Did a Woman Ever Sit atop the Las Vegas Club Sign?
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Even if you only ever play online baccarat and never venture out to a land casino, there are some truly iconic images of Las Vegas that you are sure to be familiar with. One is of a cocktail waitress sitting atop the cityâs tallest sign, that of the Las Vegas Club.
Over the years, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding the picture. When it appears in Facebook groups such as âThe Golden Age of Las Vegasâ, it regularly attracts comments such as, âHow did she get up there, let alone keep her balance?â, âJust to the left of the lady appears to be a shadow of an airplane. Could that be where the photo was taken from?â, and âHelicopter or crane. Iâm guessing crane, as the photographer would have remained on board.â
In fact, the sign, which was completed in 1949, had an elevator inside. When it was built, it was the tallest sign in the city, at 90 feet tall. The elevator was used by workers who had to change the hundreds of incandescent and neon light bulbs that adorned the sign.
However, the woman in the photo, LaVeeda Varley, never actually used the elevator.
The Truth Behind the Image
The famous image of the woman seemingly perched atop the sign wasnât a photograph at all, it was an illustration by Hermon Boernge, art director for the YESCO sign company. Boernge co-designed the Las Vegas Club sign with YESCOâs senior sign designer, Kermit Wayne, in the Art Moderne style.
Boernge inserted a real photo of Varley into his drawing. The image, taken by Las Vegas News Bureau photographer Joe Buck in 1949, showed Varley in a bikini enjoying a sandwich and a bottle of Coke at the El Rancho pool. Boernge literally cut and pasted her into his artwork, adding shadows to match where her legs and the Coke bottle would naturally cast them.
In fact, a close look at the picture quickly reveals its artistic origins. The âLAS VEGAS CLUBâ lettering at street level has an unnatural upward tilt, and the parking lot sign in the upper left bends realism in favor of brand visibility. However, the biggest giveaway is the fact that the illustration is signed âHBoerngeâ in the bottom left corner.
The image was featured in national advertisements for the casino, and a color version was later sold as a postcard for the Las Vegas Club.
The Story Behind the Woman
On July 30, 1951, LaVeeda Varley, then 27, became the third wife of Luther Bacon âTutorâ Scherer, who was 44 years older than her. They had met the year before at the El Rancho, where she worked as a cocktail waitress and he was the casino president. Scherer also held a stake in the Las Vegas Club, which explains Varleyâs appearance in the famous âphotoâ.
Their wedding, held at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Las Vegas, was nothing short of a spectacle. The ceremony was dubbed the social event of the season, drawing 4,000 guests and costing $25K (equivalent to about $300K today).
Unfortunately, marital bliss didnât last. On July 7, 1952, just three weeks before their first anniversary, Varley found Scherer at their home on 10th Street and Charleston Boulevard with another woman.
Varley shot him in the leg, and he survived. Both of them told police it was an accident, so there were no arrests or charges after the incident.
Entertainingly, a few days later, Las Vegas Sun publisher Hank Greenspun made fun of the incident in his column with a satirical verse, âMrs. Tutor Scherer/No Annie Oakley/she aimed for the groin and hit the knee.â
It was a deliberately bad poem meant to mock the ones Scherer himself regularly published; he was Nevadaâs Poet Laureate in 1950 and often wrote for local magazines.
By the end of the year, the famous waitress sitting atop the cityâs tallest sign, Varley and Scherer quietly divorced. He later married his fourth wife, Judy Cauley, another cocktail waitress, this time 24 years old. Their marriage lasted until Schererâs death in 1957 and as far as anyone is aware, no shots were fired in that marriage.
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