STILL GORGEOUS AFTER ALL THESE YEARS.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY

Their kids are grown and out of the house, the dog died, and their husbands are retired and home underfoot, so the Golddiggers are hitting the road again.

Why not? They're still beautiful and sexy pushing 60. Still able to slip into a pair of tight jeans and turn a few heads walking down the street.

If it's true that everything old is new again, six of the original 12 Golddiggers from the Dean Martin TV variety show, which ran from 1968 to 1972, want a piece of the action.

They've been meeting to rehearse an upcoming Las Vegas show and cable TV special at a little dance studio one of them, Rosie Gitlin, owns in North Hollywood on Riverside Drive.

It's only a few miles up the road from the Burbank TV studio where 40 years ago the Golddiggers began dancing, singing and cracking up with "Dino" on his popular TV show, while also appearing on three Bob Hope USO Christmas TV specials from Vietnam.

The girls went their own ways after Dean Martin's show ended in 1973. All got married, which they couldn't while the show ran because they had to be single.

All had kids (some of them grandkids, too), packed school lunches, attended PTA meetings and got together for a reunion every five or 10 years.

"We were at our 35th reunion in Las Vegas in 2003 when Jackie came up with the idea of getting together again," says Susie Ewing, who lives in Northridge.

"I was the tall redhead," says Jackie Chidsey, who lives in Connecticut. "I asked the girls if the idea had any merit or was it pie in the sky."

They had all stayed in shape and now, with their children grown, they had more free time. Sure, the idea had some merit.

Everything old was new again, wasn't it? Who had more of a potential audience out there?

Dean Martin's TV show was an incredible hit, and millions of today's baby boomers had either lusted after or wished they were one of the Golddiggers 40 years ago.

"When we told our husbands, they said go for it. They've been totally supportive," Ewing said.

Their first return performance was for a televised American Patriot Award show saluting Bob Hope. Then came an appearance at the Washington Monument for an anniversary celebration for the Vietnam Memorial.

"After 35 years, to be together again, standing in the wings and hearing our music start, well, we all just looked at each other and shook our heads," says Nancy Sinclair, who lives in Burbank.

"It was like no time had passed."

But, of course, time had. They weren't 20 anymore. They were pushing 60.

Their kids were grown and out of the house, the dog had died, and their husbands were retired and underfoot.

Perfect time for the Golddiggers to hit the road again.

dennis.mccarthy(at)dailynews.com

818-713-3749

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Photo:

Six of the original 12 Golddiggers -- from left, Sheila Allan, Susie Ewing, Jackie Chidsey, Rosie Gitlin, Nancy Sinclair and Suzy Cadham -- are together and performing again. The sexy dancers were popular on Dean Martin's TV show from 1968 to 1972.

John McCoy/Staff Photographer