Wikipedia

Showgirl

This article is about female stage performers. For the 1995 film, seeShowgirls.For other uses, seeShowgirl (disambiguation).
See also:Vedette (cabaret)andChorus line

Ashowgirlis a female performer in a theatricalrevuewho wears an exotic and revealing costume and in some shows may appeartopless.Showgirls are usually dancers, sometimes performing aschorus girls,burlesque dancersorfan dancers,[1]and many are classically trained with skills inballet.The termshowgirlis also sometimes used bystrippersand somestrip clubsuse it as part of their business name.[2]

Show-girl (La Cocotte) at Scala Theatre,The Hague;byIsaac Israëls

History

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In eighteenth century England the termshowgirlmeant a young woman who acted in a showy way to attract male attention, but by the mid-nineteenth century the term had come to mean a singer and dancer inmusic hallacts.[1]Showgirls as we now understand them date from the late 1800s in Parisianmusic hallsandcabaretssuch as theMoulin Rouge,Le Lido,and theFolies Bergèrewhich first featured a nude showgirl in 1918. A popular showgirl dance was thecan-can.[2]The trafficking of showgirls for the purposes of prostitution was the subject of a salacious novel[which?]by the nineteenth-century French authorLudovic Halévy.[3]TheZiegfeld Folliesrevue onBroadwayintroduced showgirls to the United States in 1907, andBusby Berkeleyincluded them in hisHollywood filmsin the 1930s. The Bluebell Girls, a dance troupe created by the Irish dancerMargaret Kellyin 1932, performed at the Folies Bergère and Le Lido. By the 1950s there were permanent troupes of Bluebell Girls in Paris and Las Vegas and touring troupes that travelled around the world.[2]

Dancers from the revue showJubilee!in 2005

The first casino on theLas Vegas Stripto employ dancing girls as a diversion between acts was theEl Rancho Vegasin 1941.[4]Showgirls with expensive costumes were presented in Las Vegas in 1952 at theSands Casinofor a show withDanny Thomas.[5]Initially opening and closing forheadline acts,sometimes dancing around the headliner, showgirls later moved on to being the main attraction and stars of the show. During the 1950s and 1960s showgirls performed in every hotel and casino on the Las Vegas strip. Competition between casinos led to increasingly lavish shows and costumes.[2]Major shows of the late 1950s includedDonn Arden'sLido de Parisshow at theStardust,Jack Entratter’sCopa Girlsat theSands Hotel,andHarold Minsky’sFolliesat theDesert Inn.Minsky introduced topless showgirls and these were then incorporated intoThe Lido de Paris,a show that ran for 31 years.[6]The popularity of showgirl shows in Las Vegas slowly declined after the 1960s, with all of the major shows closing by the early 21st century.[2]

Revues with showgirls

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The showgirls of The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies
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Dancer(1924) byPierre Carrier-Belleuse
  • TheGold Diggersfilms, includingThe Gold Diggers(silent, 1923),Gold Diggers of Broadway(1929),Gold Diggers of 1933(1933),Gold Diggers of 1935(1935),Gold Diggers of 1937(1936), andGold Diggers in Paris(1938)
  • Bolero,a 1934 film in whichAmerican burlesquedancerSally Randplayed a carnival showgirl and performed afan dance[8]
  • The Golddiggers,a troupe that performed onThe Dean Martin Showbeginning in 1968
  • Showgirls,a 1995 film directed byPaul Verhoevenand starringElizabeth 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 Minoguewas inspired by different types of showgirls and named and styled herShowgirl: The Greatest Hits TourandShowgirl: The Homecoming Tourconcerts after them. Showgirl themes can be seen at many corners through Minogue's entire career.
  • Several showgirl cars are seen at theDinocobooth during the animated filmCars;formerMotoramashow carFlodisplays vanity licence plate SHOGRL as a "Motorama 1957 showgirl".
  • Joe Camel1990s ads feature Las Vegas showgirls
  • Rover Dangerfielda 1991 film features showgirl Connie, Rover's kind-hearted owner.
  • The Simpsonsepisodes "138th Episode Spectacular", "Homer's Night Out", and "Bart After Dark" feature showgirls, the last two include recurring character Shauna "Princess Kashmir" Tipton.
  • Family Guyopening first has background showgirls then later (Season 9) features main female characters Trish Takanawa, Bonnie Swanson, Jillian Russell-Wilcox, Joyce Kinney and Barbara Pewterschmidt as showgirls, in "Whistle While Your Wife Works" Peter Griffin falls on and crushes a background showgirl, only to complain about hurting his foot, and in "Lottery Fever" one showgirl confronts him about getting her pregnant and ghosting her.
  • Pokémonepisode "The March of the Exeggutor Squad" features showgirls at the Kanto carnival, and magician Melvin's assistant Darla is dressed in a Vulpix themed showgirl outfit, while later Misty Williams wears a Goldeen themed one.
  • Rock-a-Doodlefeatures showgirl/chorus girl Goldie Pheasant
  • South ParkepisodeThe Death Camp of Tolerancehas Herbert Garrison dress up as a showgirl at an award ceremony in an attempt to get fired and then sue for discrimination.
  • I Love LucyepisodeLucy Gets into Pictureshas Lucy Ricardo attempt to play a showgirl who gets shot in a movie, but the oversized headdress keeps knocking her down.
  • Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulousinvolves FBI agent Gracie Hart going undercover as a showgirl at the Oasis.
  • My Little Pony TalesepisodeAnd the Winner Is...shows Clover Bloom singing "The Choice I Ought to Makewhere her friends Melody, Starlight, Patch, Bright Eyes, Sweetheart and Bon Bon dance in a kick line and form a pyramid, wearing garters and feathers in their manes.
  • BillboardcountryArgentinafeatures Hall of Fame ShowgirlShelby Dollas digital cover and follows her tour.

See also

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References

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Wikimedia Commons has media related toShowgirls.
  1. ^abMerrill, Jane (2018).The Showgirl Costume: An Illustrated History.McFarland. p. 4.ISBN9781476634333.
  2. ^abcde"History of Showgirls".Oklahoma Showgirls.Archived fromthe originalon 5 January 2012.
  3. ^McClary, Susan (1992).Georges Bizet: Carmen.Cambridge Opera Handbooks. Cambridge University Press. p. 38.ISBN9780521398978.
  4. ^Gioia-Acres, Lisa (2013).Showgirls of Las Vegas.Arcadia Publishing. p. 8.ISBN9780738596532.
  5. ^Mary Manning (15 May 2008)."Las Vegas Showgirls: Show and (a lot to) tell".Las Vegas Sun.Retrieved22 April2012.
  6. ^"Las Vegas: An Unconventional History".PBS.Retrieved23 April2012.
  7. ^J.D. Morris (13 June 2016)."Celebrating the Las Vegas showgirl: An icon lives on in one group's evolving passion project".Las Vegas Sun.
  8. ^Shteir, Rachel (2004).Striptease: The Untold History of the Girlie Show.Oxford University Press. p.153.ISBN9780195300765.
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