Lada Edmund Jr.

Lada Edmund, Jr. was originally cast in the Broadway production of "Bye Bye Birdie with Dick Van Dyke and Chita Rivera in 1960. She later was a featured dancer on "Hullabaloo" on NBC in 1965, as the "Hullabaloo A-Go-Go Girl in the cage." Her "Go-Go" status happened quite by accident. The first Hullabaloo show featured the "A Go-Go" segment, which was based on the establishment Whiskey A-Go-Go in Los Angeles. The "A Go-Go" segment was to feature the guest artist(s) while the Hullabaloo dancers supported the act by dancing routines while they performed on the floor. But Lada, being 17 years old at the time, was assigned to dance in one of the Go-Go cages. Her instructions were, make the frills on her go-go dress fly. Being a tomboy growing up and being the competitor she was, she followed orders which developed into a high-octane effort that virtually stole every show. (And there was NEVER any move in that cage that could have been labeled offensive.)It saved Hullabaloo because the first guest star, Joey Heatherton's performance of "The Hullabaloo" drew complaints about her too-sexy outfit and dance moves that sponsors threatened to pull out of that first show. She had a national following which lead to a recording contract where she recorded his two known hits, "I Know Something" and "The LaRue." She also hosted a radio program and was a guest columnist of the New York Times. After Hullabaloo, she appeared in a small budgeted movie filmed in New York entitled, "Out Of It." She would have second billing in the film with the third billing going to a then unknown-actor from Yonkers, New York named Jon Voight. His next film would be his breakout film, "Midnight Cowboy." Lada, seeing that she would have difficulty breaking in films, became a Hollywood stunt person and driver and became the highest paid female in that industry. She was one of the first female stunt people to establish a career in the field. Her most notable assignment during that time was her association with Hal Needham. She at times, subbed as the driver in 'The Bandit Car' for Burt Reynolds in "Smokey and The Bandit." In 1973, Lada was the first "human" to successfully test and later lobby Washington D.C. for the use of the air bag, now used in every car in America. Currently, (July-2010) Lada is a personal trainer in Waldwick, New Jersey and has been since 1995. She has trained professional athletes and movie stars for over 25 years. She has established a ever-growing program called "Minor Miracles," designed to get children back into exercising and being nutritionally fit. She simply says at her age, she wants to "Bring sexy back to the menopause set." Fans of her Hullabaloo days still communicate with her through her website (ladastedmund.com)and Facebook (Lada St. Edmund) while maintaining her training business. In July 2010, Lada made her first successful personal appearance during Super Mega Show, a 60s rock-music fan fest. Fans were happy to see that even with her developed muscles, she is still the gorgeous woman that graced Hullabaloo. She came away being touched after all these years. May-2010-Lada is planning to begin training to become a boxing referee for USA Boxing Metro in the New York Area. Her wish is to referee a Golden Gloves event at Madison Square Garden by March of 2011.