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Sook-ja Kim, February 12, 1996 and April 6, 1996: transcript

Date

1996-02-12
1996-04-06

Description

The Kim Sisters, composed of three sisters, Sook-ja, Ai-ja, and Mia, came from Korea to Las Vegas in February 1959. Their first contract in America was to perform at the Thunderbird Hotel for four weeks as part of the China Doll Revue, the main showroom program. This engagement led to a successful career. Their popularity reached was at its height at the end of the 1960s when they performed throughout the United States and Europe. Sook-ja Kim is the oldest of the sisters. After his sister Ai-ja died in 1987, Sook-ja teamed up with her two brothers and continued to perform until 1989. Now semi-retired from show business, with occasional performances in Korea, she is working as a real estate agent. In this interview, she talked about her childhood, her career, and the family she has built since coming to America. Sook-ja was born in 1941 in Seoul, Korea as the third child of seven in a musical family. Her father was a conductor and her mother, a popular singer. After the Korean War, her mother arranged to send the Kim Sisters to America. When they came to Las Vegas, there were virtually no Koreans in the area. They depended on each other to take care of themselves. Some of the difficulties they had to adjust to in American were language, food, and cultural differences. Over the span of almost forty years in America, Sook-ja became acculturated without discarding her ethnic identity of family priorities. Her life-long guiding principle has been to adopt certain American values while continuing to keep her cherished Korean ethnic values. Through their performances, the Kim Sister informed the audience about Koreans and their culture. As the oldest of the group, Sook-ja was entrusted the care of her sisters, and later her brothers, the Kim brothers. Once she settled in Las Vegas, she brought more than forty members of her extended family to the city, contributing to the growth of the Las Vegas Korean community.

Text

Entertainment payroll, 1969

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 01

Archival Component

Entertainment payroll, 1970

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 01

Archival Component

Entertainment payroll, 1971

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 01

Archival Component

Newspaper clippings, 1971

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 03

Archival Component

Newspaper clippings, 1973

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 03

Archival Component

Press releases, undated

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 04

Archival Component

Publicity questionnaires, 1971

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 04

Archival Component

Show counts, 1970

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 04

Archival Component

Photo release, 1970

Level of Description

File

Archival Collection

Thunderbird Hotel Records
To request this item in person:
Collection Number: MS-00180
Collection Name: Thunderbird Hotel Records
Box/Folder: Box 05

Archival Component