Anna Lee Mahoney has had a long-lasting legacy in Las Vegas. Though you likely know her only by image, costumed in a mini mushroom cloud made of fluffed cotton at the Nevada Test Site in 1957 as an atomic test sets off behind her. Her smile as wide as the blast cloud floating in the background, arms outstretched and legs crossed at the knee, captured by Las Vegas News Bureau photographer Don English.
“Miss Atomic Bomb,” as she was known for decades, has only recently been named. As the Review-Journal reported earlier this year, Robert Friedrichs, a founding member of the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas, cracked the case after 25 years of research.
Last week, Friedrichs presented the leads, dead ends and developments that led to Mahoney’s true identity. She was only known by her stage name, Lee Marlin, as she worked as a performer at the Sands Hotel Copa showroom in Las Vegas and was chosen to model the now-iconic photo. Her image, captured at what is now known as the Nevada National Security Site in front of Operation Plumbbob on May 24, 1957, was used as marketing for the city to great success.
“At that time, what they would do is literally go in, tell the hotel management they wanted an attractive lady in a swimsuit and they would take a full series of pictures,” Friedrichs said. “It’s been used around the world, advertising Las Vegas. That’s the photo that really brought interest to the community and helped it grow quickly.”
Mahoney was born in the Bronx, New York on Aug. 14, 1927. She trained in ballet before moving to Los Angeles. She made her way to Las Vegas shortly after.
A news clipping showed Mahoney with the photographer and other models. “They had wonderful stories. The girls, however, indicated that they did not know her real name because they were all going by their stage names,” Friedrichs said. “They knew she was a very quiet person, very reserved. But they pointed out she was an excellent ballet dancer and if they had a skit that required someone to go on toe, she was the only one who could do it. That clue became very important later on in the search.”
Friedrichs eventually tracked down a family member, specifically a now-84-year-old cousin, who provided a photo of Mahoney. “With that photo, I felt very confident, that is the person,” he said. “She gave me the last name, Mahoney.” Her identity was later confirmed through government records that had only recently become accessible.
After years of performing in Las Vegas, Mahoney moved to Hawaii in 1962 and worked as a mental health counselor. She relocated in the late 1990s to Santa Cruz, California, to work for the Cabrillo College Foundation, raising funds for student scholarships.
Friedrichs learned Mahoney passed away from cancer in 2001, before the museum opened and long before Thursday’s celebration of the new exhibition “Miss Atomic Bomb: Icon of the Atomic Age” at The Atomic Museum. Friedrichs cut the ribbon on the gallery celebrating her identity and legacy, featuring everything from out takes of the photoshoot to a copy of local band The Killers’ album “Battle Born,” which featured the single titled “Miss Atomic Bomb” to a lifesize cutout of the image for museumgoers to put themselves in her metallic heels.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is a video presentation on the gallery’s eastern wall, featuring Friedrichs’ journey to identification and more about Mahoney’s life and place in Las Vegas pop culture history.
“I’m sad that she passed away before she knew what a contribution she had made to the marketing of Las Vegas, and that it’s still going on today. However, I’m very pleased to know that after leaving Las Vegas, she was able to contribute in a major way to the communities she lived in,” Friedrichs said. “I’m pleased people will give recognition to her part in building this city.”
The exhibition is currently on display next to the museum’s main entrance.
Contact Kristen DeSilva at [email protected]. Follow @kristendesilva on X.