VEGAS MYTHS RE-BUSTED: There Was a “Miss Atomic Bomb” Beauty Pageant

EDITOR’S NOTE: “Vegas Myths Busted” publishes every Monday, with a bonus Flashback Friday edition. Today’s entry in our ongoing series originally ran on Nov. 27, 2023. Three days later, coincidentally, the true identity of Miss Atomic Bomb was revealed. Read that story here.

In 1951, after detonating nuclear bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, leading to Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II, the US began test-exploding new nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site, then called the Nevada Proving Ground. Because the military installation, now called the Nevada National Security Site, was only 65 miles northwest of the Las Vegas Strip, this helped create the phenomenon known as “atomic tourism.”

A January 1951 detonation was the first of 100 in the air over the 1,355 square-mile plateau, which was carved out from the Nellis Air Force Gunnery and Bombing Range.

Nuclear Attraction

The mushroom clouds rising over the Nevada desert, one every three weeks or so, proved a spectacular tourist attraction. Visitation surged as Las Vegas nicknamed itself “the Atomic City.”

The Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce printed calendars listing detonation times, suggested viewing locations, and scheduled viewing parties. The Sky Room at the Desert Inn hosted a popular one.

So did Virginia’s Café on its rooftop deck downtown, which rebranded itself in 1954. (Though Atomic Liquors falsely claims to have opened in 1952, it is still the oldest free-standing bar in Las Vegas.)

Even the famous “Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign, erected in 1959, employed the atomic-age design style known as Googie.

However, there was never an atomic beauty pageant.

Truth Bomb

A famous photo, taken on May 24, 1957, does show  an attractive woman posing in a mushroom-cloud swimsuit as “Miss Atomic Bomb.”

However, this was a publicity stunt created by late photographer Don English, who worked for the Las Vegas News Bureau, a promotional arm of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) tourism board.

In 2005, English told the LA Times that photographing the mushroom clouds had become boring by 1957.

“We were shooting so many atom bombs, we tried to do anything that was a little bit different,” he said.

English hit upon the idea of the mushroom cloud bathing suit and hired Copa Room showgirl Lee Merlin to pose wearing it. (That was her stage her stage name. She was really Anna Lee Mahoney of the Bronx, New York.)

According to the LVCVA, it is “the most published photo in the Las Vegas News Bureau Collection.”

And we have just helped extend that record.

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