If I tell you something, it's gospel," 75-year-old fledgling author Eve Quillin says. "You might not like everything I tell you, but what I tell you is the truth." Quillin tells almost all in a self-published book, "My Life in Shorts" ($14.99), a reference to the anecdotal style in which she writes.
The 278-page autobiography of 69 brief stories is available through Amazon.com and other online bookstores.
While her first book features encounters with a host of celebrities she has made friends with over the years, much of the narrative revolves around her own unorthodox life.
Quillin married at age 13 and had four children by age 17. One of her five husbands was a communist sympathizer.
Today she is married to former DJ Ted Quillin, one of the "Seven Swingin' Gentlemen" credited with taking rock 'n' roll to the Los Angeles market in 1957 on KFWB radio in Hollywood.
Quillin's vocation for more than 40 years has been cosmetology. She is a cosmetology instructor, has managed a number of makeup supply stores and is an expert in hair coloring.
On the side, Quillin writes.
Her column, "Stars Under the Stars," appears in the Bingo Bugle, a publication distributed in bingo rooms all over the country. The feature includes horoscopes and profiles of entertainers performing in Las Vegas.
She writes another column, "Bits and Pieces," for the Senior Spectrum, a publication for senior citizens published in Reno.
Quillin wrote for the now-defunct Vegas Visitor for six years and was the beauty editor for Nevada Woman Magazine for three years.
Over the years she has written articles for a variety of trade publications.
"I would do something like go out on a tuna boat, stay out all day, eat with the guys in the galley, watch them bring in the tuna and then write about it," Quillin said.
But most of her stories have been about celebrities, not tuna.
Among those who are in her book are Frank Sinatra, Rip Taylor, the Righteous Brothers, Robert Goulet, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney and Peggy Lee.
"I have always enjoyed writing," said Quillin, who uses the tedious, hunt-and-peck method of typing. "My first published poem was written when I was 5 years old and we lived in the country in eastern Colorado in a one-room house that had dirt floors and no indoor plumbing or electricity.
"My folks sold a poem I wrote about a snowflake."
She has come a long way since "Snowflake" was written.
Blues legend B.B. King and Roy Horn of Siegfried & Roy wrote forewords to "My Life in Shorts," which lacks the polish of a book released by a major publisher, but nevertheless may be a quick, fascinating read for many.
"Roy bought the first 12 copies off the press shortly before he was injured," Quillin said. "He was a big supporter of my effort all the while that I was writing the book.
"We met because of a story I did about him. He loved it, and we have been close friends ever since. My home is filled with gifts and mementos sent to me by Siegfried & Roy."
She met the magicians in the early '70s before they made it big.
"I used to sell fingernail jewels, and Siegfried & Roy would come in and buy them by the bags full to glue onto their costumes," Quillin said. "They didn't have the money to have it done."
She was shocked by the Oct. 3 incident in which Horn was injured by a tiger during a performance.
"People have rallied around him because he is such a good friend to everyone," Quillin said.
Dust to dust
Quillin, who was born in 1928, was adopted at birth by a childless couple who owned a farm in Kansas. The following year the Depression hit. The family lost everything and was forced to move to a home that was little more than a shack on a farm in Colorado in the middle of the Dust Bowl.
She married Ray Sweeney when she was 13, but in 1959 left her husband and married Bernard Nidess. By then she was in Denver working in cosmetology.
"Bernie was Jewish, a salesman and, being honest about it, he was a communist," Quillin said. "He didn't believe in money. I have always thought he was the smartest man I ever knew, and I think he used his beliefs as an excuse to not get out there and beat out his brains earning money like the rest of the world -- although he truly believed in socialism."
Nidess taught Quillin -- who has an eighth grade education -- the pleasure of reading.
"He used to read five or six books a week," Quillin said. "He taught me everything."
The family moved to Los Angeles in 1960, where Quillin continued in cosmetology and began freelance writing. In 1972 they moved to Las Vegas, where she helped run Stardust Beauty Supply, which sold makeup and hair supplies to many local celebrities.
The job ended abruptly six months later when she got into a disagreement with one of her bosses and struck out on her own, opening Commercial Center Beauty Supply, which she operated until her husband died in 1979.
About a year after her husband died Quillin married a retired Army lieutenant colonel, which she says was a disaster.
"I had been spoiled rotten by Bernie," she said. "He thought I was a princess, but my new husband thought I was a slave."
The newlyweds moved to San Diego, but the marriage only lasted three years before Quillin left her husband and returned to Las Vegas, where she went back to work for Stardust Beauty Supply.
All-star cast
In 1987 Quillin was given a bit part in "Heat," a movie filmed in Las Vegas and starring Burt Reynolds. Her one scene involved Reynolds kissing her on the cheek. When the movie opened in Las Vegas, she invited all of her friends to the premiere, only to discover that her small role had been left on the cutting-room floor.
In 1989 Quillin had a heart attack as she was describing the embarrassment of that incident onstage to an audience as part of her competition in the Ms. Senior Clark County.
"I was standing on the platform right in the middle of the story when this thing hit me," she said. "I finished the story, left the stage and changed into an evening gown and walked back out, led by a cadet.
"Afterwards I went backstage again and told my friend they had better take me to the hospital. They put me in the ambulance, still wearing my evening gown."
Quillin's list of celebrity acquaintances is a long one. A sampling includes:
B.B. King -- "I used to visit him at his Las Vegas home a lot."
Perry Como -- "I met him at a press party at his last appearance in Vegas."
Liberace -- "He told me that everyone thought I looked like his sister."
Donald O'Connor -- "I met him for the first time at the Brown Derby in Hollywood, and met him on many occasions after that."
Among Quillin's favorite interviews was one she did with dancer Juliet Prowse.
"She started talking against the prostitutes in town," Quillin said. "Girls from the ranches would come into town on their week off and spend time in my beauty supply place. They were good kids, just like anyone else."
Quillin came to the prostitutes' defense.
"I don't cotton to people who can't put themselves in someone else's shoes," Quillin said.
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