Donn Arden (1916 or 1917 – November 2, 1994) was an American choreographer and producer.
Biography
Born Arlyle Arden Peterson Arden to a railway executive and a housewife, he grew up in
St. Louis
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
.
By the age of nine he was already making money with dancing, he was considered a good tap dancer.
Arden never married, but he was always surrounded by beautiful women, and by his own account couldn't be bothered with marriage, although he had been engaged in his younger years.
Arden lived in
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and Las Vegas for most of his adult life.
Career
Arden studied dancing with
Robert Alton
Robert Alton (2 January 1902 – 12 June 1957) was an American dancer and choreographer, a major figure in dance choreography of Broadway and Hollywood musicals from the 1930s through to the early 1950s. He is principally remembered today as the ...
, who later became a
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
director. Arden decided he was better suited to organize and direct dance shows rather than perform in them. Arden got his first break in
Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
, where he staged floor shows in clubs operated by
racketeer
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and of ...
Moe Dalitz
Morris Barney Dalitz (December 25, 1899 – August 31, 1989) was an American gangster, businessman, casino owner, and philanthropist. He was one of the major figures who shaped Las Vegas in the 20th century. He was often referred to as "Mr. Las V ...
. "My success was due to…I hate to use the word 'mafia'," Arden once said. "Moe was a great guy to work for. He believed in spending money."
Arden's dance troupe headlined the
Desert Inn's opening in 1950. He later developed the ''Lido de Paris show'' (based on the show in
the Lido in Paris), which ran at the
Stardust from 1958 to 1991, and the ''
Jubilee!
''Jubilee!'' was a Las Vegas Strip-based spectacular revue. It opened on July 31, 1981 at an initial cost of 10 million dollars and was originally produced by Donn Arden. Donn Arden set the standard for all the spectacular Las Vegas shows th ...
'' show at
Bally's.
Donn Arden was credited with developing the
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
showgirl
A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing, toplessness, or nudity.
History
Showgirls date back to the late 180 ...
image — a statuesque dancer in sequins, feathers and wearing a tall headpiece.
''Jubilee!'' ran for 34 years in the Jubilee! Theatre at Bally's in Las Vegas. The show closed on February 11th, 2016, drawing legions of former cast members, designers, and fans.
Noteworthy
*Actress and model
Valerie Perrine
Valerie Ritchie Perrine (born September 3, 1943) is an American actress. For her role as Honey Bruce in the 1974 film '' Lenny'', she won the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles, the Cannes Film Festival Award for Be ...
started her career with Arden. He remembered her as "a secretary from Scottsdale with a lisp".
*Actress
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, dancer, producer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' (1968–1970), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Go ...
is reputed to have been part of his troupe at the Desert Inn but was fired by Arden after only a few weeks. He remembered her as "a skinny fruitcake".
*
Bob Mackie
Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie (born March 24, 1939) is an American fashion designer and costumier, best known for his dressing of entertainment icons such as Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, Diahann Carroll, Carol Channing, Cher, Doris Day, Marlene D ...
was one time costume designer for Donn Arden
*Screenwriter
Joseph Stefano
Joseph William Stefano (May 5, 1922 – August 25, 2006) was an American screenwriter, known for adapting Robert Bloch's novel as the script for Alfred Hitchcock's film '' Psycho'', and for being the producer and co-writer of the original ''The ...
, who wrote the
Psycho screenplay for
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
, wrote music and lyrics for Arden's stage shows.
*
Ray Vasquez
Ray Vasquez (12 February 1924 – 25 January 2019), also known as Ray Victor, was an American singer, musician, trombonist and actor, and a significant influence on the Latin jazz scene from 1940 through 2019.
Early life
Ray Moreno Vasquez was ...
Lead Singer for Donn Arden productions.
Awards
The
Las Vegas Chamber of CommerceThe Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce website
/ref> presented Arden with its first Personality of the Year award in the 1970s.
Further reading
Hopkins, A.D. & K.J. Evans, ''The First 100: Portraits of the Men and Women Who Shaped Las Vegas'', Huntington Press, 1999, 368p.,
References
External links
* ttp://movies2.nytimes.com/gst/movies/filmography.html?p_id=173255 Donn Arden filmography at New York Times*
Donn Arden on the Las Vegas First 100 website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arden, Donn
People from the Las Vegas Valley
1910s births
1994 deaths
American choreographers