Jerry Fink's lounge column appears on Fridays. Reach him at [email protected] at (702) 259-4058.
As a clown, Pamela Whitner has enriched the lives of thousands of children during a career that has spanned 25 years.
She has brought tears of laughter to dying children, children with incurable ailments, children whose suffering seems to have no bounds.
Today, the 43-year-old entertainer known as Flutterby (a play on the word butterfly), could use a little cheering up herself, although you wouldn't know it by talking to her.
Whitner has a brain tumor -- and no medical insurance.
Her friends, including Lezlie Anders and Anders' husband, Buddy Greco, recently held a low-key fund-raising dinner at Club Monaco, a popular locals' lounge and restaurant on East Flamingo Road. Another fund-raiser will be held at the venue in the near future.
Whitner says the tumor, which was discovered Aug. 3, is in the center of her brain and can't be reached through surgery. She is trying to raise $100,000 to have the tumor removed by proton beam treatment, an expensive and unconventional method available at the Loma Linda (Calif.) University Medical Center, one of the few centers in the country offering the treatment.
So far she has raised $2,000.
While Whitner bides her time, she uses alternative health methods trying to cure herself -- wheat grass, green tea and other organic substances. She also went to a clinic in Mexico to explore an alternative treatment.
"They put me up, showed me around and told me all about their alternative medicines and treatments not available in the United States," Whitner said. "But the cost was $1,000 a day for three weeks."
Whether she is treated with alternative medicines or through more conventional methods, the cost is prohibitive for the talkative, out-going clown who has been more concerned about making people happy than making money.
Whitner is a native of Toledo, Ohio. She moved to California in the mid-'70s. Her plan was to get a degree in child development and psychology, which she studied at the University of California at San Diego and at Miramar College.
But then one day in 1977, she was driving down Fifth Avenue in San Diego and saw a sign on the front of a building -- California Clowns, a company that hired out clowns for parties and other functions.
On a whim she stopped and entered the building. When she emerged, she was Flutterby the Clown.
It became a passion for her.
"I even got married in full clown costume under a roller coaster in San Diego," Whitner said.
For almost 12 years she worked as a clown in the San Diego area. She bought a two-story house in an older part of town and converted it into Flutterby's Funhouse -- where all manner of clowns, magicians, mimes and other performing artists lived and brought in children for parties.
"It was sort of a birthday party house," Whitner said. "We decorated it with kids in mind. If they wanted to throw ice cream on the walls, that was OK.
"We would bring kids to the house in double-decker buses and have parties and magic shows and face painting."
In 1990, Whitner (by then divorced) moved to Las Vegas.
"I was passing through and had a layover at the airport," she said. "I put my things in a two-hour storage locker and went into town. I was having so much fun and I had to go back to the locker and get my things out."
She says she met so many wonderful people in Las Vegas she decided to stay.
One of her first acquaintances, and still a close friend, was Las Vegan Dolores Fuller, perhaps best known as the live-in girlfriend of B-movie director Ed Wood. Fuller, 79, appeared in a number of Wood's films, including "Glen or Glenda" (1953) and "Jail Bait" (1954).
"I liked the energy here, the lights, the charisma, the excitement, the pizzazz," she said. "I knew I could make the clown thing work here."
For several years Whitner performed at private parties and corporate gigs, and she owned a costume store.
"The shop was next to the Treasure Island," she said. "When the freeway was expanded, I was paid to move."
Instead, she closed her doors and concentrated on clowning at church picnics, fund-raising events, parties and hospitals.
But the clown business isn't what it used to be.
Today, Whitner spends her time selling real estate full time, clowning around on the side and trying to raise enough money to rid herself of her tumor.
Whitner doesn't look ill. But for an occasional seizure, she seems to be healthy.
"I'm not even accepting the fact that it's there," she said. "I'm keeping a positive attitude. I meditate daily, visualizing it getting smaller and smaller. And I have a hot line to God. Everyone is praying for me."
Donations may be made to the Pamela Whitner Fund at Wells Fargo Bank, Account No. 1008943266. For more information call 568-6336. And Whit- ner's next fund-raising event will be at Club Monaco, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 6.
Lounging around
Michael Douglas for a boss? Pianist/vocalist Marcus Dagan (also a composer and songwriter) just returned to his home base in Vegas from the Bahamas after a three-week gig in the Aqua Lounge of the Ariel Sands Hotel, which is owned by Douglas. Dagan says he will return to the tropical island for a brief gig in December.
Shelly Taylor, a pianist and vocalist most recently from the Bay Area, is a popular attraction at The Mirage's Baccarat Bar. She performs from 5:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays and from 3:30 p.m. to 8:15 p.m. Fridays through Sundays.
Poppermost, a '60s- and '70s-style alternative pop/rock band, is at the Thunderbird Lounge (1215 Las Vegas Blvd. South) from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Saturdays. The group will be at the Iowa Cafe (300 E. Charleston Blvd.) from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Nov. 1.
Area 51 continues to draw in the younger crowds at Sahara's Casbar Lounge for late-night performances: midnight to 4 a.m. Mondays and Thursdays through Sundays; and 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesdays.
The Checkmates, featuring Sweet Louie and Sonny Charles, are performing at Arizona Charlie's East's Palace Grand Lounge on Boulder Highway through Sunday. Showtimes are 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. tonight and Saturday and 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Sunday.
Magician Michael Close performs for free at the Monte Carlo's Houdini's Lounge from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
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