Las Vegas and the Bare-Breasted Bonanza

by Leah Bailly | Oct 5 2007

Feathers and fancy. Lipstick and lights. Two shows a night, six nights a week. In the classic era of mobsters and mayhem, the Vegas showgirl became an emblem of Vegas spectacle, of how far Sin City would go to dazzle America. While the rest of the nation was hell-bent on women's rights and equal opportunity, Las Vegas was convincing them to take off their tops. It was the line of endless legs, those fishnets and heels can-canning their way to the finale that put Vegas on the map. But it was a proud pair of showgirl breasts that truly baptized Las Vegas the "Entertainment Capital of the World."

Today, nearly 40 million pilgrims visit Las Vegas every year, seeking Lady Luck at the Blackjack tables, dining under the Eiffel Tower or tying the knot under a paper moon in the Little Chapel of the West. Today's headliner shows are the true definition of spectacle: multimedia, pyrotechnic, acrobatic visions of extravagance, where one may plunge under water, fire across space and tumble thousands of stories all to a soft-rock synthesized soundtrack. The Vegas showgirl seems almost passé and washed up, as faded as her sequined headdress and tinted tights.

But there was a time when the showgirl embodied Vegas, when a topless revue was mom & pop entertainment. A dress-up dinner show would be requisite before a night of Baccarat and cocktails. Vegas entertainment meant tail feathers and pasties, a chance to peruse Paris, sweep off to Arabia or step down the marble staircase of a fairytale palace, all to the tune of a 16 piece band. What is now constructed on the Strip out of concrete and stucco used to appear on the stages of such shows as Les Folies Bergeres or Lido de Paris. Tourists in Las Vegas could travel the world each night via its dance numbers, all without ever leaving their hotel.

What started in the 1930s as classic nightclub acts turned into headline shows by the 1950s that nearly every big resort on the Strip had to draw gamblers into its casinos. Dance numbers would open and close for big name celebrities, performers like Jimmy Durante and Frank Sinatra, whose names are synonymous with booze, gambling and of course, beautiful women. When lounge acts shifted to showrooms, the dance numbers grew, and the can-can line of 10 girls soon turned into a finale of 50. What started with fully clothed, background tap dancers for the big names eventually morphed into a spectacle of its own. 

By the late 1950s, icons were born, and big name producers like Donn Arden would arrive from New York, ship girls in from France and have them dancing at the Desert Inn for $190 a week. Taking cues from European theatrical traditions like burlesque, vaudeville and operetta, Madame Bluebell (Margaret Kelly) introduced the signature high-kicking headdress and tail, insisting her dancers sport long legs and a smile. Before long, Broadway would start influencing Vegas nightlife, with troupes like legend Jack Entratter's hand-picked "Copa Girls." Quickly establishing the Sands as Las Vegas' classiest venue, Entratter crafted his spectacle using basic ingredients: majestic sets, drop-dead beauty and zero nudity.

But before long, the top would literally, blow off.

In 1957, despite glaring national criticism, Vegas revealed its sinful side to a startled America, to the tune of a topless revue. In a daring move to shock critics and draw larger audiences, Harold Minsky and his famed ‘Minky’s Follies’ incorporated the French style strip tease into the classic dance numbers.  Breasts were exposed.  Mouths were agape.  Show-biz was stunned, but no one could peel their eyes away.  Soon, both sides of the Strip would compete for those hungry eyes; in 1958, the brand new Stardust would launch their own version of the Parisian strip tease, ‘Lido de Paris’, complete with bare-breasted beauties (save the pasties, of course).  For the first time in North America, and only in Las Vegas, showgirls would show (almost) all.

A Topless Dream Life

The dancers basked in their dream life. The girls shared apartments, lounged pool-side and spent evenings mixing with gamblers at the tables at the director's request. Many showgirls, from such far flung locations as Korea and Holland, were featured on Vegas billboards and television spots in full feathers or daring bikinis. Meanwhile, girls were encouraged to date mobsters and musicians, to sit nicely next to high-rollers at Craps tables and to "blow on the dice," so to speak. While Vegas dancers came to represent the glitzy front-end of Vegas, the back-door politics of 1950s entertainment were as dirty as the casino's mob bosses. Rumors soared around the resorts about showgirls' naughty behavior off stage, only elevating their popularity with audiences.

In the height of the 1960s, showgirls seemed an undeniable aspect of Vegas entertainment. But as Vegas altered its own landscape, showbiz would change its tune. In a city that favors its new glitzy and glamorous future, historians fear that the showgirl will be reduced to gentlemen's clubs and themed fantasy shows. From spiked heels and chains, to vampire seduction, to erotic circus acrobatics, topless revues have veered away from classic feathers and trains to quench Las Vegas' desire for a louder, brighter and bolder spectacle. And just as Minsky and Arden battled for audiences in the 1950s, today's mega-resort and casinos will stop at nothing to upgrade their already monstrous productions.

But Vegas hasn't lost its love of the exposed. Although few starlet showcases remain, faithful crowds still flock to their stages. Since its debut in 1959 at the Tropicana, Les Folies Bergeres still manages to draw nearly 40,000 patrons a month despite its tired venue and traditional song and dance format. Donn Arden's Jubilee, with its sequins and stagey numbers, has managed a 20-year run, using that indefatigable formula for success: talent, beauty and (albeit low-tech) flare. One thing seems to always remain the same. In the Entertainment Capital of the World, audiences just can’t seem to tear their eyes away.

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