Showgirl

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.

The Las Vegas showgirl

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.

Revues with showgirls

Show Girl

Show Girl is a musical that ran from Jul 2, 1929 to Oct 5, 1929 with a book by William Anthony McGuire, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and Gus Kahn, and music by George Gershwin. Its heroine, aspiring Broadway showgirl Dixie Dugan, was a character created by J. P. McEvoy and introduced in a novel first serialized in Liberty and then published in book form by Simon & Schuster in 1928.

The Broadway production was produced by Florenz Ziegfeld, directed by McGuire, and choreographed by Bobby Connolly, with ballet sequences, including one set to An American in Paris, by Albertina Rasch. Duke Ellington conducted the orchestra. It opened on July 2, 1929 at the Ziegfeld Theatre and ran for 111 performances. The cast included Ruby Keeler as Dixie, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Foy, Jr., Frank McHugh, and Nick Lucas.

Keeler's husband Al Jolson frequently sat in the audience and serenaded her with the show's closing number, "Liza (All the Clouds'll Roll Away)," from his seat. The song was featured in the 1946 biopic The Jolson Story.

Showgirl (disambiguation)

Showgirl may refer to the following:

See also