Still standing, cheek to cheek

No ifs or ands about it. The butts saved those of the "Crazy Girls."

The Riviera's topless show beat some mighty long odds to celebrate 25 years last week (though it opened in late September 1987), making it the Strip's third longest-running production.

Producer Norbert Aleman remembers cruising up to the grand opening in his Eldorado convertible. The Riv was still a top-tier property, the topless revue commissioned by its colorful old-Vegas owner, Meshulam Riklis (aka "Mr. Pia Zadora").

The cabaret show emulated the Crazy Horse Saloon in Paris. Aleman claims the Saloon's founder, the late Alain Bernardin, then had no plans to bring his show here and no quarrel with a fellow Frenchman borrowing concepts.

"Crazy Girls" hit the ground running with "14 girls, seven days a week, three shows a night," Aleman recalls.

The Riv is now landlocked and "Crazy Girls" was often outspent and outclassed by competitors over the years. But it just outlasted the real Crazy Horse on the Strip, which closed last week after 11 years at MGM Grand.

The revue has seen an infusion of cash and ideas under the stewardship of choreographer Jennifer Stowe, who happens to be the 75-year-old producer's much younger wife.

But the real secret weapon? The famous "butt" pose immortalized in bronze outside, its seven pairs of cheeks polished smoother than the rest of the life-size bodies by countless rubbing hands.

The statue was first an ad poster, then publicist Wayne Bernath was inspired to turn it into a bronze in 1995. Bernath remembers artist Michael Conine casting and bronzing the dancers for about $70,000. One dancer fainted during the life-casting session in a swamp-cooled studio. But it paid off.

"They know the butt all over the world," Aleman says.

When he tries to book the show out of town, they want the bronze too, he says with a laugh.

Aleman laughs a lot as he sits scrunched in a showroom booth, reminiscing about the show's storied history. There was the scandal when star showgirl Jahna Steele was outed for having transgender surgery, embarrassing some celebrity "fans."

Then there was a battle with public officials over a butt billboard at the Spaghetti Bowl. Aleman covered the tushes with fabric skirts.

Aleman has the last laugh, because he's still sitting here in this old showroom.

"For us it's going to be much better now," he says of having weathered the recession that twice closed his other show, "La Cage."

"Not that I'm going to be here for another 25 years."

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.