‘First Lady of Magic’ living in the moment after joining show

Melinda can laugh about it now, sitting with her 4-year-old daughter asleep on her lap.

"The First Lady of Magic" recalls watching an old video from one of her fledgling efforts at the Marina hotel, circa 1990.

"We laughed so hard we cried," she says. "I came out of the spaceship dressed like Barbarella." A guy dressed as a robot was doing the robot -- you know, the dance. "With silver makeup on and the whole thing. He brought me my zombie ball."

The zombie ball, which floated up and around a piece of fabric, was a signature illusion. Unfortunately, it was also a signature of your better children's birthday parties.

"I had the funny hair, like 'Three's Company' Chrissy." "The music (Barbra Streisand singing 'Somewhere') was so romantic and great, which really didn't go with the whole thing, but it sounded kind of spacey."

Yes, that was the Melinda show a lot of us remember.

It's hard to say if she was the last of the old Vegas, or the beginning of the modern one. The Strip wasn't so crowded then. If Melinda was on a billboard, yes, she must be a star.

But as producer, mother Bonnie Saxe used tactics of renting show space and offering big commissions to ticket brokers that opened the door for dozens of small productions.

By the time Melinda ended up at The Venetian with younger brother David producing, the quality matched any middle-priced effort on the Strip.

Still, by 2002, "It was like, 'I just don't know how much more I can achieve. Where do I go?' The vision then became having a family."

The vision came true with two children. But she would hear a song on the radio and try to stop the thought that it would be cool in a show. And one day she popped in a video of her TV special for daughter Mallory, who insisted she come out of retirement.

That, plus the family's move back from California to Las Vegas this year, led to Melinda joining David's show that replaced her: "V -- The Ultimate Variety Show."

The stakes are low; one 15-minute segment doesn't bear the whole burden. In the old days, "I was more of an introvert than an outward person going, 'I'm so great.' I was worried about what the audience thought about me and what the press thought about me.

"That was because it was my whole entire life wrapped around that. Now my whole entire life is wrapped around my family and my kids."

She's "happy living in the moment of all of this," and even the bruises from the magic contraptions feel familiar. But no, it won't all be the same.

She suggested the zombie ball to brother David. "And he's like, 'No zombie ball.' "

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.