Transcript of interview with Janet Garry by Elyse Rozinsky, February 24, 1979

UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 1 An Interview with Janet Garry An Oral History Conducted by Elyse Rozinsky Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas Special Collections and Archives Oral History Research Center University Libraries University of Nevada, Las Vegas UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 2 © Ralph Roske Oral History Project on Early Las Vegas University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2018 UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 3 The Oral History Research Center (OHRC) was formally established by the Board of Regents of the University of Nevada System in September 2003 as an entity of the UNLV University Libraries’ Special Collections Division. The OHRC conducts oral interviews with individuals who are selected for their ability to provide first-hand observations on a variety of historical topics in Las Vegas and Southern Nevada. The OHRC is also home to legacy oral history interviews conducted prior to its establishment including many conducted by UNLV History Professor Ralph Roske and his students. This legacy interview transcript received minimal editing, such as the elimination of fragments, false starts, and repetitions in order to enhance the reader's understanding of the material. All measures have been taken to preserve the style and language of the narrator. The interviewee/narrator was not involved in the editing process. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 4 Abstract On February 24, 1979, collector Elyse Rozinsky interviewed file clerk, Janet Garry, (born on November 24th, 1927, in Louisiana) at her home in Bonanza Village Trailer Park in Las Vegas, Nevada. This interview covers the growth of Las Vegas from 1952 to 1979. Janet recalls the early years of the television and the telephone. She also discusses her own personal experience of raising a family in Las Vegas. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 5 This is an oral interview with Janet Garry at her home in Bonanza Village on Stewart Street in Las Vegas. When my family first came to Nevada in December of 1951 it consisted of myself and my husband and three children, three years and under. You came from Texas? Primarily because (unintelligible) had closed most of the gambling in Louisiana where we were from. You had gambling there? Yes. Uh-huh. Outside of the (unintelligible) heritage in Louisiana. Mm-hmm. But (unintelligible) changed all that and we went to Texas and we went to (unintelligible). Then when the Sands was opened here, we came out, my husband looking for work. Mm-hmm. Linked to being captain in the showroom and it was the most beautiful weather, and as far as I’m concerned is (Laughs). (Laughs). Even though we’ve had a horrible winter this year. Mm-hmm. But the climate really, really was good for me. I just felt rejuvenated. And the first day that I did my (unintelligible). We had come up in a trailer, not mobile homes as they are today. You know how they were before, they were single wide. Because we’d heard of affordable housing and it certainly proved to be true. We even had a hard time finding a place to put our trailer. And I think mostly the homes that were here in the Huntridge area, (unintelligible) not too many UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 6 apartments. So we found a place up near Nellis for our trailer called Mounta Vada, I think Mounta Vada, near to (unintelligible) went down and built this with his own hand. And I think the park is still there. Hm. And first day when I washed all our things from the trip, I was, I had my radio going, I was of course young and energetic, too. But the sun was shining beautifully. It was late in December and I did this washing in their old wash house it was damp and should have been cold but I had on a sundress. Mm-hmm. And I came in and my radio suddenly gave the time and temperature and I couldn’t believe it, it was forty degrees and there I was out washing in a sundress. (Laughs) But I think you (unintelligible) but it was good. Mm-hmm. Why don’t you tell me something about the population and the way the city was built? The city was laid out very simply there. We didn’t have the big boulevards that we have now. Fremont Street was it and Main. And South Fifth Street was, what’s Fifth Street is now Las Vegas Boulevard. Mm-hmm. North and South. And what is now Sahara was San Francisco, east and west. Charleston of course was a little two-lane street. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 7 All these streets I’m naming now were not boulevards then. And College in North Las Vegas is now Lake Mead Boulevard. It was a two-lane black cross, sort of curvy little street, almost got a ticket there. (Laughs) (Laughs) And it was very simple to find your way around. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause it’s a small town and eventually you got to know an awful lot of the people who lived in the town. What about entertainment? What did they use as entertainment? Well, there were quite a few movies. There were two new movie theatres Downtown and very reasonable rates and the Huntridge movie, plus they catered to children, too. And the hotels of course could name you how few they were, with entertainment, but they had good entertainment and the stars, like Lena Horne, she was at the Sands, usually, and Sammy Davis Jr. I worked at the new Frontier, which was not the New Frontier now. Mm-hmm. It was the old New Frontier. (Laughs) And I know this is before your time but there was the old Frontier which was here in ’52. Then they built a new building sort of on to it, because of the New Frontier. Where the Frontier is now? Yes. They (unintelligible). Then later they built another New Frontier. You know, the first New Frontier, I worked as a cocktail waitress there. And Sammy Davis, Jr., really got a big start Downtown. Yes. And it was not built as that. It was (unintelligible), you know. And he was very impressive to me. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 8 Mm-hmm. Of course we had snow on Mount Charleston now that was a lot of fun. We spent a lot of weekends in Mount Charleston, in the snow. We had a—there was an old lodge that had an outdoor skating rink. Nothing very (unintelligible) but it was fun. And that was only during the winter? Yes. Just naturally snow (unintelligible). What about during the summer time? Oh. Like in the evening we’d most likely go swimming. The water was, water level was much higher, and the picnic area nearby was not so far from the water at that time. And the children loved it there, too, and of course boating, we had boating. And the mountain too was very pleasant in the summer, looked (unintelligible) the heat. We really enjoyed it, the outdoors. Okay. What was it like living here in the town? The atmosphere? The population? The population was forty-five thousand, if this much. Oh. And it was known as, really, all the tourists you want, it was a friendly cool town in the world. Mm-hmm. And we had, of course tourist from all over. And the Helldorado was a big thing here. Look forward to all year and worked for all year on the floats, the hotels, all. The El Dorado? Helldorado? You don’t know about it? (Laughs) No. Oh my, it was (unintelligible). Really? UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 9 It was all western. Of course at that time you were encouraged to dress in western wear, more than anything else. (Unintelligible) You could go anywhere in western wear. And the Helldorado if you weren’t in western wear afraid you’d get put in the little jail down on Fremont Street. Really? The first two blocks of Fremont Street were closed to traffic and they had entertainment and they had an open like cage with bars and anyone not dressed western or wearing the Helldorado badge was jailed. So—? And from jail they could be bailed out or. When was, when did this take place? Oh, every year. In fact it will soon be time for that. Oh, in the spring? Yes. (Laughs) Mm-mm. Course they had the rodeo and the carnival and everything but the parades were, the parades were—and they had an old-timers parade and we saw old cars, old wagons, and just old-timers and really people have a lot of relics that they save except that they (unintelligible) and they come from California to enter into the parade, like the floats are really something. Because the hotels enter the floats and they will send them all gear. They were beautiful. And they had a parade. At least one, every day. What about schooling? UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 10 Schooling was—well, we would just learn too fast and at one time during the fifties there were at least four schools being built at all times, and still the children were going half days, and my family my children did. Half days? Uh-huh. Half day. Some mornings and some afternoons. It was a little hard to adjust to that, especially if the mother had to work. I guess they finally caught up. Oh, by the way, where I’m living right now, 3700 East Stewart, at one time this was like a swamp. It was very swampy and a dump, more or less. We have, it’s very hard to grow anything, have worked on my yard. (Laughs) But I used to come oh, maybe in 1953 with my husband, we would come out into this desert area and shoot in (unintelligible). He taught me how to shoot a rifle. (Unintelligible) And this was about the area where we were. (Laughs) Mm. Oh, we just loved shooting in the desert at that time. What about the law? Were they—how did they—? Well, we were far out. We went far out of the city at that time (Laughs) and there was nothing out there, just nothing between us and Sunrise Mountain. You know, we’d just pick a spot where your pellet won’t go too far like there would be a bank or all these little hills or something just for safety sake, and shoot in that direction. But even without it there was nothing in them. Hm. Okay. What was the development of the city like? Well, if you have in mind the hotel industry which is of course a building industry which is the biggest thing. When we came here first there were very few big hotels and the Strip was pretty much the Strip not too much on it. We had the old El Rancho Vegas, (unintelligible) and the old UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 11 Frontier, the Sahara, which was an old Bingo Club and Flamingo, of course, and the Sands had just been built. I don’t think they had any more at that time. Downtown we had the Golden Nugget and the Horseshoe, of course, they were the big things. And Fremont Street from Main to Second, outside of those two large (unintelligible) were just a series of small ones. Not like it is today, where they have taken them over, (unintelligible). And they were a lot of fun, too, and they were really western. Everything was really western in those days. But when did big hotels, the big money (unintelligible) came out and started opening the big hotels in different places, that started to change. And the Tropicana, when it was built, which I subsequently went to work as a cocktail waitress, I worked in there six years, it was a beautiful and very classy place and nothing western about it. (Laughs) And you went in there you wanted to be dressed up. Then we had the Riviera, which was really an advance. Because we didn’t have high rise places at that time. Everything, land is so cheap, you know, they can spread it out. But the Riviera built the high rise and it was all the rage. And since then the cost of the price of land and very (unintelligible) we had more but at that time the (unintelligible) was a very big deal, also it was elegant. Mm. Nothing western about that. And after that, each hotel that was built tried to be more elegant and bigger and just more beautiful than it is now. Like the Hilton, I think that they had a little country, they tied up their—the industry there making their chandeliers. Have you been in there and seen their chandeliers? I think it took, took most of the companies in that country two years to get all these made, and imported those new crystals. Mm. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 12 But that’s—that is how elaborate they became. I think now that that is changing, too. Because it’s more casual now. For awhile I know (Laughs) I even I felt I had to dress up when I went out. My husband and I divorced and he’s now in Hawaii and has been for a long, long time. And as a single girl, when I went out I felt I had to dress up and I enjoyed it. But then there were other places we could go and relax and wear western clothes. But the town, the town was still friendly, but as it got bigger it changed. It changed a lot. How’d it changed? Well, in that aspect of the friendliness. Also, I’d like to mention crime here. When I came here there was no crime. The newspapers were so dull, we just quit buying them. ‘Cause there was never anything in the headlines. (Laughs) Because we just didn’t have any crime. If someone tried to hold up a service station, (unintelligible) he couldn’t get away. The police would be on him. Mm-hmm. With the few roads that we had out, all they had to do was wait for him to try and leave. We didn’t have that much housing here that he could just disappear into. And it just kind of just didn’t exist and we didn’t even have the time to (unintelligible) you know, which to me now seems a little odd. But in any town you will have that. But— In Nevada? Yes. Between someone you know. The (unintelligible) you know, arguments and all. We just didn’t even have that. (Laughs) But it’s totally fair. What was the job situation like? Well, it didn’t—we didn’t have a lot of unemployment. But as for the hotels and the very good jobs, like the jobs that I eventually got with cocktail waitressing at a hotel, they were almost UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 13 impossible to get. You had to know someone who could speak for you or help you to get that job, which (unintelligible). And like (unintelligible) like the person who helped me get that job when I really needed it. My husband and I were divorced, I was raising three little babies, and the man who helped me actually was the man who came up from News Orleans to help open the Tropicana at that time it was mafia (unintelligible). So not defending mafia but they’re just people, (Laughs) and you can have fun with anything, you know. But the jobs are just hard to get. The cocktail waitress jobs were, the good ones. And I think that when this hotel opened, there were twenty-one cocktail jobs. They were different shifts and seven hundred girls applied (unintelligible). So that’s really just an idea of how you (unintelligible) someone (unintelligible) and the showgirls at that time were underpaid, very much underpaid, you know. Yes. They had to come in and rehearse and everything and they were paid a hundred and fifty dollars, a hundred and twenty-five and get a hundred and fifty with was (unintelligible) and they had to split shifts because they had to do two shows. Then after—this might shock you because (unintelligible) before your time here but after the second show, they were required to go into the lounge and mingle with the customers and drink; have the customers buy them drinks. Now this went on for years. Mm. Most of the—I would say at least half of these girls were married and with a family and this was a hardship on them and eventually this was stopped. (Laughs) (Unintelligible). What about health clubs? What did they involve? Health facilities? We had the Southern Memorial Hospital and the Las Vegas Hospital, Downtown (unintelligible), which is more or less the (unintelligible) I think. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 14 Mm-hmm. With that involved, we had of course we had a few doctors but now nearly enough for the amount of people we had here. And some of them were not good doctors, not very reputable doctors like we have now. Some of them came here because they were going to lose their license elsewhere. And I may be speaking out of turn (Laughs) (Laughs) But it’s true. And perhaps led to the reason why I went to Houston, when I began to have some troubles. At that time I was working in the post office here. The new post office just moved in on (unintelligible). And I had—I had stayed there for years. I had quite a few major surgeries, including cancer, which I didn’t feel I would feel safe having it done here. I wouldn’t now. I mean if I had the problem again I would do the same thing again. (Laughs) And I shouldn’t say that but I just know where I was heading to (unintelligible). What kind of environmental changes have you seen? Oh, too much. (Laughs) (Laughs) Being a country girl, raised in the country and on the rivers and at a time when the air was fresh and clean, I really noticed it. When we came here in 1952 it was so beautiful, unbelievably beautiful, that there was nothing between you and the sky and the sun. No smog, I—smog was unheard of, and that’s what I mentioned before, it was such a helpful climate. Now, I come home from work each day and my head seems to be just stuffed up. Mm. Far as everything was clear and the air seemed so pure like you know in a mountain you’re breathing pure oxygen. Well you’re breathing the—more pure air, it was like that. And now, it is UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 15 changing so fast and so much, all the smog and different things in the air. I supposed it’s mostly, it’s from the automobiles. But it really is changing. There weren’t many automobiles back then? Well, no, because they weren’t nearly as many people. What is the population, about four hundred and fifty thousand? Then it was four—forty-five thousand, then. So (Laughs) not too many cars. But it was so fresh and clean and clear, and the sun so bright, I liked it. I became a sun whisperer. (Laughs) Mm-hmm. And industry? Well, they had the plant out at, in Henderson, of course, but outside that there was the Air Force and the testing grounds and gambling. And of course the little businesses that gambling spawns and the stores and (unintelligible) that it would get. But no major industry. How did the local people react to all the gambling and all the tourism? Were they pleased? Or? Well, then, I don’t know any local people. I didn’t know any local people at that time. Of course there were some but I (Laughs) never—you just never met a native Las Vegan, at that time. It was a monumental thing if you knew one. It still is. It is? (Laughs) Mm-hmm. I think so. But it—well, it just, everybody else—it was easy to make friends but there was a constant turnover of people. You would lose your friend. But if you had someone that stays here, you really had a friend. I have friends today that came—that I knew it those first years and they’re still my good friends. Friends since they were young couples that moved here the same day that UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 16 we did from Texas, two different parts of Texas. He was in the Air Force and they came up in a trailer. And we happened to find a place in the same trailer park up near Nellis. Well, it seemed near Nellis then and now it seems so close to town because town has moved out, most likely because—but we became friends and we still are today. Their children were raised here. Mm-hmm. My children and their friends. We have friends in the hotel business, maître d’s and captains that we’ve known all these years, too. When you make a good friend you keep ‘em. We got off the environment issue a little but I would like to say one thing, which is not like that now because the valley’s so built up with homes and golf courses and hotel grounds, but at that time most of the valley was darn desert and did we ever have dust storms. Sometimes you couldn’t see the highways, a lot of cars on it. It would be very fierce dust storms. How long would they last? Sometimes all day and occasionally, a couple of days (unintelligible), then they would be gone. And then, as far as environmental problems are concerned, that was all, and there wasn’t much we could do about that. One thing they did do, though, was to banned, within the city limits and maybe county, I’m not sure, but they did banned any cottonwood trees. They were causing a problem. When the wind blew and these little white things from the tree, looks like cotton, then people began to get allergies. So actually, those trees were banned, and they started putting up these (unintelligible) and Chinese elms, and later on the mulberry, fruitless mulberry. What was the everyday lifestyle like compared to today? Well, pretty much the same as far as working and you know raising your family. The town just seemed more alive and exciting. This may sound strange to you but it did then ‘cause it was like an adventurous small town in the west, you know, and everybody was friendly. And we planned UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 17 more things. We planned things on the weekend, in the mountains and out in the Red Rock Canyon, course that’s all changed now, too. And the Valley of Fire, everything there, you know, we’d go there. I’ve heard of it. And there’s a lot of places to go and there’s a museum up in Overton. When you go out of the Valley of Fire you come out up there but it was an Indian village, now the whole museum (unintelligible) a lot of relics, very interesting, and we had a lot of things to do, really. I do want to mention here about entertainment, since you were talking about, well, thinking of the hotels, their late shows had no minimum. You could go in and have a Coca Cola, and see a show. Oh. I think that’s interesting, and we did at the time. We took good advantage, too. (Laughs) And a lot of places also catered to the servicemen, (unintelligible) the servicemen. And as the gig went on course they raised their price. They just went on the raise their prices up. Their minimum on the late shows and of course as general prices went up and it made it a little harder for the residents to see all the shows and we were pretty well spoiled, you know. We had the world’s best entertainment at our fingertips for next to nothing. What only the rich people could only afford any of the prices. Now I’ve been in Europe and I was convinced we still have the best entertainment. And I’ve been in France where they had (unintelligible) and I still say we have the best. How about lifestyle? The modern conveniences, like television, telephone, the air-conditioning? Well, course there was such a thing as air-conditioning but mostly we used swamp coolers because we didn’t need air-conditioning, barely. It was—our humidity was maybe five degrees UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 18 or something like that and we just needed the swamp coolers. And they were of course very economical. And the telephone situation I’ll say they did a good job in growing in servicing the public but it was rough. When we came here we had to drive all the way Downtown to the telephone company, which was just a little room upstairs. I think it was in the Mezzanine of the Fremont, my girlfriend who moved here the same day says it was another building Downtown but anyway there was only one or two operators behind the counter. And they would place your call and direct you to a little semi-private booth to take your call. It was very inconvenient but of course we understood it was (unintelligible) and I think that Downtown was (unintelligible). One of the (unintelligible). Well, I—oh my, slowly. You know, when you put your name on this and you (unintelligible) long time, you know but they were constantly working to get everyone a phone. And of course some people, like the hotels, they had to have phones, and businesses, most businesses had phones. But the residents (unintelligible) it was hard for them to get ‘em. They had to wait. And as for television, we had none in ’52. But same time in 1953 Channel 8 arrived and that was the only station for some time. And I think that’s been advertised, that they have been here twenty-five years. (Laughs) Course our principle streets are—then we had (unintelligible) formed the nucleus of our town that we have now, such as Main, Fremont, and they have kept their own names, their original names. Fifth Street is now Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara, which is certainly a principle street now, was San Francisco, East and West. Charleston remained the same name but certainly changed in width. Mm-hmm. UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 19 It was a little two-lane street at one time, and we didn’t have that overpass on—or underpass on Charleston for a long time. The Tropicana, I believe started a trend toward naming the street next to them by their name. The street—the street next to Tropicana, which is a boulevard now, was a two-lane road called (Unintelligible). And when they changed that to Tropicana, well, the other hotels wanted to do the same. So I don’t think that Flamingo Road existed until around that time. And when it was built, it was called Flamingo Road, and all the other names of the roads by the hotels, were eventually changed. I believe I mentioned before that in Las Vegas that the old main street of College was changed to Lake Mead, and widened and straightened. Boulder Highway was a big boulevard coming into town, as a matter-of-fact we passed Whitney and Pittman, which now Pittman no longer exists, it’s part of the city of Las Vegas. And I’ll never forget, the first couple that we met here, the man had quite a sense of humor and he forever confused me on this two locales by mixing them up, Pittman and Whitney, Whitman and Pittman (Laughs). (Laughs) I love to do that to people, confuse them on that. And you find yourself saying it wrong. (Laughs) He now is a real estate man doing very well and he was in the service at that time. This was the couple that came up from West Texas the day that we came up from Houston. And we moved into the same trailer park and we have stayed friends with the family ever since. But eventually my husband and I were divorced, which was not, had nothing to do with the environment of Las Vegas or—it was long delayed, waiting for the children to get a little older. And he is now in Hawaii and has been for a long time. I was— (Tape one ends) UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 20 (Tape two begins midsentence) (Unintelligible) lunch and quite a bit of food and water incase our little old car broke down. We had a small car, which to find a car which works, was unusual then here. And we could roam the desert, Mount Charleston, go sledding and we just really enjoyed the weekends some days. How very good memories of that now. And one thing I do like is anything outdoors, and activities, even you caught me today, outside (Laughs) moving rocks. But I like to work in my yard and I like to learn. Even with my children, raising them and taking practically all my time, I still learned. I took a course in real estate and I know a bit about now buying and selling houses. And I plan another course (unintelligible) and that’s, I’ll still be working on my (unintelligible). But even if I never do anything with it, I like to learn. I’d like to keep learning and my main interest in life is people. It always, it sort of came on to me. I didn’t go looking for it. Where ever I worked, people came to me with their problems and I could see it clearly, both sides, without being involved, and I actually was able to help people. And it just seems like I attract people who have problems (Laughs). But it, it’s just alright if I can help somebody. I enjoy doing it. This is motivating to your own life? To a great extent it has. It’s made me realize that I wasn’t the only person in the world out there trying to make a living for children and just really wrapped up in that. And then, when people start coming to you, you broaden your life and you realize other people have problems, too. And they’re trying to make it. I wish I had had someone (Laughs) to advise me. Going into my background a little more, which really we are doing this in reverse but my husband at that time, the father of my children was all Russian. He changed his name when he came to the United States and became a Christian; changed his name to Colin Garry. But he was (unintelligible) which was like John Smith. (Laughs) So he wanted to become Americanized. And here I am all UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 21 Irish, except just a touch of Indian, Cherokee, Indian, which only shows in the high cheekbones, here my children are half Russian and half Irish. They’re quite an interesting combination. I, the three daughters. I have three daughters. And I’m very happy to say that those people who knock Las Vegas as the place to bring up their children should meet my three young ladies. Because they are wonderful mothers and homemakers and two of them hold good jobs, and one is learning, in all she’s working, she’s taking a course to be a nurse’s assistant. Do they all live in Las Vegas? Yes. Two of them live just two miles from me. (Laughs) And I have grandchildren of course, which is a pleasure to me, to be near them. My husband who was Russian, I didn’t know at the time, I married him young. I didn’t know at the time that he was more or less a wanderer. But since I did enjoy seeing different places, it was fine. We moved around a lot. We—I met him in the coast of Mississippi and we went from there to New Orleans and then to Texas and to Florida, to California. It was quite a few years before we had children and ended up here in Las Vegas (unintelligible) as I mentioned before—the pros and the cons where he worked, and at this time I decided it was time to put down roots. But evidently, he didn’t think so because he still kept moving after we separated and he finally ended up in Hawaii. Mm. But I’m staying right here. I raised my children here and they love it. One married a boy that she graduated with right here in Western High School. And he is a captain in the Air Force, so of course they’re not here now, but this is their home, just the same. And you plan on staying here? Absolutely. (Laughs) UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 22 Going back a little bit you had mentioned that you were a cocktail waitress and usually something unusual happens while you do that. (Laughs) Do you have any? Yes. I wish now I had kept a lot of notes. But there was one really exciting thing that made worldwide news, international news. And James Mansfield was (unintelligible) at that time where I worked. And of course we always (unintelligible) and this lady decides to have her baby in the ladies room, which oh, believe me, it was really French provincial. It was very neat. And I was very busy in the cocktail lounge, I had a tray full of drinks I had just gotten from the bartender and if you knew anything about cocktail work. You pay for each one, from your money, you know, and you have to collect. You have to know which drink is whose and I had about four tables, order on my tray, and I heard a noise, I turned around and looked toward, passed the (unintelligible) toward the ladies room and our maid, I won’t mention her name, I still know her, she’s still here, she ran out. She was running out with her hands up in the air screaming and there seemed to be a little commotion around there and one cocktail girl, she was on a break in there, they were (unintelligible) at the time. One of them came running across the (unintelligible) and grabbed me and say, “Jan, you got to come with me!” (Laughs) “There’s a lady having a baby in the restroom.” And I go, “Me? I can’t help, I can’t go with you.” And she says, “Well, you’ve had three children.” I said, “Yes, I did but I didn’t deliver them.” (Laughs) And she just stood there. (Laughs) And I looked again and saw the commotion and I said, “Here Lori, serve my drinks.” And I asked the barboy for a cup of stacks of towels and I started across the casino and the security guard, was so nervous, we ran up to him and he said, “Oh Jan, I’m so happy to see you, oh, I’m thankful, I’m so glad to see you.” And I thought, wow! And I went on in and this woman really did need help. (Laughs) She was a very tall woman (unintelligible). UNLV University Libraries Janet Garry 23 And she looked really (unintelligible) and she was low, you know, I didn’t know what she was doing. And she was lying on her beautiful red couch and her knees were up in the air and there were lots of women just standing there, all just yelling and we could barely—the cocktail waitress, who was on her break had been trying to get the lady’s underwear off. But they happened to be nylon and the lady was fighting it and they just rolled into roll and it wa