Le Lido is a cabaret and burlesque house on the Champs-Elysees in Paris, France, famous for its exotic shows, which rival those of Las Vegas and where, Lido originated in 1946. As an American GI on leave with some army friends, Elvis Presley gave an impromptu concert. Other famous names to perform there include: Edith Piaf, Maurice Chevalier, Marlene Dietrich, Josephine Baker, Kessler Twins, Elton John, Laurel & Hardy, Dalida, Shirley MacLaine, Mitzi Gaynor, Noel Coward, and many others.

The Stardust was the first hotel to break with the star policy by debuting a stage spectacular as its main entertainment feature. The resort imported the Lido de Paris from France. It was acclaimed by critics as a more spectacular version than the Paris original.

The Stardust's Lido was conceived by Pierre-Louis Guerin and Rene Fraday, and staged by Donn Arden.

The Stardust showroom ( originally called the Continental Cafe ) was an almost identical copy of the Lido in Paris and unlike many other Vegas showrooms at the time the Stardust had perhaps the most state of the art technical stage space in town with a fly tower, elevators, ice rink, rain curtain, water tank etc. Originally a 700 seat theater restaurant the Capacity grew later to just over 900 seats.

Lido opened July 2nd 1958 opened with the Lido Lido brought an air of class and sophistication to the otherwise brash Stardust The image of the French feather clad chorus girls morphed in to the Las Vegas showgirl. Many of the girls came from the UK ( via the show in Paris ).

Donn Arden had choreographed shows at the Desert Inn and at the Moulin Rouge nightclub in Hollywood and regularly made trips to Paris to choreograph for Lido ( and still goes strong today ) management of the in construction Stardust met with Lido director Pierre Louis-Guerin and with Donn Arden planned to bring a version of the show to Vegas.

The room in Paris is to this day an almost identical twin of the now deceased room in the stardust. There where six hydraulic stages that could be lowered and raised, a 11 feet x 30 feet swimming pool a water fall, rain curtain and an ice rink that could be raised to stage level in 15 seconds, all this equipment remained intact and in full use in Headlights and Tailpipes the final production show to be mounted in the theater in 2006

The show was such a hit that some people rented rooms at the hotel and didn't bother to check in purely because being a hotel guest guaranteed first chance opportunity to buy tickets for the show.

There was a live orchestra in a raised perch to the left of the stage and 60 performers. Madame Bluebell was the matriarchal choreographer who with Arden oversaw auditions of the Blue Bell girls and would accept nothing other than girls at five feet nine inches tall. The Dancers wore pasties on their breasts until 1957 when full breasts where exposed.

There where many re invented versions of the show over the years The 3RD was the "All New Lido De Paris revue" in 1961. The 7th version of the show was 1967. There where 12 incarnations of the show in its run and each show changed every 18 months to 2 and a half years. The show changes where to keep the production fresh but where mostly to avoid import taxes on the scenery and costumes most of which came from Europe. Many costumes where destroyed ( burned in the desert witnessed by officials ) so that they did not have to be returned to Europe.

In the early 80's as popularity waned Siegfried and Roy where brought in and then Bobby Berosini ( Berosini had a fantastic and eventually controversial act involving performing Orangutans )

Lido closed 1991 ( after a 33 year run ) in the end the world famous image of the show girl was no loner an exotic European symbol of sophistication but a symbol of Las Vegas itself, even to this day the showgirl with her sequins, Rhine stones and feather headdress is the epitome of Las Vegas and that familiarity and the reduction of the air of mystique that had been there at the start of the Stardust was to add to the demise of the Lido show.

The show had also become a little tired and very expensive to renew every couple of years. The show was replaced with a more contemporary production called ENTER THE NIGHT.

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