ It?╟╓s great fun. What are you talking about??╟╓ And these are people, I know for a fact, who do not like their jobs. ?╟úHow great to have a job you love,?╟Ñ Green adds. ?╟úIt?╟╓s a blast. Seventeen years, and I could go on forever and ever.?╟Ñ Having that attitude may be the reason Green has been able to do it for 17 years, says Fluff Le Coque, ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ company manager. Green is ?╟úhighly trained technically and she hasj an absolutely marvelous work ethic,?╟Ñ Le Coque says. But, even more, ?╟úshe loves it, and that?╟╓s what shows. That?╟╓s what you see across the footlights. | She really loves what she?╟╓s doing.?╟Ñ ?╟úWith Linda, you never have the feeling that she?╟╓s just out there. To me, it?╟╓s literally like she?╟╓s presenting it to people for the first time,?╟Ñ says Pete Menefee, who has been designing costumes for ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ since the show opened. ?╟úI?╟╓m just a regular person in an irregular job,?╟Ñ 5|| Green says. ?╟úBut I find it fascinating.?╟Ñ ?╟úThe older I get, the more I appreciate it, because I?╟╓m not working for the paycheck anymore. I I?╟╓ve been saving my money my whole life,?╟Ñ she adds. She laughs. ?╟úAnd, I?╟╓m married to a very nice chi* ropractor, and that helps.?╟Ñ That would be Dr. Paul Green. The couple married six years ago. Green is part-time guardian to stepsons Jonathan, 10, and Michael, 13. She?╟╓s also informal godmother to dozens of feral cats around the valley, which Green traps, has vaccinated and spayed or neutered, then finds homes for or releases and cares for herself. Green says she hopes to continue dancing in ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ for ?╟úa couple more years, if they?╟╓ll let me.?╟Ñ The thought of retiring prompts a nearly visible shudder. ?╟úWhen the time does come, I don?╟╓t know what I?╟╓ll do,?╟Ñ Green says. ?╟úBut the day I have to leave here, I?╟╓m not going to be well about it. Why go someplace else when you?╟╓re having so much fun??╟Ñ Nevada Town From 3 J les and Salt Lake line through Las Vegas Valley had also just been completed and the Western Pacific began operations across the northern section of the state in 1910. In 1911, the Railroad Commission became the ex-officio Public Service Commission, vested with the additional responsibility of regulating and controlling electrical, telegraph and telephone rates. By that time, Shaughnessy had become first associate commissioner of the Railroad Commission, moving up to head the agency when Horace F. Bartine died in 1918. In 1913, the Legislature created the Nevada Tax Commission and Shaughnessy became an ex-officio member of that body. In 1935, Shaughnessy retired from state service, but took a position four years later with the Division of Procurement in the U.S. Treasury Department, He retired a second time in 1943, dying in Reno three years later, survived by three daughters and ;two grandchildren. I Shaughnessy was affiliated iwith various railroad unions, the iCaltmlie C3a\ir.cli. the Reno Elks, . From 3J Fully Alive Center provides selfesteem and codependency meetings at 7 p.m. every weekday and 2 p.m. Tuesdays. Call 366-1387 for information. Family Home Hospice will hold its next bereavement support group meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at Southwest Medical Associates, 2651 N. Green Valley Parkway. The public is invited. Admission is free (671-1159). Surviving Suicide is a bereavement support group for adults who have lost a loved one by suicide. The next meeting will be at 6:30 p.m. Tues-day at Central Christian Church, 3375 S. Mojave Road (735-4004). . The Southern Nevada Alliance for the Mentally Hi sponsors a support group for family and friends of people with mental disorders. Meetings are held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays at Southern Nevada Adult Mental Health Services, 6161 W. Charleston Blvd. (486-6000). Divorced, Separated and Widowed Adjustment Inc. offers free support groups for men and women. Call 735-5544 for information on times and locations. Recovery Inc., a self-help support group for those with temper, panic attacks, depression, fear and other nervous symptoms, meets weekly at various locations. Call 362-7368 for information. Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous is a free 12-step program for , thp,se .with compulsive patterns of sex Workshop meets at 8 p.m. Mondays in the Bowling Center at Sam?╟╓s Town, 5111 Boulder Highway. Admission is free (457-0234). Towne Club Las Vegas Towne Club, a social group for women, will hold a membership tea from noon until 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Sahara West Library, 9600 W. Sahara Ave. Call 878-5572 for reservations. WAC veterans Women?╟╓s Army Corps Veterans Association, Chapter 77, will meet at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday at Clark County Library, 1401 E. Flamingo Road. All active duty and retired WAC veterans are invited (452-4149). Toastmasters Toast of Sierra Toastmasters meets at 6 p.m. Tuesdays at Southwest Medical Associates, 2300 W. Charleston Blvd. Guests are welcome (255-2991). Pinochle club The nonsmoking Fun Pinochle Group meets for double-deck pinochle at 6:30 p.m. Tuesdays. Call 733-6387 for more information. Miniature collectors Home-school meeting Christian Homeschoolers of Southern Nevada, a home-schooling support group and fellowship, will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Green Valley Baptist Church, 270 Valle Verde Drive./Parents who are interested in home schooling are invited. Children are welcome (391-8625). Mountaineers club The Las Vegas Mountaineers Club will hold its next meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at West Charleston Library, 6301 W. Charleston Blvd. Vance Sutton will speak about gear selection and equipment. Anyone interested in hiking, backpacking and rock climbing are invited (434-4323). Sweet Adelines Celebrity City Chorus of Sweet Adelines International rehearses at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at 27 E. Texas St. in Henderson. The group is preparing a special program of holiday music. All women who love to sing are welcome (243-9166). Valley of Fire Chorus of Sweet Adelines rehearses at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays. The group is open for new membership. Call 875-4242 for more information. Lecture The Inner Peace Movement will of- Men?╟╓s discussion group The Gay and Lesbian Community Center offers a young men?╟╓s discussion group. Meetings are held at 7 p.m. Tuesdays at 912 E. Sahara Ave. (733-9800). British women?╟╓s group Daughters of the British Empire invites women from Britain and the Commonwealth to join the club and participate in its social affairs. Call 456-7228 for more information. Social club The Las Vegas Friendship Club will hold its annual Halloween costume dance on Friday at Arizona Charlie?╟╓s, 740 S. Decatur Blvd. Mert Wilber?╟╓s Big Dance Band, featuring vocalist Connie Morris, will provide music. Call 873-8674 for information or tickets. Fraternity event The Las Vegas Chapter of the Triple X Fraternity will present two nights of dining and dancing at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday at The Orleans, 4500 W. Tropicaha Ave. Call 220-7495 for more information, Cowboy Dinner Blue Diamond Charitable Association will sponsor its annual Cowboy Dinner and Dance at 6 p.m. Saturday in the Blue Diamond Recreation Hall. Proceeds will go to the upkeep of the Blue Diamond park (875-4263). Convention The Nevada Council of the Blind will hold its 25th anniversary convention on Saturday at First Southern Baptist Church, 700 E. St. Louis Ave. Featured speakers will include Mary Jane Schmitt of Forest Park, III., who serves on the council?╟╓s board of directors. Call 737-5714 for more information. Foreign service personnel j Retired Foreign Service Personnel is planning a gathering for interested retired foreign service personnel in the area. Call 233-0697 for more information. About Town is compiled by the Review-Journal as a public service for readers interested in the meetings, events and other activities presented by local nonprofit organizations and clubs. Qualified organizations ate asked to submit complete written information at least 10 days before the desired publication date. For more information, contact Jean Bard at 383-0245 or write c/o Las Vegas Review-Journ&l, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, Nev. 89125.1 ]