ON first impressions, the Crazy Horse cabaret in Paris isn’t an obvious venue for former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau to take new girlfriend Katy Perry for her birthday.
Afterall, the evening’s entertainment always begins with a dozen female dancers dressed in little more than the Bearskin hats of Buckingham Palace’s Royal horse guards giving a new meaning to bare skin.
But the legendary venue, which opened in 1951, has become a must for celebrities visiting the French capital.
Last week Kim Kardashian wore a corset dress to celebrate her 45th birthday at a private party at the Crazy Horse.
Other stars keen to be photographed with the exotic dancers in recent years include Scarlett Johanson, Matt Damon, Sharon Stone, Rihanna, Johnny Depp and Lizzo.
And the famous names to have strutted their stuff on the 19ft wide stage are Pamela Anderson, Kelly Brook, Blackpink star Lisa and Dita von Teese.
They’ve joined regular burlesque performers with stage names such as Betty Buttocks, Lolita Kiss Curl and Santa Stiletto.
Unlike the regimented God Save Our Bareskin act, the Crazy Horse has not always been in step with the times.
One of the German dancers wore only a Nazi Swastika to cover her most private parts, a naked Nun act was banned, the women performers were weighed weekly and its domineering founder Alain Bernardin banned boyfriends.
Pressures of the nightclub trade are believed to be the reason Alain took his own life in 1994 aged 78.
Since being taken over by new management in 2006, the adult venue has had an image overhaul.
Having ditched full nudity, Crazy Horse has become a world wide brand with a version planned for New York and a previous incarnation in Las Vegas.
Kelly Brook, who stripped for the Paris club back in 2012, said: “I thought it was the most amazing show I had ever seen.
“It was so beautiful to watch and I loved the way it really celebrated the female form.
“The girls are naked, but it is about so much more than that. The choreography and lighting are so incredible that it is mesmerising.
“It is famous for being the best cabaret in the world and commands huge respect.”
Shopkeeper’s son Alain became engaged to a singer called Juliane after his first wife tragically died from cancer.
Wishing to put his wife-to-be on the stage, he bought a set of cellars on Avenue George V, near the Champs–Elysées in 1951 and launched Crazy Horse.
The girls are naked, but it is about so much more than that. The choreography and lighting are so incredible that it is mesmerising
Kelly Brook
Named after a Native American warrior chief, the club had a doorman dressed as a Canadian Mountie on horseback who greeted guests to what was an American themed enterprise.
With the business failing, Alain switched to putting topless dancing girls on stage in 1953 and had fans queuing along the street a year later to see an act called Miss Candida, who appeared on stage in a bubble bath.
Surrealist artists Salvador Dalí and Marcel Duchamp were friends and helped give the venue a modern look, including the massive red lips which are on the front of the venue.
Images were projected onto the dancers bodies, adding another distinctive edge to the Crazy Horse.
Another key feature was the square–cut bob wig that is now the club’s trademark.
Famous names such as Elvis Presley, US president John F. Kennedy, Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor and Rolling Stones’s singer Mick Jagger were among the visitors.
Only one woman in 10,000 has a body good enough to be seen
Alain Bernardin
In 1968 a new era of liberal attitudes meant that the all female dancers went fully nude, doing away with the g-strings that had covered the last of their modesty.
Alain was very particular about who he hired.
He once said: “Only one woman in 10,000 has a body good enough to be seen.”
Any woman wishing to join the cast had to have a distance of eight inches between their nipples, five inches from their belly button to their private parts and be between 5.5ft and 5.7ft tall.
It is only the height restriction that remains, because the dancers have to fit on a 6ft 5in high stage in towering stilettos.
Thousands applied, partly due to the generous wages, and Alain kept a tight reign on the behaviour.
Leery men were curtailed by bringing a rule that said only male and female couples could sit in the front row, which was very close to the stage.
Drink and drugs were a no-no, as were any boyfriends hanging around waiting for them.
That rule didn’t apply to Alain who married dancer Lova Moor, real name Marie-Claude Jourdain in 1985, who was 30 years his junior.
In the same year he went too far, with a blasphemous act called The Nun, which had to be erased from the posters.
The club’s outrageous reputation attracted pop star Madonna, who is said to have popped in before Blonde Ambition tour in 1990.
That decade proved to be problematic.
He was a very proud man and he saw himself deteriorating physically
Andrée Deissenberg
As the lap dancing clubs became increasingly popular the Crazy Horse faced a lot of competition.
No one knows why Alain shot himself in the venue’s office in September 1994 because he didn’t leave a suicide note.
But Andrée Deissenberg, who was the club’s director said in 2011: “’My theory is that there were a bunch of reasons colliding.
“He was a very proud man and he saw himself deteriorating physically, the girls who had all run after him now saw him as the grandfather, his business wasn’t going as well.”
Alain’s three children, Sophie, Didier and Pascal, took control for the next 12 years before selling Crazy Horse to Belgian entrepreneur Philippe Lhomme in 2006.
Two years later Baywatch star Pamela Anderson put some gas in the business’s tank by performing a striptease on a Harley Davidson motorbike on Valentine’s Day.
Just keep an open mind. Go and see it, and fall in love
Martha Von Krupp
In 2010 a new burlesque troupe was formed to perform the various routines on a world tour.
As word spread again, the Paris venue became a hit night out with tourists.
These days a ticket just for the show costs £104, while a replica of one of the coloured wigs will set fans back £428.
Neither Katy, who was celebrating her 41st birthday, nor Justin, 53, sported wigs when they were snapped coming out of the Crazy Horse on Saturday night.
Why the couple chose it for the big occasion is unclear.
Perhaps, they heard what English dancer Martha Von Krupp has said about the Crazy Horse.
Martha suggested: “”Just keep an open mind. Go and see it, and fall in love.”
