BARBWIRE Dondero Photo Gallery

The world's most memorable business card

From the 6-1-2003 Barbwire

JUST HOW DRUNK DO YOU THINK I AM? Dondero used to carry full-color business cards. One version had a Marilyn Monroe-style blonde standing under the Reno arch in the middle of north Virginia Street — topless (the model, not the arch).

The night was bloody cold. The lady in question wore a mink coat to stay warm. Dondero scheduled it for well after midnight to minimize auto traffic. He and "Marilyn" waited at a nearby bar. Finally the moment arrived. They rushed into the street. The lady dropped her mink below her shoulders, Dondero got the shot, she recovered and they headed back to the saloon.

"Sure enough," he told me years later, "there were two drunks standing nearby under a street light. As we walked back into the bar, I heard the one who'd had his back to us say to the other 'do you exshpect me to believe a story like that?'"

_______

Were the two drunks really there, or did it just make for a better story?
Who cares.

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HISTORICAL NOTE — Yes, there's a history behind the three words printed on the flip side of the card. Back in Reno's glory days, gambling hall pioneer Harold Smith, Sr., had billboards placed worldwide reading "Harolds Club or Bust," a takeoff on the famed 19th Century "Pike's Peak or Bust" westward migration. So the bust in question had twin meanings. Pardon the pun.

(Scan courtesy of D. Brian Burghart, Reno News & Review)

SNAKING OUR WAY THROUGH A PHOTO SHOOT AT DON'S HOUSE
(Left to right) Betty Barbano, Andrew Barbano and belly dancer Rachel Jill with her very well behaved pet python, Sahadda, at a still/video session at Don and Liz Dondero's house. The client was a plumbing/heating/air conditioning trade association. I'll leave it to your imagination to figure out how the belly dancer and snake fit in. Notice the tools of Don's trade on the desk in the foreground. (1990)

HARD WORK ON A HOT SUMMER DAY — Union ironworkers at the top of the John Ascuaga's Nugget second tower construction, Sparks, Nevada, July 29, 1996.

THE NEVADALABOR.COM SIGNATURE — Regular visitors to NevadaLabor.com will recognize this as the ubitquitous link for returning to the home page. Above is union ironworker Nick White at the top of the John Ascuaga's Nugget second tower construction, Sparks, Nevada, July 29, 1996.

INVASION OF THE TREE HUGGERS — Perhaps the best Reno News & Review cover ever. I know the identities of all three "models" who made the supreme sacrifice so that Don could get this shot in the snows of Mt. Rose. Their secret is safe with me. Sort of.

PHOTO BY DONDERO — Sparks labor leader Richard "Skip" Daly and the Barbwire man at the top of the Nugget second tower construction on July 29, 1996.

WHILE WE WERE TALKING, DON WAS WORKING — While Skip Daly and I were talking construction, Don wandered off and got some great shots, including this action scene of a high crane bringing a load of concrete down like a mother bird feeding her young. John Ascuaga's Nugget second tower construction, Sparks, Nevada, July 29, 1996.

BIG DON HITS THE BIG 8-0 — Left to right, daughter Lynn Weatherford of Sparks, granddaughter Sara Weatherford, daughter Debbie Dondero of Reno, Liz and Don.

Shots from Don's book (with Jean Stoess) Dateline: Reno

	Big-time guy with big pictures Vote Dondero Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno Expanded from the 8-2-2017 Sparks Tribune Expansions in blue
Dondero, 1920-2003 (Photo courtesy of D. Brian Burghart, Reno News & Review)	*Dondero—Nevada's photographic memory* Barbwire by Barbano Expanded from the 6-1-2003 Daily Sparks Tribune
HOF endorsements	The Dondero Photo Gallery, partially (gasp!) R-Rated	Dondero & Sinatra, 9 Dec. 1963