Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Home
Which of the partners actually started the event isn't clear; reports are conflicting. Hanson, according to her website, credits herself with “inventing the modern day Dinah.” She claims “her different concept, an exclusive hotel and parties within walking distance, helped catapult the Dinah Shore Weekend to international fame.”
Gans and Sachs—partners in life, as well as business—aren't as bold with their claims. With the help of the media they only imply that Dinah is their baby. In May of 2001, the UK Observer reported on the origins of their Dinah parties. “Eleven years ago, Sandy Sachs and Robin Gans, owners of the Los Angeles lesbian club Girl Bar, came to the tournament, were bored rigid, and saw an opportunity. They started promoting hotel packages, music clubs and pool parties during the golf weekend… Over the past few years, due largely to their efforts, the weekend has turned into a lesbian bacchanal…”
As life, luck or some other L word would have it, after years of working together to provide lesbians with a dream oasis, the three have split up. And the divorce has been messy. Hanson filed suit against Gans and Sachs last year.
According to a report last month in the Palm Springs' Desert Sun, “In her lawsuit filed in October, Hanson alleges a litany of charges that include claims Sachs and Gans hid assets such as ticket sales and customer lists; made disparaging remarks about her to vendors and used the trade name ‘The Dinah Shore Weekend' without permission.”
See what I mean? Cling.
I know, I know; it's business. And, of course if someone has cheated someone else,then that someone should pay. But the name? Let it go, ladies. Slap something else on a
T-shirt. No one gives a flying football what the party is called. Just keep bringing the booze, the music and the entertainers to Palm Springs — build it and we will come. And we'll come back, every year…for the rest of our lives…until we die.
Really, we will.
Regardless of what happens in a courtroom, we will love Hanson, Gans and Sachs just the same because we'll continue to benefit. There will be twice as many events this year as a result of their disagreements, and that could mean twice as many women. Let's hope there are also twice as many bartenders and bathrooms.
The one thing we'll never have to hope for, though, is that men won't crash the party. I'm pretty sure we lesbians have got that one weekend in March locked up, and I'm happy about that.
Dinah Shore probably wouldn't be so happy, though. She might have enjoyed the company of women golfers, but she was extremely fond of men.
“I owe everything—my success and happiness—to men,” she once said.
Well, not everything, Dinah.
For more on the Dinah Shore Weekend (March 29-April 2, 2006),
go to thedinah.com or dinahshoreweekend.com.
For info on the Kraft Nabisco Championship, go to kncgolf.com.
Kim Ficera is the author of Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: An Unonventional Life Uncensored. Her bi-weekly column Don't Quote Me is dedicated to all the folks in and out of Hollywood who talk without thinking or who don't know when to stop talking. Email her at kim@kimficera.com.
Page 1 / 2 / 3 - Home
