{"id":256449,"date":"2023-01-30T13:22:02","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T19:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=256449"},"modified":"2023-01-31T15:14:19","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T21:14:19","slug":"historic-las-vegas-strip-showgirl-sign-set-for-relighting-not-so-historic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/historic-las-vegas-strip-showgirl-sign-set-for-relighting-not-so-historic\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake History: ‘Historic’ Showgirl Sign isn’t the Original"},"content":{"rendered":"

One small detail was missing from reports this weekend that \u201cthe famous Lido de Paris sign\u201d \u2013 from the very first showgirl show on the Las Vegas Strip \u2013 is about to be relit by the Neon Museum for the first time since the show closed in 1991.<\/p>\n

\"Lido
This ‘Lido de Paris’ sign is scheduled to be relit in a ceremony at the Neon Museum on Thursday. (Image: pixels.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It’s not<\/em> the famous sign, because it was never displayed on the exterior of the Stardust casino or on any of its Las Vegas Strip marquees.<\/p>\n

This isn’t meant to disparage the painstaking restoration work conducted by the family-owned Hartlauer Signs of Las Vegas, or the generous gift funding it from local philanthropist Todd VonBastiaans. However, this 56-foot-long sign is from a billboard.<\/p>\n

The Lido de Paris sign at the Neon Museum contains a mounting frame at the back of the sign that confirms it was used as a billboard, although there is no documented information nor imagery to prove where this may have been located,” read an email to Casino.org<\/em> from Emily Fellmer, the museum’s senior collections manager. “It was likely made in the late 1960s, when billboards were still a major way of promoting locations to drivers coming into Las Vegas.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fellmer’s email also confirmed Casino.org<\/em>‘s suspicion that its main Stardust sign \u2013 which contains red lettering that never appeared on the building or the main marquee \u2013 also came from a billboard.<\/p>\n

\"Lido
In this collage of every iteration of the Stardust marquee during the run of the \u2018Lido de Paris,\u2019 only the final version \u2013 installed in 1977 and remaining until 1991 \u2013 gave the show its own separate neon sign. But the colors don\u2019t match the Neon Museum\u2019s sign, nor do the words \u201cDE PARIS\u201d appear. (Images, clockwise: Summa Corp, vintagelasvegas.com, Pinterest, tahitivillage.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Neon Museum’s “Lido de Paris\u201d billboard sign is slated to be relit at an invitation-only ceremony at sunset on Thursday, February 2 at the Neon Museum, 770 Las Vegas Blvd. North. Guests will include Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and the surviving cast and crew of the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d show. It will be the museum\u2019s 23rd illuminated sign on display in their back lot, known as the Neon Boneyard.<\/p>\n

No Disputing Show’s Historicity<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\"Lido
Showgirls dangle from the ceiling in the 1963 production of ‘Lido de Paris’ at the Stardust. (Image: Saturday Evening Post)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Opening along with the Stardust on July 2, 1958, the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d was the first official showgirl show on the Strip, defining the showgirl as an icon of Las Vegas culture.<\/a> An offshoot of the original \u201cLido\u201d \u2013 which still runs in Paris after nearly 95 years \u2013 it was the brainchild of choreographer Donn Arden, who imported the first cast to Vegas directly from Paris. In the ensuing years, Americans took over the roles.
\n<\/strong>
\nAt the time, Las Vegas featured plenty of burlesque shows. But \u201cLido de Paris\u201d introduced mainstream respectability to the format by having its topless dancers perform, as part of a variety-show format, in splashy extravaganzas reproducing the MGM Hollywood musicals of the day. The show also featured singers, jugglers, animal acts, slapstick comics, and live orchestras or bands.
\n<\/strong>
\nThe success of \u201cLido de Paris\u201d led every major casino hotel to open its own showgirl show. In 1959, the Tropicana debuted \u201cFolies Berg\u00e8re\u201d and El Rancho Vegas debuted \u201cLa Nouvelle Eve.\u201d In 1963, the Dunes debuted \u201cCasino de Paris.\u201d In 1968, the Desert Inn debuted \u201cPzazz!\u201d And, in 1974, the MGM Grand debuted \u201cHallelujah Hollywood.\u201d The last showgirl show to open \u2013 \u201cJubilee!\u201d at Bally\u2019s in 1981 \u2014 was also the last to close, in 2016.<\/p>\n

\n

After playing to more than 19 million guests over 22K performances, the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d closed on Feb. 28, 1991. Its final curtain call was taken by 400 then-current and former showgirls in front of a VIP crowd that included illusionists Siegfried and Roy, who launched their Vegas career as one of the show’s aforementioned animal acts in the early \u201970s.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Stardust replaced \u201cLido de Paris\u201d with a forgettable \u201990s revue called \u201cEnter the Night,\u201d featuring a Sting impersonator and hip-hop dancing. While the \u201cLido de Paris’\u201d 32-year run was impressive, it was bested by \u201cFolies Berg\u00e8re,\u201d which ran for 50 years before closing in 2009.<\/p>\n

Though the official reason given for the closure of \u201cLido de Paris\u201d was a desire to modernize by the Stardust\u2019s final owner, Boyd Gaming, the real reason was the enormous expense of producing the show. More than $6 million a year was spent on costumes, sets, props, payroll, and licensing rights from the original Paris show.<\/p>\n

Back then, all shows were produced by the resorts themselves. It wasn\u2019t until the \u201980s that corporate casino owners hit upon the now-standard practice of renting out their venues to independent producers.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Stardust was imploded on March 13, 2007. But the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d is remembered in every performance of Katy Perry\u2019s \u201cPlay\u201d residency at Resorts World \u2013 located on the former site of the Stardust \u2013 when the pop superstar recalls visiting her grandmother, Ann Pearl Hudson. At the same time, she worked backstage at the \u201cLido de Paris\u201d as a seamstress.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One small detail was missing from reports this weekend that \u201cthe famous Lido de Paris sign\u201d \u2013 from the very first showgirl show on the Las Vegas Strip \u2013 is about to be relit by the Neon Museum for the first time since the show closed in 1991. It’s not the famous sign, because it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":256452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81896,81886],"tags":[84317,23,82012,84792,84795,84794,84790,84791,84793,84796],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFake History: 'Historic' Showgirl Sign isn't the Original - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One small detail was missing from reports this weekend that \u201cthe famous Lido de Paris sign\u201d \u2013 from the very first showgirl show on the Las Vegas Strip \u2013\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/historic-las-vegas-strip-showgirl-sign-set-for-relighting-not-so-historic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fake History: 'Historic' Showgirl Sign isn't the Original - 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