Showgirl

Kylie Minogue at a Showgirl concert in Germany.

A showgirl is a female dancer or performer in a stage entertainment show intended to showcase the performer's physical attributes, typically by way of revealing clothing or even toplessness or nudity. Showgirls are often associated with Latin music and dance, particularly samba .

The term showgirl is sometimes applied to a promotional model employed in trade fairs and car shows.

History

Showgirls date back to the late 1800s in Parisian music halls and cabarets such as the Moulin Rouge, Le Lido, and the Folies Bergère.^[1]

The Las Vegas showgirl

Jubilee! showgirls

Showgirls were presented in Las Vegas in 1952 as the opening and closing act for Las Vegas headliners, sometimes dancing around the headliner. They were introduced at the Sands Casino for a show with Danny Thomas. In 1957 Minsky's Follies took the stage at the Desert Inn giving birth to the topless showgirl in Vegas. This was followed by a long-running The Lido de Paris at the Stardust Casino that ran for 31 years.^[1][2][3]

Revues with showgirls

The showgirls of The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies

• Calypso Cabaret (Bangkok, Thailand)
• Folies Bergère (Paris)
• Folies du Lac (Paris)
• Jubilee! Bally's (Las Vegas)
• La Nouvelle Eve (Paris)
• Le Lido (Paris)
• Moulin Rouge (Paris)
• Paradis Latin (Paris)
• Roderick Palazuelos 'Platinum Stars' (México)
• Splash (Riviera, Las Vegas) (Frank Marino Show - La Cage)
• The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies (Palm Springs, California; unique in that the chorus line is of showgirls in their 50s, 60s and 70s)
• The Francis Show (Transvestite Show) (México)
• Tihany Spectacular Circus (Brazil-México)
• Tropicana Club (Havana, Cuba)
• Cabaret Red Light (Philadelphia, USA)
• VIVA Cabaret Showbar (Blackpool, UK)

Showgirls in popular culture

• The Gold Diggers films, including The Gold Diggers (silent, 1923), Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933), Gold Diggers of 1935 (1935), Gold Diggers of 1937 (1936), and Gold Diggers in Paris (1938)
• The Golddiggers, a troupe that performed on The Dean Martin Show beginning in 1968
• Showgirls: a 1995 movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and starring Elizabeth Berkley
• Guys and Dolls, a 1950 Broadway production, depicts a Miss Adelaide as the main character's fiancée, a singer and showgirl in various musical numbers.
• Kylie Minogue was inspired by different types of showgirls and named and styled her Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour and Showgirl: The Homecoming Tour concerts after them. Showgirl themes can be seen at many corners through Minogue's entire career.
• Several showgirl cars are seen at the Dinoco booth during the animated film Cars; former Motorama show car Flo displays vanity licence plate SHOGRL as a "Motorama 1957 showgirl".

Notes

1. "History of Showgirls". Retrieved April 23, 2012.
2. "LAS VEGAS AN UNCONVENTIONAL HISTORY". PBS. Retrieved April 23, 2012.
3. Mary Manning (May 15, 2008). "Las Vegas Showgirls: Show and (a lot to) tell". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved April 22, 2012.