In Old Las Vegas showrooms, going to a show was totally
different than it is today and involved far more people.
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| A modern Las Vegas showroom - Barry Manilow performing |
Recently I was telling a co-worker about getting in touch
with an old friend of mine who once was a camera girl.
“A what?” my co-worker asked. “What’s a camera girl?”
I hadn’t thought about the fact that someone living in Las
Vegas might not know what a camera girl is.
It was one of the many positions that formerly existed in Vegas showrooms before stadium style seating took over and transformed the way people see a
show.
At the last show I went to, Vegas! the Show, everyone stopped
at the camera station as we went in. Snap,
Snap, Snap, and we were on our way. This is the standard photo moment at
any number of events and attractions. After the show, we got to examine our pictures
and decide whether or not we wanted to buy them (nope!). It’s all pretty
impersonal.
Back in the day, when you went to a Las Vegas show, things
were different.
First, there was no stadium seating. There were tables and
booths, and the best seats were obtained by knowing the maître d’ and the showroom
captain, and tipping well. People dressed up. There was a cocktail waitress,
and at the early show there was a meal. Somewhere in there, the camera girl
came around to ask you if you’d like to have your picture taken.
In an Old Vegas showroom, a camera girl had to be charming,
attractive, a good photographer, and a great salesperson. My old friend, Cyndy,
was all of those things. Here she is with Steve Perry of Journey. She appears
to be extremely composed despite having her picture taken with a rock star, but
she met a lot of famous folks in those days.
You can still find camera girls in some restaurants, but it’s
not the same as it was when the job title of camera girl brought an immediate image
to mind of a pretty young woman in a short skirt with a camera.
For some reason, although I spent a lot of time in
showrooms, we never got our picture taken. I suspect it was because Dad didn’t
have a way to get it comped—he always complained that the pictures were too
expensive.
Do you remember camera girls in the showrooms?
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