In Palm Springs, just about everyone and everything has a colorful past, so local legacy gets celebrated at more than one desert oasis.
Follow tour guide Robert Imber around and you’ll hear titillating stories about the Springs’ decades as a celebrity hangout, along with some education about its ’50s and ’60s modernist design architecture. Imber knows where a lot of secrets hide—like the walls of the house Elvis and Priscilla trashed during their honeymoon. His guests get inside lots of unique pads, now restored and equipped for modern luxe living. Some can even be rented for events and overnights.
But nowhere is legend and celebrity on better display than at The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies. It’s home to the “World’s Oldest Living ‘Still Performing’ Showgirl” (certified by the Guinness Book of World Records), Dorothy Kloss, age 84. Dorothy and her show mates (average age 70) deliver jaw-dropping glitz and bling you’d swear could not be performed by women—or men—in their twilight years.
These are no rocking chair relics. Follies Ladies and Gentlemen belie their chronology while performing nine three-hour shows a week. Dorothy, for instance, has been dancing since Calvin Coolidge was president and she was 3 years old. She worked with Bob Fosse, Eddy Duchin and his orchestra, and performed with the USO during World War II.
The bodies, footwork, costumes, and staging are right out of Vegas or Radio City Music Hall, where some cast members once performed. Now they share the historic Plaza Theatre stage with headliners like Kaye Ballard, The Four Aces, Melba Moore, and Anna Maria Alberghetti—in an eclectic program mix of Tin Pan Alley, patriotism, Beautiful Girls numbers, and Golden Oldies.
“We’ve survived the hazards of the dancing profession, infrequent work, leg and back injuries, and in many cases, forced retirement at an early age,” says Follies Founder and Director Riff Markowitz. “As individuals, the cast has triumphed over coronary-bypass surgery, hip replacements, cancer, depression, and children. And nine times a week, they demonstrate that the right mix of diet, exercise and a positive attitude, beauty, resilience, and mental acuity can outlast the first blush of youth.”
Apart from The Follies, the spacious courtyard and pool of The Horizon Hotel, one of the city’s few remaining Mid-Century Modernist hotels near historic downtown, is another sterling ‘Springs’ venue where the past meets the present.
