Debbie Dee’s been in the exotic- entertainment industry for 25 years. She knows there’s risk involved. “That’s business,” she says. “There’s no guarantee you’ll make money.” But when Dee, an owner of the south-suburban Club O, got involved with the All American Exotic Dancer Awards, she didn’t think her reputation would be on the line as well. It looked like a golden opportunity–an idea so great it could become an annual event. And as December 5 approached, everything on her end was ready.
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One hundred thirty-seven girls were trekking in from distant parts of the country to compete for the $10,000 prize. Dozens of flag bikinis had been ordered for a finale that would’ve had 100 girls onstage at the Riviera theater in front of a giant Stars and Stripes. Sponsors were lined up, and Dee had sold more than a hundred tickets at $50 to $150 each. Feature performers like Leah Lane–who drove in from Vegas pulling a 38-foot trailer loaded with costumes and equipment–were arriving daily, turning the O parking lot into a campground. It wasn’t until Dee and her associates, Pamela Evola and Lynda Gears, went to the Riviera for a final meeting December 3 and the backers failed to show that she began to realize things were going wrong. The Riv hadn’t been paid its $10,000 deposit for the event, and the leasing agent told her only nine tickets had been sold through Ticketmaster. (“I said, ‘Nine? Nine?’ I couldn’t believe what my ears were hearing.”) That night, 48 hours before the show, Dee says she got a call saying the backers, John Alonzo and “Big” John Santucci, were pulling out.
From the beginning, Evola and Dee say they insisted Dee would hold the competitors’ registration fees and money from tickets she sold in her club until the night of the event. They weren’t expecting a fiasco, but they weren’t born yesterday. “I figured, I don’t want to ruin my rapport with the girls or my customers. If this show doesn’t go off, I need to be able to refund this money,” Dee says. In the end, the backers claimed they were pulling the plug because Dee wouldn’t turn over the money in advance. “They got in way over their heads, didn’t sell any tickets, and tried to use a lot of excuses to back out of it,” says Evola. “I said, ‘Pulling out two days before the show? Are you on drugs?’”
