The "Showgirl" was invented in 1907 by Florenz "Ziggy" Ziegfeld Jr. for his "Follies" show. The revue was a series of acts, not unlike a vaudeville show, that he added dazzling production numbers featuring beautiful young women in glamourous, glittering costumes. The sub-title of the show was "Glorifying the American Girl" and the "Ziegfeld Girl" was what separated the Follies from all other shows of the time. Busby Berkeley continued to idolize the "Showgirl" with huge spectacular staging in his Hollywood films of the 1930s. European shows like the "Lido de Paris" continued the showgirl tradition, but it wasn't until the French revues like the "Folies Bergere" and the "Lido" came to Las Vegas in the 1960's that the Showgirl became famous worldwide. Technically, from the show producers point of view, there is a difference between a showgirl and a dancer, although in some smaller shows the girls did both jobs. In the large stage productions Showgirls were close to 6ft tall and stauesque, which, with elaborate headresses and high heeled shoes made them truly "bigger than life". They were usually bare breasted in spite of the nearly 70lbs of costume they carried. Dancers, for the most part need not be tall, wore less costume, except they were seldom topless. On these pages you will see both.

WARNING: The following pages may contain nudity