ML - Vegas Magazine

2014 - Issue 4 - Summer

Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.

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T h rough a ll t he cha nges t hat L a s Vegas entertainment has seen over t he decades —f rom t he r ise of st a r headliners to t he inf lu x of lav ish acrobat ic spect acles—t he showg irl has endured. Gracefully. Immortally. Nothing has toppled the tall, elegant figure from her pedestal. Her feathers unruff led, her head- piece sparkling, she has survived it all. Even the worst disaster in Strip history failed to fell what is today the last showgirl bastion in Vegas. On November 21, 1980, the highly anticipated production Jubilee was in its final run-throughs at the MGM Grand, which today is Bally's. It was two weeks from its premiere performance in the hotel's showroom, then known as the Ziegfeld T heat re. Jubilee wa s stepping in a s Hallelujah Hollywood, the hotel's resident showgirl produc- tion, sashayed away after six years. Las Vegas historians know that date all too well a s t he day a t rag ic f ire tore t h rough t he MGM Gra nd, k illing 8 5 people. T he Zieg feld Theatre was one of the few areas in the hotel equipped with overhead sprinklers, which were activated when the fire reached the venue. The 30 -foot pit that is the theater's basement was a pond holding three feet of water. Jubilee's new costumes, never worn in a full-scale show, were soaked. The feathered, Swarovski crystal – encrusted pieces were doused and black with soot. It took officials three days to enter and take inventory of the costumes and sets. The produc- tion's legendary company manager, Ffolliott "Fluff " LeCoque, assessed the damage in a pair of waders. The show was delayed for months, not opening until July of the following year. But it did open, impressively. It su r v ived. Better t ha n t hat , actua lly. According to Dia ne Palm, Jubilee's current company manager and a showgirl in the original cast, "It was incredible. Opening night stretched all the way through the casino with people trying to get into the show." Without a doubt, the Las Vegas showgirl has t ransfixed audiences around the world as one of the enduring icons of this city. "They are Las Vegas," says former Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman, who was f lanked by a pa ir of showg irl models for a ll of h is public appearances while in office from 1999 to 2011— and still is, for that matter. "Showgirls are the or ig ina l way we dist ing uished ourselves from ot her cit ies, w it h t heir beaut y a nd g race a nd elega nce. T hey were w it h me, day a f ter day, wherever I went around town, because they were the brand of Las Vegas." Goodma n remembers at tending t he World Tou r ism Conference in London wh ile he wa s mayor. Also there, at the behest of the Las Vegas Convent ion a nd Visitors Aut hor it y, were t he ever-present showgirls. "People were lining up along the street to take pictures of us," Goodman says. "I can tell you, it was not because they were interested in me. It wa s t he showg irls. T hat 's how power f ul a nd recognizable that image is." T he showg irl a s we underst a nd her today began sashaying on Las Vegas stages in the late 1940s, in specialty shows in the Roundup Room at E l R a ncho Vega s. T he Sa nds Copa Girls debuted in 1952 , soon followed by Minsky's Follies (the first show in Nevada to feature topless dancers) at the Dunes. But the extravagance began taking hold in the late '50s. Lido de Paris opened with the Stardust in 1958 , followed by Folies Bergère at t he Tropicana—which was famously brought to Las Vegas by Lou Walters, father of Barbara Walters, who wound up v isit ing t he show t he week it closed in March 2009. Palm, who danced in Lido, Casino de Paris at the Dunes, and Hallelujah Hollywood before join- ing Jubilee, pinpoints Lido as the true birth of the showgirl in Las Vegas. "I think that is when the showg irl appea rs, in 1958 ," she says. "It wa s impor ted direct ly f rom Pa r is. It wa s a line of showgirls—basically tall, beautiful women who were in feathers." Jubilee now st a nds a lone a s t he la st cla ssic showgirl production in Las Vegas. It hasn't been an easy run, surviving the twists and turns of a Strip that has become increasingly fickle over t he pa st decades. Jubilee beca me t he la st ga l st a nding when Folies Bergère, t he only ot her production to rival it in size and scope, closed at t he Tropica na a f ter 50 yea rs a nd more t ha n 29,000 performances. "PEOPLEWERE LININGUPALONG THESTREETTOTAKE PICTURESOFUS. I CANTELLYOU ITWASNOT BECAUSETHEY WEREINTERESTED INME. ITWASTHE SHOWGIRLS ." OSCARGOODMAN 88 VEGASMAGAZINE.COM

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