Oral history interview with Heather Victorson conducted by Nancy Hardy on June 26, 2003 for the Boyer Early Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Victorson discusses her early life in Nairobi, Kenya and London, England. She remembers being enrolled into the Royal Ballet School, and her experience dancing in show productions for the Royal Ballet Company. Victorson talks about winning a dancing audition that required her to move to Las Vegas, Nevada, dancing in the
Archival Collection
This collection is unprocessed; see the access note for additional information. The Robert Scott Hooper Photographs (approximately 1960-2019) consist of photographic negatives, positives, prints, Polaroids, 16mm films, videos, business records, correspondence, drawings, and ephemera. The collection was created by prolific photographer Robert Scott Hooper and his longtime business partner and wife, Theresa Holmes. The couple's life and business was based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Hooper's work focused on the female form, encompassing many areas of interest including sexual entertainment, modeling, pornography, and Las Vegas entertainment. Hooper was a contributing photographer with Playboy and Vegas Visitor magazines. Hooper also photographed many celebrities, Las Vegas production shows, notable events like hotel implosions, and the development of the Las Vegas Strip, including early time-lapse work on the Luxor Hotel and Casino and The Venetian. This collection also includes business records, model contracts, and correspondence.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Estelle and Julia Elliott conducted by Vanessa Concepcion and Stefani Evans on December 2, 2021 for Reflections: The Las Vegas Asian American and Pacific Islander Oral History Project.
Twins Estrellita "Estelle" and Julieta "Julia" Elliott share their personal histories growing up in Cebu City, Philippines with their grandparents. They discuss moving to the United States to live with their parents after the death of their grandfather, and how they preserved their "tricultural" Castilian Spanish, Filipino, and American identities. After graduating from Stevens College, an art and academic school in Missouri, Estelle recounts marrying her husband and moving to Las Vegas where she gave birth to her daughter. Julia shares how she followed Estelle a few years later to Las Vegas, and the two women share their experiences as entertainers on the Las Vegas Strip. Both Estelle and Julia joined Minsky's Burlesque before becoming a permanent act in Siegfried and Roy's show at the Frontier Hotel. They also discuss their performances with Kirby VanBurch at the Aladdin's Abracadabra Show, dancing at the Playboy Mansion, and how Siegfried and Roy helped to diversify Las Vegas entertainment by incorporating dancers and performers of color, like the King Charles Troupe, into their shows.
Archival Collection
The Prencess Nelson Scrapbooks (approximately 1950-1979) consist of three scrapbooks documenting the career of Prencess Mayhall, a former showgirl and model. The scrapbooks contain photographs, newspaper clippings, magazine covers, and handwritten notes to Mayhall from various performers and models. Mayhall performed in a variety of shows in New York; Las Vegas, Nevada; and Los Angeles, California. She appears in photographs at a number of shows at the Thunderbird, Sands, and Frontier Hotels. Also included in the scrapbook is a 1954 American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA) contract between Mayhall and Copacabana in New York, and photographs of Mayhall with entertainers including Red Skelton, Paul Anka, and Sammy Davis Jr. Prencess went by a number of names throughout her career, most commonly 'Prencess Mayhall' while in New York, and 'Lee Temple' while performing at the Sands Hotel.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Frederic Apcar conducted by Nancy Hardy on July 19, 2003 for the Las Vegas Oral History Project. In this interview, Apcar describes his birth and early life in Paris, France, his parents' divorce, working from a young age, and, at the age of sixteen learning to dance ballet and tap. He talks about his first dancing job at the Folies Bergere in Paris, going on tour for several years with Josephine Baker, and on his return to Paris, dancing with the Lido before signing a contract for a three-month job at the Copacabana in New York City, New York. He then discusses his move to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1959, where he produced the Las Vegas Les Folies Bergere, Vive les Girls with Ron Lewis, and Casino de Paris. He also talks about Donn Arden as the other major show producer on the Strip during this period.
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Harold Minsky conducted by an unidentified interviewer on August 15, 1973 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Minsky discusses his upbringing, education, and early work history in the entertainment business. He talks about his desire to join the family business despite his father's encouragement to study law. He speaks at length about how his father, Abe, and his three uncles started their burlesque business in a building owned by his grandfather. He explains what caused the split between his father and uncles and explains that the only bad advice his father gave him was to stay in New York City, New York. He also discusses his take-over of the business and many of the dancers that worked in burlesque.
Archival Collection
The Maryann Picchi Collection on Las Vegas Showgirls and Entertainment (approximately 1965-2009) contains newspapers clippings and programs for different shows on the Las Vegas Strip that featured showgirls from the 1970s to the 1990s. Shows represented in this collection includes
Archival Collection
Oral history interview with Jim Kaufman and Larry Reeves conducted by Joyce Marshall on June 18, 1996 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this joint interview, Kaufman begins by talking about his start as a wardrobe dresser for Hollywood, California and Las Vegas, Nevada hotel-casino revues in the early 1970s. He relates a number of stories and comments on work, including the temporary nature and the potential safety hazards. Reeves starts to add his perspective as a "boy dancer" in the shows, and the two men continue trading stories and anecdotes about the small world of Las Vegas Strip revues.
Archival Collection
The Donn Arden Papers (1910s-1990s) document Arden's sixty-plus years in the entertainment industry working in showrooms and nightclubs all over the world including Paris, France, Las Vegas, Nevada, New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California. Donn Arden worked as a choreographer, producer and director known for creating extravagant production shows that combined spectacular scenery and disaster with sequined and feathered showgirls. The collection is comprised of production notes, programs, photographs, posters, sheet music, correspondence, costume design sketches, press clippings, and magazine articles.
Archival Collection
The UNLV University Libraries Collection on Las Vegas, Nevada Show Programs consists of show programs, ticket stubs, fliers, and other ephemera from shows that played in Las Vegas, Nevada between 1950 and 2012. It contains materials about lounge performances, revue shows, Broadway shows, and other entertainment in Las Vegas.
Archival Collection