All Robert Friedrichs needed to go on was a stage title he discovered printed below an archival newspaper photograph that confirmed her posing with different Las Vegas showgirls.
It could take him greater than 20 years to unravel the thriller of Lee A. Merlin’s true id.
Friedrichs, 81, is not a detective. He is a historian and a retired scientist who received his begin in the course of the atomic age, an advanced second in American historical past when the road was blurred between worry and fascination with nuclear energy.
Between 1951 and 1992, tons of of nuclear assessments have been carried out, largely underground, within the desert outdoors Las Vegas. Nevertheless it was the huge mushroom clouds from the above-ground nuclear blasts that captured the general public’s creativeness all through the Nineteen Fifties and early Sixties.
Las Vegas sought to capitalise on that craze, and in 1957 despatched a photographer out on task to shoot a promotional advert for nuclear tourism. He received an concept to seize the lead dancer on the Sands Lodge in a swimsuit within the form of a fluffy mushroom cloud. Within the photograph, the high-heeled showgirl is smiling with arms outstretched because the desert unfolds behind her like a stage.The picture performed a key position in shaping Las Vegas ‘ id as a metropolis of fantasy and spectacle. But little was identified concerning the star of the photograph – till now.
Chasing clues
Friedrichs first got down to discover Miss Atomic Bomb round 2000. The Atomic Museum was set to open in Las Vegas in a number of years and as a founding member, he was “hoping towards hope” that she was nonetheless alive and will attend the grand opening.
What began as a easy query – Who was she? – turned an obsession for Friedrichs that outlasted careers and outlived associates.
Friedrichs crammed stacks of binders with clues and potential leads, like one which led him “to a man in South Dakota.” Days off have been spent both combing by means of on-line newspaper archives or sifting by means of particular collections on the library.
He tracked down the photographer from that well-known photoshoot and interviewed former showgirls who confirmed Miss Atomic Bomb’s stage title. However the lady’s actual title nonetheless eluded him.
Leads dried up and months was years.
The thriller did not maintain him up at night time, however he mentioned when he was awake, it consumed his ideas. He would generally stare on the photograph, questioning if she’d ever surrender the reply.
Then, final winter, one thing sudden occurred. He gave a chat on the Atomic Museum about his search, and the subsequent day, an viewers member despatched him a replica of an obituary. A element stood out: The lady had as soon as been the lead dancer on the Sands Lodge.
Her title was Anna Lee Mahoney.
Past the stage title
She was born on Aug 14, 1927, within the Bronx. Mahoney educated in ballet in New York earlier than performing in exhibits and musicals below her stage title, Lee A. Merlin.
By 1957, she was the lead dancer on the Sands Lodge’s Copa showroom, a frequent hang-out of the Rat Pack and mobsters. She carried out for elite audiences, together with Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong, in line with her obituary.
After hanging up her dancing footwear, Mahoney labored for 30 years as a psychological well being counselor, moved to Hawaii and received married. She died in 2001 in Santa Cruz, California, after a battle with most cancers.
Her {photograph} is without doubt one of the most requested of the 7.5 million photographs stored within the Las Vegas Conference Middle and Guests Authority’s archive. It has impressed Halloween costumers, and former Playboy Bunny Holly Madison recreated it in 2012. One of many outtakes from the well-known shoot seems within the background of an episode of “Crime Story,” a police TV drama set within the Sixties.
“It is simply actually superb that one click on of the shutter may have such an affect,” Friedrichs mentioned.
A short lived exhibit showcasing the decades-long search opens June 13 on the Atomic Museum.
“It is about Miss Atomic Bomb, about Anna Lee Mahoney,” mentioned Joseph Kent, the museum’s deputy director and curator, “however it’s additionally about Robert’s quest to seek out out her actual id.”
New associates and outdated tales
Through the years, the venture had change into deeply private for Friedrichs.
He and the photographer, Don English, turned quick associates after their first assembly. Earlier than the Atomic Museum opened to the general public, Friedrichs took English inside to tour the house. English introduced the unique digicam he used to take the notorious photograph.
English posed within the foyer for a photograph with a life-sized cardboard cutout of “Miss Atomic Bomb.” Friedrichs jokes it is his favourite of all of the photographs he is collected of her in 25 years.
English died in 2006, lengthy earlier than Friedrichs solved the thriller. As a substitute he known as English’s daughter to share the information.
“She was actually excited that we had gotten this put to mattress,” Friedrichs mentioned.
After which there have been the showgirls who spent hours speaking with Friedrichs. They shared their stage names and tales about classic Vegas – fancy dinners, photoshoots and lavish presents like a lovely citrine ring that considered one of them received from a person who needed to marry her.
The ladies supplied a glimpse into the atomic period, life as Copa showgirls and the way they turned icons of Las Vegas, but have been generally misidentified in photograph captions or their names altogether omitted.
And at last, with the assistance of personal investigators who donated their time, Friedrichs uncovered conclusive proof linking all of Miss Atomic Bomb’s names to a single Social Safety quantity.
“It is one thing I all the time hoped could be accomplished in my lifetime,” mentioned Friedrichs, teary-eyed.
His motivation to resolve the thriller did not come from curiosity alone. The lacking title was a niche within the historic report, he mentioned, and he needed to repair it.
“It is type of like figuring out somebody was the primary president of america, however what was his title once more?”
