Actually, Lee A. Merlin is the name of the lady to whom you refer, the showgirl who was immortalized in 1957 when she was named Miss Atomic Bomb to celebrate a detonation at what was then called the Nevada Test Site (previously the Nevada Proving Ground, and now the Nevada National Security Site, or N2S2). Back then, before the dangers of radiation were well known, the blasts were marketed as tourist attractions hand-in-hand with Las Vegas' other trademark: its showgirls.
A showgirl at the Sands' Copa Room, Merlin became the iconic atomic pin-up, but she wasn't the first, nor the only one, we discovered. A little more than a year after the first bomb went off, the Last Frontier crowned Candyce King Miss Atomic Blast on May 9, 1952. Her photograph appeared in several newspapers around the nation, with one describing how she radiated "loveliness instead of deadly atomic particles" and "dazzled U.S. Marines who participated in recent atomic maneuvers at Yucca Flats." You can see her on the diving board at the Sands below.
Prior to Lee Merlin, on May 1, 1955 fellow Copa Girl Linda Lawson was crowned "Miss-Cue" by military personnel participating in Operation Cue at the Nevada Test Site. Miss-Cue was actually named for a program known as Operation Cue, which was designed to measure how well everyday items would survive a nuclear blast at various distances from the detonation. When high winds kept causing delays, personnel dubbed it "Operation Miscue" and further poked fun by crowning Lawson with a mushroom cloud.
While most of the atomic pin-ups were hand-picked showgirls and not contest-winners, as is sometimes assumed from their titles, in the spring of 1953 Paula Harris, winner of the Miss North Las Vegas beauty contest, was nicknamed "Miss A-Bomb" to tie in with the Chamber of Commerce's campaign promoting Las Vegas as "The Atomic City" and rode on a themed float.
Another intriguing photograph supplied by the Bureau shows a dancer called Sally McCloskey performing something called the Atomic Ballet al fresco at Angel Peak on Mount Charleston on June 4, 1953, an event about which we've been able to find zero additional information.
One hilarious fact we unearthed in the course of this research was that then News Bureau Chief Jack Pepper was actually named and photographed as Mr Atomic Bomb on the same day as Lee Merlin's famous picture was taken. From the photograph (see below), we understand why his image did not go on to achieve such lasting fame as his female counterpart's. He was evidently a good sport, however, by agreeing to pose in what we can only describe as a mushroom-cloud sporran.
How many others were given atomic titles over the years we're not sure, but the last -- and most famous by far -- was Copa girl Lee A. Merlin. In 1957 she posed for the famous photograph by News Bureau photographer Don English, wearing a mini mushroom cloud attached to the front of her swim suit. The concept was dreamt up by English, who was the Bureau photographer responsible for capturing many of the iconic images of Las Vegas' atomic past and was always looking for a fresh angle. He described the shoot in an interview with KNPR years later:
"We did a cheesecake picture of a girl in a bathing suit and took cotton and emanated the shape of a mushroom cloud, and the bathing suit looked like a mushroom cloud. And you know, what could be more frivolous than that? We certainly were guilty of frivolity, but we just didn't realize the seriousness of what was going on."
English died of cancer in Las Vegas in 2006, at the age of 80.
His most famous image of Merlin, which continues to appear on everything from mouse mats to magnets and greeting cards to poker chips, has her with her arms raised in the air. There's also an alternate photograph, however, in which she posed with them more coyly placed behind her head (see below).
So, there's the background. As to what became of Ms. Merlin subsequently, we wish we could tell you, but our investigation revealed that this is actually an ongoing mystery that's spawned several blogs and a YouTube page, among other things -- but next to no information.
As referenced above, we put in a call to the Atomic Testing Museum (which is a must-visit for anyone with an interest in history, and which we'd even recommend to those who don't) and spoke with the very helpful curator, but she was unable to shed any light. She's the person who first told us about Mr Atom Bomb, however, so our call was not wasted.
The curious before us have scoured the Internet and searched through marriage and death records, both in Nevada and California, but all to no avail. Apparently, about six months after the famous photograph was taken, the aptly-named Merlin did a disappearing act, leading to speculation that she deliberately wanted to disassociate herself with her showgirl past and may perhaps have changed her identity.
The ranks of those out there also anxious for any information about Ms Merlin include someone who's trying to make a movie about her, we understand, plus the Conrelrad atomic newswire site and associated blog, at the latter at which you can find additional photographs of Lee A. Merlin who was, indeed, very pretty -- something of a cross between Grace Kelly and Marilyn Monroe.
From the newswire site, we gleaned a morsel of additional personal information about the elusive former showgirl, including the fact that she came to Las Vegas in late 1953 or early 1954, apparently from California, that her first job was at the Desert Inn, and that during most of her Las Vegas career she lived with one of her co-workers at the Bali Hai apartments on DI.
In the course of our research, we also came across a February, 2005 article from the Seattle Times, relating how a physical scientist with the National Nuclear Security Administration named Robert Friedrichs had spent the previous six months sleuthing to uncover more about Miss Atomic Bomb. His efforts included tracking down two former Copa Girls who'd danced with Lee Merlin at the Sands, where she performed from 1954 to 1957. One of them, Carolyn MacMullen, evidently recalled Merlin and described her as "very bookish" and that she "had a little bit different sense of humor ... very dry." Merlin never mentioned a hometown or any family that might give clues to her current whereabouts.
And that's all we've got. If anyone has any information to add to this, please drop us a line.
Photographs appear courtesy of the Las Vegas News Bureau and the Sands Collection in UNLV's Special Collections.
