ent000273-033

Dining showgoers at the Stardust found plenty of "oo-la-la" in "Lido de Paris," a French production imported to Las Vegas in 1958. editorial condemned ?╟úMinsky?╟╓s||on ?╟úmoral grounds.?╟Ñ Despite the debate, the show ran for more than four years. At first some ?╟úMinsky?╟╓s?╟Ñ performers were not entirely com- fortable with their topless castmates, Recalls Kim Krantz, who earned about $120 per week as a dressed dancer in ?╟úMinsky?╟╓s.| ?╟úThe topless dancers were recruited from burlesque shows across the counts^, so they were not dancers/?╟╓ the 70-something former performer says. ?╟úWe fought for our own dressing room.?╟Ñ She had danced for show-business impresario Lou Walters in the ?╟úLatin Quarter?╟Ñ show in New York and at the Riviera. Krantz recalls, ?╟úHe changed my name from Delores Dalkowski to Kim Perrin.?╟Ñ Walters, the father of television newswoman Barbara Walters, brought thfej ?╟úFoliesg to the Tropicana from Paris, where the French version starred Maurice Chevalier. The producer was look- ing for a show that would lure people from Southern California, says the Tropicana?╟╓s Murphy, who began working with the ?╟úFolies?╟Ñ in 1979. ?╟úEveryone had dancers, but Walters wanted the mFolies?╟╓ because it was top- less. It would be risque and ; 'very naughty,?╟Ñ Murphy says, yfifm sure Lou Walters thought the * Folies?╟╓ would run a couple of months,* maybe 12. I?╟╓m sure he said, ?╟ Let?╟╓s knock their socks off , m and move on,?╟╓ never think- Ginny Murphy, enter- . Lrv K ,,,. tainment director at ^ would run 45 years. the Tropicana. Murphy says, At the time, ?√ß Kim Krantz was a dancer with the controversial "Minsky's" at the Dunes. the classic tople^ showgirl was tall, between five-nine and six- ?╟≤ onjlwith champagne glass-sized breasts.?╟Ñ The height require- ments still applyH Ffolliott ?╟úFluff?╟╓ LeCoque, company manager of ?╟úJubile^lB says/?╟úWe require a minimum of five-eight, but sometimes I can take five-seven if she is a good dancer.?╟Ñ LeCoqudllxplains that a foun-foot-tall headdress on a shorter girl would look like plumage with feet. In addition to dancing talent, LeCoque says she looks for natural beauty in a showgirl. ?╟úThe (SB '. focus is not on the show?╟╓s nudit??The focus is the overall picture of the human form, the beauty of both male and female jSi showgirls have long attracted off-stage at- Mon, too. ?╟úIn the old days, showgirls not only got a Salary, but there also were a lot of perks like /clothes and parties,?╟╓f says Murphy ?╟úWe at the Tropicana Used to encourage our showgirls to mix with players between shows.?╟Ñ In the ?╟╓60s and ?╟╓70s showgirls were wined and dined, she says. ?╟úIp their off hours they would be able to go to restaurants and - receive free beverages, but that changed when corpo- rations took oven?╟Ñ LeCoque,r a, former dancer who has been with ?╟úJubilee!?╟Ñ-since it opened in 1981, also speaks of an earlier Las Vegas. A 1950 graduate of a Thunderbird 11 Fluff LeCoque, com- pany manager of "Jubilee!" at Bally's. 46 NEVADA MAGAZINE WHMmm Veg!$s, NJevys Bureau (top), Riyfena 'Hotel (cepter^