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National Geographic

Who were the original showgirls?

Can-Can dancers at the Moulin Rouge, 1952. Photograph by AA Film Archive, Alamy Taylor Swift is just the latest artist to be enchanted by the iconic entertainers, with their glittering costumes and racy moves. When Taylor Swift announced her 12th album was entitled 'The Life of a Showgirl,' speculation raged as to its contents. Is Swift in her extravagantly feathered, bare-chested era? Though the singer's announcement elicited images of sequins, plumes, and not much else, it also put the spotlight on the trope of the showgirl, a Vegas beauty now vanished from modern performances. Who was the showgirl, anyway? And why is the idea of her so persistent? Like Swift herself, showgirls are revered for beauty, bling, and the ability to bare it all to their fans. Here's a brief history of the iconic performers. Women have long been formidable entertainers, but the original term 'show girl' emerged around 1750, and was first used pejoratively to describe a woman who dressed or behaved showily. 'The girls are mere show girls—like a myriad of others—sing, play, dance, dress, flirt, and all that,' complains a character in Maria Edgeworth's 1841 Patronage, one of the earliest uses of the term. Meanwhile, social changes in the 18th and 19th century birthed the predecessor of the review show, and of showgirls. In England, pubs began expanding into music halls in response to a growing demand for quick-moving shows featuring exciting entertainers. In France, cafés and cabarets became popular venues along with the chanteuses who performed there. Paris' showgirls inspired famous artists at the time—including Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec—and continue to enchant present-day audiences in movies like Baz Lurhmann's Moulin Rouge, which also birthed a Broadway musical. Photograph by Elliott Franks, eyevine/Redux In 1881, French artist Rudolf Salis took the cabaret one step further when he opened Le Chat Noir (The Black Cat), a cabaret he envisioned as a haven for his fellow artists. At first, the venue operated like an artistic salon, but soon Salis realized he had a potential moneymaker on his hands. Over time, the café became one of Paris' most popular, and its variety programming sparked imitators like Joseph Oller and Charles Zilder, who opened their own venue in 1889. They named it after a red windmill, and the Moulin Rouge was born. Can-can dancers and the birth of Burlesque Inside, daring female dancers lifted their skirts to perform the newest dance, the 'Can-Can,' showing their petticoats and more intimate undergarments as they kicked their legs in the air. The club's racy demi-monde of dancers and patrons was a favorite subject for Parisian artists, most notably Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The shows also included satirical skits that 'burlesqued' the political and social figures of the day. Other venues quickly followed suit as music halls and cabarets became havens for both poorer city-dwellers who could not afford the theater or opera and wealthy people eager to 'slum it' in artsy Montmartre. One of the most famous was the Folies Bergère, which had gotten off to an uninspiring start as a theatrical venue in the 1860s. In 1886, impresario Edouárd Marchand took over as manager, introducing a new show and a new kind of female performer. Taking inspiration from his own love of women and the popularity of dancers and chanteuses, Marchand decided to center the revue on the female form, with nearly nude women a scandalous part of the show. (How to plan a Belle-Époque walking tour in Paris) Showgirls on display The idea soon hopped the Atlantic, and by the 20th century the word 'showgirl' was part of the American vernacular. Theaters touted well-dressed women entertainers in advertisements and show titles, promising a 'Celebrated Chorus of Stunning ShowGirls Gorgeously Gowned,' according to one 1902 ad. It would take an American impresario—and the advice of a shrewd woman—to birth the glamorous showgirl we know today. Florenz Ziegfeld had gained acclaim first by showcasing bodybuilder Eugene Sandow, then by bringing Anna Held, a Polish-French singer and Ziegfeld's mistress, to the U.S., tempting audiences with photos of the nude singer bathing in milk. She suggested he use the formula so popular at the Folies-Bergère, writes historian Eve Golden: 'part girlie show, part fashion show, with some comedy thrown in.' He tried it out, and won big: The Ziegfeld Follies was born, and it would run for over 30 years. This color printed lithograph from 1912 showcases the growing popularity of showgirls in America. (Photo by The New) Illustration by The New York Historical, Getty Images Ziegfeld's 'Follies Girls' were beautiful. But they were known for more than their looks. Fashion and glamour were a critical part of the revue show. As historian Elspeth H. Brown notes, some of the women in such reviews were actually tasked with being fashion models instead of dancers or actresses, putting the 'show' in 'showgirl' as they 'paraded clothing before the audience.' Ziegfeld's shows would give hundreds their start in showbiz. Though some became celebrities, other showgirls were stigmatized for putting their bodies on display. Longstanding connections between the theater, prostitution, and sexual exploitation plagued showgirl revues, and sexual abuse was rife within the profession. Wealthy patrons expected to be able to court—and exploit—dancers who caught their attention, and the musical revue genre coexisted with burlesque shows, strip teases, and other titillating forms of entertainment. That connection remained as showgirls made their way to Sin City in the 1940s and 1950s, chasing the wealth and glamour of a rapidly growing Las Vegas strip. The first modern casino there, El Rancho Vegas, featured the 'El Rancho Starlets,' a group of showgirls renowned for being scantily clad. As Vegas grew and celebrity investment yielded an entire strip of casinos, nightclubs and performance venues, showgirls grew more popular, sometimes even eclipsing the big-name performers on the bill. Casinos became notable for choosing only the most beautiful women to process in feathers and sequins, dazzling showgoers and helping give Las Vegas its reputation for entertainment. Indeed, showgirls are credited with helping the city weather a rough recession, though the genre declined during the 1970s and 1980s. Eventually, though, longstanding shows like the Tropicana's Folies-Bergere began shutting down, and the opulent showgirl revue is now a thing of the past. (The ultimate guide to Las Vegas) But the showgirl's legacy remains. The performers have a long love affair with filmmakers, who have featured their lives in movies like 1995's Showgirls and 2024's The Last Showgirl. Still famed for their over-the-top style, glamorous moves, and bare bodies, their legacy still lives in live theater today. Just don't use the word as shorthand for something seedy. 'None of us like being called chorus girls,' Tropicana showgirl Felicia Atkins told a reporter in 1959. 'It implies a girl with no class. We want to be known as showgirls.' Perhaps Swift will transform the term again, one track at a time.