At this moment, the Vietnam Veterans of America is winding down its annual convention in Springfield, Illinois. Last evening, they had their big banquet, complete with entertainment. Among the performers scheduled to appear at the convention were country-rock singers Big and Rich, recording artists Lee Greenwood and Nancy Sinatra, and a historic reunion of — wait for it — The Ding-a-Ling Sisters.
You remember the Ding-a-Ling Sisters. Back in the days of the Dean Martin TV shows, there was a chorus line of 8-10 comely singer-dancers called The Golddiggers. They often appeared with Dean and also fronted their own series from time to time, including a terrific summer replacement show done in England that starred Marty Feldman. Golddiggers came in many permutations with ladies constantly being added and dropped from the ensemble. At times, they'd also take four of the more gifted Golddiggers and bill them as The Ding-a-Ling Sisters.
In 1970, when Bob Hope was doing his reknowned Christmas show tours, he took along the current Golddiggers group to entertain our soldiers. If I'm recalling this correctly from my research a few years later — back in my days of hard-hitting journalism, I did a couple of articles for magazines about Golddiggers and Ding-a-Ling Sisters — the whole troupe would do a couple of numbers and then the four who comprised the Ding-a-Lings would perform as a separate act. Or something like that. In the photo above, which is from one of those Hope excursions, the ladies are — left to right — Michelle Della Fave, Tara Leigh, Wanda Bailey and Susan Lund. Susan Lund now goes by the name Susan McIver.
Last night in Springfield, three of them — Susan, Michelle and Wanda — reunited and performed together for the first time in thirty-seven years. (The word is that Tara declined but sent along her good wishes. Tara was the one with the operatic voice whose solos always caused Dean to do a cross-eyed take to camera.) I have no report on how the show went but I'll wager the audience loved them. If anyone was there or hears from someone who was, let me know. I'm fascinated by "second careers" and how someone who was on a series in the sixties or seventies can now make money off it — sometimes, decent and much-needed money — working the nostalgia circuit and conventions.