After a 25-year search, the Atomic Museum has finally discovered that the model pictured in the famous "Miss Atomic Bomb" photo was Anna Lee Mahoney, a dancer from New York who was working at Las Vegas' Sands Hotel at the time the image was captured in 1957.
Don English/Las Vegas News BureauThe famous photograph of “Miss Atomic Bomb,” now known to be Anna Lee Mahoney, taken on May 24, 1957.
For the past 25 years, the Atomic Museum has been trying to ascertain the true identity of the woman in Don English’s famous 1957 photograph of a woman wearing a mushroom cloud swimsuit. Widely known as “Miss Atomic Bomb,” she had long been identified as a model named Lee Merlin — but, as it turns out, this was only a stage name.
As researcher and historian Robert Friedrichs revealed, Miss Atomic Bomb’s real name is Anna Lee Mahoney of the Bronx, New York. Finally, nearly 70 years after the iconic photograph was taken, the mystery of Lee Merlin’s true identity has been solved.
“‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ captured the imagination of a generation and became a global symbol of the Atomic Age,” Friedrichs said in a press release from the Atomic Museum. “To now put a name and story to her face is a tribute to the enduring cultural legacy of that extraordinary time in history.”
The Story Behind The Famous “Miss Atomic Bomb” Photograph
Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ArchiveOpera singer Marguerite Piazza posed as “Miss Radiation” with servicemen at the Sands Hotel pool on March 29, 1955 to promote atomic tourism in Las Vegas.
In the 1950s, Nevada was the main location for the U.S. military’s atomic bomb tests. A mere 45 miles from Las Vegas, President Harry Truman established a 680-square-mile atomic testing ground, but rather than living in fear of the deadly power of these weapons, business owners capitalized on the sensation and turned the tests into Vegas’ greatest show.
The so-called Atomic Age was in full swing, and atomic tourism was a major money-maker in Las Vegas. Crowds would buy tickets to watch the atomic tests from a relatively safe distance at viewing parties across the city. The aftereffects of the tests could be seen far and wide across the horizon, as mushroom-shaped clouds lingered high above the Nevada landscape.
Bettmann/Getty ImagesGuests at the Last Frontier hotel in Las Vegas looking up at a mushroom cloud from atomic tests in the Nevada desert.
In the midst of this atomic fever, photographer Don English asked a local showgirl from the Sands Hotel to pose for a picture while he had some downtime. He attached cotton to her bathing suit and shaped it to look like a mushroom cloud. Lee Merlin, as she was then known, threw her hands up and smiled, then English snapped the photo.
The iconic photograph was published on May 24, 1957, just a few days before the start of the Operation Plumbbob testing, and has remained well-known ever since. It is, in fact, one of the defining photographs of the era and was even featured on the cover of The Killers’ “Miss Atomic Bomb” single in 2012, once again bringing the photo into the cultural spotlight.
Wikimedia CommonsThe cover for The Killers’ single “Miss Atomic Bomb.”
But although English credited the model in the photograph as Lee Merlin, uncovering more information about her proved to be difficult. What did eventually become clear is that Lee Merlin was only a stage name, and the woman’s real identity was a mystery.
It was only after more than two decades of research and investigation, aided by a professional detective agency, that Friedrichs found conclusive evidence linking two names to a single social security number: Lee Merlin and Anna Lee Mahoney.
Communication with a living relative and birth records further supported the connection, revealing that Mahoney used “Lee Merlin” as a stage name in Las Vegas. Now, the world finally knows more about the woman in this historic photograph.
Anna Lee Mahoney: The True Identity Of “Miss Atomic Bomb”
Anna Lee Mahoney was born on August 14, 1927 in the Bronx, New York. She later moved to Los Angeles to train in ballet and modern dance under Madame Bronislava Nijinska, where she went on to perform in various shows and musicals under the stage name Lee Merlin.
Her career eventually led her to Las Vegas, where she performed as the lead dancer at the Sands Hotel Copa showroom. In 1957, she was asked to be a model in the Las Vegas News Bureau photoshoot, during which Don English snapped the famous Miss Atomic Bomb photograph.
Don English/Las Vegas News BureauAnother photograph of “Miss Atomic Bomb” from the same shoot.
Five years after the photoshoot, Mahoney married, later moving to Hawaii and working as a mental health counselor. By the late 1990s, she had once again relocated to California, where she worked for the Cabrillo College Foundation to help raise funds for student scholarships.
Anna Lee Mahoney died in 2001 after a battle with cancer. Curiously, though serendipitously, it was around this same time that the search for her true identity began.
In honor of the discovery, the Atomic Museum will be displaying a temporary exhibit dedicated to Friedrichs’ investigation into Miss Atomic Bomb’s identity, as well as how the image’s place in American culture has evolved over the years. The exhibit will be a collaboration between the museum and the Las Vegas Archives, which maintains the Las Vegas News Bureau’s collection.
“We have 7.5 million images in the LVCVA Archive,” said archivist Kelli Luchs, “and the ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ photo is one of the most requested images that we have.”
Don English/Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority ArchivePhotographers capture the atomic testing in the Nevada desert.
The mushroom cloud became the defining symbol of the Atomic Age, so it’s little wonder why English’s photograph has had such a long life in the American imagination. As the press release notes, the photo is symbolic of “a distinctive convergence of Cold War culture, science, and the burgeoning entertainment industry of Las Vegas” and “helped cement Las Vegas as a cultural epicenter of the Atomic Age.”
“Las Vegas played a vibrant and unique role in the Atomic Age, and ‘Miss Atomic Bomb’ has always been a symbol of that era’s colorful history,” said Joseph Kent, deputy director and curator, Atomic Museum. “Thanks to Robert Friedrichs’ tireless dedication, we now have the opportunity to connect her story to the history we preserve at the Atomic Museum.”
After learning about the story behind this iconic photograph and the search for Miss Atomic Bomb’s true identity, read about the creation of “Little Boy,” the first atomic bomb used in warfare. Then, learn all about the Manhattan Project and the development of the first atomic bomb.
