She and her sisters started performing on the Las Vegas Strip as teenagers, then gained international stardom after appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Sue Kim is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

-Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I'm Amber Renee Dixon.

Last week, we brought you Part 1 of Sue Kim's story.

She shared what life was like growing up in South Korea during the Korean War.

In order to survive, Sue's mother, an accomplished singer, had Sue and her siblings perform for US troops stationed there.

And with three of her girls, she formed The Kim Sisters.

American entertainment producer Tom Ball discovered the group and brought The Kim Sisters to Las Vegas in 1959 to perform at the Thunderbird hotel.

Sue's mother stayed in South Korea, entrusting the girl's care and career to 18-year-old Sue.

We pick up Sue's story from there.

What did you think of Las Vegas when you first got here?

(Sue Kim) I'm glad you asked me.

When we got here, we look at each other, Where are we?

at that time.

And streets-- or wind was blowing, tumbleweeds everywhere, and it didn't look like America at all.

So we thought our manager just brought us to some strange place.

And at night that couple hotels has the lights blinking, and he took us to the Thunderbird hotel, This is where you're going to be start.

So we understood, but it didn't really matter to us.

That's how it was.

So first night, February 23, 1959, China Doll Review.

- China Doll Review, that was the name of this show that you were brought to perform in?

-That's right.

There were 18 Japanese dancers, there were 2 Chinese ballet dancers, and 2 gentlemen, comedian, and us.

That's how we open the Thunderbird hotel.

-For the four week-- -Four weeks with the four weeks option.

-What did that mean?

-Well, if we don't make it in four weeks, we have to go back to Korea.

There's no other way.

We didn't even know our next meal, where are we going to get from our next meal at the time.

So we know we had to success.

But this interesting story: Our managers are watching us.

We were on the Thunderbird hotel showroom first time we got on.

Their scenery was like coming apart, and he got very scared.

Are these girls gonna stop performing?

He said we didn't even blink our eyes.

So we went through it.

That's when he realized it, these girls has great chance of this country.

Yeah.

-Thunderbird hotel, 15 years at the Stardust after that?

-Yes.

Four weeks Thunderbird hotel, the Stardust hotel, the host, Tommy McDonnell, I never forget his name.

So kind to us.

He came over, saw us at the Thunderbird.

I want these girl to come to Stardust hotel.

You know, the Stardust hotel that we started in a lounge, lounge.

And lounge was a revolving stage.

It goes round.

Three of us had three Korean instruments, gayageum.

We had a Korean instrument, we had a Korean dress, and we keep turning, turning, and turning.

We didn't know why this doesn't stop.

[laughter] They had a switch on the casino cage.

Someone has to run to the casino cage and push the button.

But we were just turning and turning.

However, the Stardust hotel is a history.

We stayed there 8 1/2 months.

Now, here's the thing: Our job was to keep these people coming out of a showroom, our job to hold them in the hotel.

You know what that means?

-Mm-hmm.

-That was our job.

And I didn't know at the time, but that was a very important job we did.

So people would stand up all the way around lounge and watch us.

And they probably say, These a pretty Asian, you know, girls up there and playing instrument, jumping around and all that, we got to watch it.

That's how we started at Stardust.

8 1/2 months.

-Where was it that Ed Sullivan found you?

Ed Sullivan came September 1959, broadcasting his show at the Lido de Paris, the stage.

-So you had just gotten here?

-We just got here, and our manager, the Asian [indistinct], he had a connection, and he talked to Ed Sullivan that I want you to, you know, try these girls and we were hit.

And Ed Sullivan, he's the one who made us what we are.

Even today, all the YouTube, the video, someone comment is funny.

This comment is very funny.

Ladies and gentlemen, you're talking about trailblazer people.

These three girls are trailblazer.

My husband and I read the comments a lot every night, and we just enjoying it.

Wow, he says, it's payoff time.

He said, You work so hard day and night.

But my husband saying now YouTube is payoff.

-And usually you're not supposed to read the YouTube comments because they can be so nasty.

But not in your case.

-Not in our case.

It's amazing what they say about it.

It's amazing.

-So you told me your mom originally wanted you to come back to South Korea.

-Yes.

-Why didn't you?

Because of the success here?

-That if you ask me what was the most difficult time in my life, after my mother passed away.

And, you know, a huge funeral, whole country is a condolence for my mom.

We couldn't go back there.

They are waiting for on the phone, my brother, Are you guys coming?

We only had a green card.

So we go there, we might not come back.

So our manager said, I'm holding my ticket to go to my mother's funeral.

About good three hours, I cried.

What should I do?

I have five siblings here.

I have a couple siblings in Korea.

-You brought your siblings here?

-Later, yes, but I said, What would happen if we go back, we don't come back?

Our siblings here.

They were difficult, difficult time.

And Korean people at the time didn't understand why we didn't come, but they do now.

That you ask my mother, she's a stage mother, Show must go on.

It's show business.

Of course, she understood.

-She meant a lot to a lot of people in South Korea.

You have meant a lot to a lot of people here in Las Vegas.

-Well, this is funny.

My mother came after four years we've been here.

She was well known here, Kim Sisters' mother.

-So she has her own legacy here?

-She didn't care for that.

-Oh, no?

-Because in Korea, we were her children.

Not Kim Sisters, Lee Nan-young [indistinct].

That's the way it was.

So as big star she was in Korea, she was not happy being here as a Kim Sister mother.

Isn't this something?

I realized it later.

Oh, that's why she went back.

So she went back, she formed The Kim Brothers 1963.

She sang with us about eight months, and there was a beautiful woman.

After our performance, we introduced our mother.

Whole audience stood up.

-Wow.

-And applauding.

So we sang "Unchained Melody" together.

Then how she came over this country?

Ed Sullivan gave her visa, and she was on Ed Sullivan Show with us.

Yeah.

But the very interesting part, she has to sing in English, middle of it, with us.

We were worry.

Ma, you don't have time to practice.

How we're going to do that?

She said, Don't worry about it.

I'll handle it.

She gets on, all the English song, the lyric, change it to Korean.

-Wow.

-It was fantastic.

People are watching.

Hundreds, thousands people now on YouTube, they're watching it.

That's how smart my mother was.

-We are running out of time.

But I want to end on this aspect, which is, you meant a lot to Korean veterans, to veterans of the Korean War.

Now your grandson, you told me, is what, about to graduate from-- -West Point.

Michael, Michael Bonifacio.

I have four grandson, you know.

And I mean, I-- you know, Amber, show business as a woman, everything what I did is fantastic.

But bottom of my deep in my heart, I wanted to have a solid family, family.

Now, knowing my father mother was in show business, you can't be in show business and solid family, you know?

That's the way it is.

You can't have everything, you know?

So my husband that, when I met him, that's what I wanted, not in show business.

So I-- he is best father in the world.

I could, you know-- I don't know about the best husband, but best father in the world, okay?

[laughter] Greatest father in the world.

He only knows his family.

And, Amber, I have four great-grandchildren, boys, and there's Michael who went to graduate West Point, stationing in Hawaii.

And he's carrying on my legacy.

That's how we started, entertaining for G.I.

troops.

And this is what he does.

And it's amazing.

How could you ask any more than that in your life?

I have four brothers still alive, and I'm going to perform with my older brother at-- we have a special program for June 25 celebrating our freedom that Korea, Korean American Association Club, that's where we're going to perform.

-Here in Las Vegas?

-Las Vegas.

Now, you say I'm playing 13 instruments?

I'm learning ukulele now.

My brother said, You gotta learn ukulele, so all night long, I'm practicing ukulele.

-That'll be 14.

-Yes, there will be.

We're gonna do that show, and it's a-- God is good to me.

When we came 1959 here, we are the first Korean to arrive.

Now we have 40,000 Koreans living in Las Vegas.

39,990 owns restaurant.

[laughter] All business.

Korean people are very driven, proud people.

So Spring Mountain Road is going to be all Korean restaurant in five years.

I predict it.

-All right.

We'll check back with you then.

A few days before this interview, Sue Kim became a great-grandmother to baby Sophie.

A big congratulations to Sue and her family.

And you can see Part 1 of Sue's story on our website, vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.

♪♪