Question of the Day - 26 July 2025

As everyone knows, with their towering headdresses and skimpy jewel-encrusted outfits, showgirls were once as much a Las Vegs fixture as slot machines and buffets.

They arrived in 1957, when the Dunes debuted showgirls in Minsky's Follies (which also introduced toplessness to Las Vegas stages), while Lido de Paris began its 31-year run at the Stardust in 1958. Soon, every casino showroom needed a showgirl extravaganza, most notable being the Copa girls at the Sands and Folies Bergere at the Tropicana.

The typical showgirl was a member of a huge chorus of statuesque rhinestone-adorned women (topless and otherwise) wearing chandeliers on their heads and doing balancing acts on huge staircases with enormous ostrich-feather fans and five sets of false eyelashes, among other subtleties. (For two years, 2008-2010, Bette Midler’s The Showgirl Must Go On residency at the Colosseum at Caesars was an excellent send-up of the old chorus-line tradition; Bette did 300 of those shows that grossed $75 million in total.)

Folies Bergere was put out of its misery in March 2009 after a 49-year run, leaving Jubilee! as the sole survivor of the era. Jubilee! featured million-dollar sets, lavish costumes, and the showgirl parade; it closed in February 2016 after 35 years at Bally’s (now the Horseshoe).

Why did they leave? Like fashion, tastes in entertainment are highly changeable and the over-the-top Las Vegas spectaculars and extravaganzas were destined to be replaced by Cirque acrobats, big-name residencies, high-tech presentations, and small shows.

Of course, Vegas wouldn’t be Vegas without showgirls, even today, and they do continue to show(girl) up here and there. Ex-mayor Oscar Goodman seems to have aged out of his tradition of a showgirl on each arm, though the martini probably still survives. But when an airline flies into Reid International for the first time, at least a couple of showgirls are there to greet the plane. And enterprising young women in showgirl costumes pose for photographs with visitors at the Bellagio fountains, alongside Spiderman, Darth Vader, and SpongeBob SquarePants; you can also find them on Fremont Street. 

So yes, the days of the Las Vegas showgirl appearing en masse in front of big audiences on Las Vegas stages are bygone and they won't be coming back. However, though they might be an endangered species, they’re not, by any means, extinct yet.