Harold Minsky poses with six showgirls at the Playboy Hotel. The dancers are wearing rhinestone bikini-style costumes and large feathered headdresses. The Knickerbocker has gone through several incarnations since it opened in 1927. Legend has it that in the 1930s the hotel housed a casino frequented by Al Capone. During World War II and the Korean War, US Armed Forces officers would fill the property's hallways and play cards in the Officer's Club. In 1952, Richard Nixon was nominated Vice President during the Republican National Convention held in the hotel. Finally, in the 1970s it became the Playboy Hotel, owned by Hugh Hefner. Site Name: Playboy Hotel (Chicago, Ill.) Street Address: 163 East Walton Place
Oral history interview with Linda Spinks Alverson conducted by Nancy Hardy on August 15, 2003 for the UNLV University Libraries Oral History Collection. In this interview, Alverson discusses her early life in Isleworth, England and early interests in dancing. She talks about becoming a part of the Bluebell girls in Paris, France at the Lido and showgirl performing across the world. Alverson remembers moving to Las Vegas, Nevada in in 1972, performing at the Stardust Hotel in the Lido de Paris, Hallelujah Hollywood!, Jubilee!, and Casino de Paris shows. Lastly, Alverson talks about the end of her career in dancing, transitioning into other fields of work, and becoming a cocktail server.
On a production stage decorated with gold platforms and white fog, entertainers perform Act 2: "Hollywood and All That Jazz," Scene 2: "The Golden Galaxy" of the show Pzazz! 70 staged by Donn Arden at the Desert Inn Hotel, Las Vegas. Male and female performers pose across the stage as a crowd of people watch from below. While the female dancers are dressed in sparkling, gold two-piece costumes dripping with strings of silver beads and a matching pink headpieces, the male performers are wrapped in twinkling strings of gold beads with a matching gold g-strings and pink capes. Show Name: Pzazz! 70 Performance Name: Hollywood and All That Jazz: The Golden Galaxy
The Bluebells dance troupe poses on the steps of a Pan Am jet plane as they arrive in Las Vegas to open the new Lido de Paris show at the Stardust Hotel. Other members of the Bluebells pose with Margaret Kelly ("Madame Bluebell") and Lido owner/producer Pierre-Louis Guérin on the tarmac below the plane. All are dressed in street clothes and some are holding small carry-on bags. Show Name: Lido de Paris (Las Vegas, Nev.)