With their towering headdresses and skimpy jewel-encrusted outfits they were once as much a fixture of Las Vegas as slot machines and roulette wheels.
But the days of the traditional Vegas showgirl are doomed - thanks to Covid-related staff shortages and new ‘woke' values.
While the gaudy city strip was once packed with elaborate revue shows with names such as Jubilee!, Folies Bergere and Lido De Paris, they have been replaced with big-name acts like Celine Dion, Elton John and acrobatic theatre from the Cirque du Soleil.
Last night, one source - who has been trying in vain to bring a new showgirl revue to the city - said: ‘Times have chang
/>In the old days, being a Vegas showgirl was prestigious. They had to be trained dancers, there were very strict restrictions on their height and weight, they were the "face" of Las Vegas.
‘But with the rise of woke, girls don't want to be seen that way any m
r />They would rather earn the big bucks hostessing in nightclubs.
‘If they are going to show off their bodies then they'd prefer to put on a bikini and work the pool parties every hotel has. That's where the big tippers are. Traditional Vegas showgirls are a dying breed.'
With their towering headdresses and skimpy jewel-encrusted outfits they were once as much a fixture of Las Vegas as slot machines and roulette wheels
When the team organising Adele's postponed run of concerts at Caesars Palace needed showgirls to staff the gift shop to sell merchandise they were forced to hire drag queens instead, the source said, adding that part of the problem is that so many people left the gambling hub during the pandemic, or got new jobs working from home.
‘Now the only girls you see are pale imitations,' they
‘They pose for pictures with tourists for $20 a time out on the Strip alongside Elmo and Spiderman.'
At the height of their fame, in the 1950s and 1960s, showgirls became synonymous with the glamour and glitz of Vegas, popularised by Rat Pack entertainers such as Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr.