Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006 | 7:23 a.m.
- Kirk Kerkorian, billionaire, at Old-Timers' Day last month
Emma Houston, Wanda Lawhorn and Rebecca Van Hoosen were in their late teens and early 20s when they were hired in the 1970s as Stardust waitresses. They were naive in the ways of men, the mob and fussy gamblers. These were their first jobs, and they turned them into careers of more than 30 years, paying for homes, children's college, and a satisfying, middle-class lifestyle. They got off their feet the other day and chatted about things like crazy customers, awful shoes and the fellow everybody was respectful toward, Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal.
Emma: Everybody was afraid of him in the lounge. I went to wait on him one night. We had some glasses that had tall stems. I served his drink and when I leaned, he wore the drink. Everybody was like, "Oh my God." He got up and dusted himself off and said, "Now I've got to go change my pants." And he never said a word about it after that. Everybody thought I was going to get fired. When I got sick in about '78, he missed me. They gave Becky an envelope to bring to the hospital. They made sure my bills were squared away.
Rebecca: He had a very dry sense of humor, very dry, which I found delicious.
Wanda: For the most part he was very, very picky. When he would come in for breakfast, my boss would pull me up front to service him because everybody else was so scared and nervous around him. I'm like 18 years old, right out of high school, and I don't know what's going on. I was so relaxed and not uptight. He was very nice to me. There was something about me that he liked, and he never sent an order back that I put on the table. I was his breakfast server in the morning for a good three years.
On tokes:
Emma: My largest tip was $1,000. A player in craps called me down from 21 one day and asked the pit boss if he could make a bet for me. He hit the bet and took all the black chips and put them on my tray. I was thinking, "Oh my God, oh my God, these chips are mine." So the pit boss took me over to the cage and cashed them for me and I was shaking.
Wanda: My largest tip was $200 off a nickel player. It was Nevada Nickels. It was one of my regular customers. She hit it when I had my two off days, and when I came back to work she was standing there at the door waiting for me to give it to me.
Emma: There's a couple from Ohio (who said) "Emma, we named our granddaughter after you." I said, "Oh my God." (When they visit) they bring family pictures, pictures of their dogs. You get invited to come and visit. I've known that couple about 12 or 13 years.
On the day in 1983 when state regulators raided the place:
Rebecca: I remember it was my day off. The regulators come in, it's my day off. The bomb scare we had that one time, it was my day off. The guy down in the book shoots the other guy down at the book, it's my day off. I always miss all the excitement.
Emma: I was in the poker room when they came running through, and I think we all just stood there saying, "Where are they going?" - because we didn't know what was going on and nobody said anything. That night we still didn't know what was going on. And then we saw a lot of new faces at the Stardust. We got teary-eyed.
On shoes:
Wanda: When you get a comfortable shoe, they discontinue it.
Rebecca: Never fails.
Wanda: You'd go to Caesars Shoe World, they had this great shoe. We wore those for five years. It was a comfortable shoe and it had a heel on it, so it was desirable. Every girl was wearing that shoe from Day 1. They discontinued it. The cocktail waitresses up and down the Strip cannot figure that out. The same with nylons. You find a nice pair of nylons, nice support hose, you go to the store
Wanda: You can go through two to three to five pairs of shoes in two to three months to try to find one that works. You should see our locker room. We could have a shoe sale before we leave. And they're brand new. You wear them for three or four days and you think they work and then you get on the floor with them and an hour or two later, oh boy. You go through all these pairs before you finally find one that works and then you start buying it and that's when they discontinue it. You go through a shoe craze every year, for about two months, to try to find a decent shoe.
On customers:
Rebecca: When I used to work swing shift, there was a lady who used to come in and play quarter poker machines. She'd order a gin and tonic. You could not pick up a glass or a half-empty glass until she left. If she ordered 12 drinks there would be 12 glasses. I never asked her why. You couldn't pick up the glasses. Don't ask.
Emma: There was a lady on my roulette wheel. She was 78 1/2 years old and had been in the Navy. She had a tattoo. I was trying to see what it was - it was all run together - and I said, "What is it?" She said, "Well, it was a sailor man when it was put there 30-some years ago." Everybody was trying to see it. She said, "Don't let anybody tattoo your body." It was horrible-looking.
On saving the uniform:
Rebecca: One of them may get cut down for the 5 -year-old (granddaughter) for dress-up.
Wanda: I'm going to take mine and put my old pictures in it of the Stardust and the (employee) party and mat it and frame it.
On the cocktail tray:
Emma: It's a part of you, it's a part of your uniform.
Wanda: I can't get another one because I'm superstitious. Even though it scratches me sometimes, I just don't want another one.
Emma: You don't want anyone else using your tray.
Rebecca: It's like your underwear. You don't want anyone touching it. It's our tool. An ironworker or a carpenter has his tools. You don't mess with a man's tools.
Wanda: You could put every day-shift girl's tray on a table and each girl is going to find her own tray. Even though they all look the same.
Emma: I'm going to have my tray bronzed with a couple of coins on it. I have had that tray 40 years, and after 40 years, it deserves to get bronzed.
On the Strip, over the years:
Rebecca: I can remember going into the Desert Inn. I was about 22. It had a lounge right off the 21 pit. You'd go in and sit and listen to music. The pit boss would come in and say, "Buy everyone here a drink." I haven't seen that done in forever. You'd be playing and someone would come by and say, "You hungry? Want something to drink?" It's still a small town, don't misunderstand me, but when corporations took over, it became very different. Corporations want you to make money on each square inch of property, every restaurant, every bar, every entity has to support itself. Back in the old days it wasn't that way. The casino supported everything.
Emma: A lot of times you would want to go by the showroom, just to see what people were wearing. The gowns.
Rebecca: People used to dress up to go to dinner. They don't do that anymore.
Wanda: We were more upscale years ago. I went to see Celine Dion last year and I was dressed, but so was just about everyone else. I was in awe. That's when I was thinking, now I see how my hotel has to go. When you see what's going on up the Strip, there's a difference at the newer megaresorts.
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