Thursday, May 27, 2004 | 8:25 a.m.
The desert community was small and glitzy. Neon accentuated tacky resorts. Buffets ruled. So did the mob.
Today, Las Vegas has become an international city, more sophisticated, more respected.
"It is very elegant," said Bernardin, a child of the world who was born in Paris but grew up attending schools in Switzerland, England, the U.S. and other nations. No one would have dreamed of using those two words - Vegas and elegant - in the same sentence 40 years ago.
But times have changed.
"Las Vegas compares favorably to Paris, London and other international cities," Bernardin said, her French accent revealing her heritage. "It has changed so much for the good.
"The city is unbelievable, with fantastic restaurants, wonderful shopping. And the shows - all kinds of shows, not counting ours, which is on the top."
Her show is "La Femme," an elegant topless revue that is beginning its fourth year at the MGM Grand, where it debuted in June 2001.
"La Femme" is the Las Vegas offshoot of Paris' "Crazy Horse," which was created by Bernardin's late father, Alain, who took the wraps off his production on May 19, 1951.
The production in Paris has some passing nudity. The Americanized revue has no total nudity, but flirts with it. Otherwise, the two shows are almost the same, except that the Parisian version has one more number.
There are 36 women in the two productions. They rotate every few months between Paris and Las Vegas.
"Here in America you cannot be totally nude (in a show) if you serve drinks, so we are not," Bernardin said. "We do not have the restrictions in Paris. In one moment, the girls are totally nude in Paris, not here. But that is of no importance whatsoever.
"The main goal is not to be nude -- the main goal is to be beautiful. The issue is not being topless, the issue is to be beautiful and to show the woman's body."
It is the philosophy instituted by Alain, who died in 1994. His sons, Didier and Pascal, took over the business side of running the operation. Daughter Sophie became the creative director.
"I know nothing about business," said Bernardin, who was a professional artist before her father's death.
Bernardin grew up around "Crazy Horse."
She said her father came up with the title after watching Western movies.
"He chose the name because he wanted to do something that was Western inspired," Bernardin said. "He would take us to Western movies and we would watch and watch until he found the name. We laugh about it. It could have been named 'Sitting Bull.'
"But he liked the word 'crazy.' Everything is crazy, crazy this, crazy that."
In the beginning there was nothing risque about the production.
"It didn't start off the way it is now," she said. "First, it was very Western inclined, and no nudity -- one singer and some variety acts.
"My father had learned about striptease in America. After two or three months he decided to have one act in which a girl is searching for a flea, taking off her clothes trying to find the flea, until she is undressed."
Her father had been a professional artist. The flea search was a very artistic endeavor.
"It moved on very fast to a nude show," Bernardin said.
Bernardin said she was not involved in the production until after she and her brothers inherited the show.
"But I have always known about it," she said. "I was too young to be involved. But your father, he talks to you all the time about what he is doing, so I have lived around it all my life."
When her father died the only thing Bernardin wanted to do was to be the artistic director.
"I can't take care of money," she said. About four years ago MGM officials asked Bernardin and her brothers to bring the show to Vegas.
Because Vegas already has a Crazy Horse (Crazy Horse Too, a topless club on Industrial Road), the Bernardins opted to change the name of their American production.
"It's completely different," Bernardin said. "We are a show, and our place is known worldwide. Ours is an ovation to women's beauty.
"The goal of 'La Femme' is to have a show where the beauty of the woman is shown and enhanced. It is humorous. There are a lot of numbers. There's a story. Something is happening."
There are 13 numbers, to be exact. As the production begins its fourth year, all but five of the numbers have changed.
There are new costumes, new choreography, new music.
"Crazy Horse (Paris) has always changed numbers, every two to three years," Bernardin said. "After five or six years, the whole show has been remodeled.
"Since we opened in Las Vegas three years ago, we did not have that much time to make the changes here."
The two productions don't differ, except for the fact that the Parisian version has one more number.
And the nudity thing.
And there is some difference in fans.
"There is a different type of fan here," Bernardin said. "I think the people that come to see the show in Las Vegas are more enthusiastic. They let you see what they feel. They are very active, which is great. French audiences are very reserved. Italians cheer a lot. Japanese and Chinese, they look but they don't say a word. They are not very demonstrative."
Bernardin and her choreographer came to Vegas last week to fine-tune the changes in the production.
"Even though Paris and Las Vegas have the same exact stage, down to the inch, the same light cues and all that, you have to come see for yourself and to make any changes necessary."
The show has evolved in many ways since her father created the production.
"What I bring to the show is my ideas," Bernardin said. "The old show, it was very dark and romantic. This show is very bright, very fast and colorful. I brought my own vision to what is 'Crazy Horse.' "
The performers conform to certain dimensions -- all fall within a certain height and weight and body shape limitations.
"They don't have long legs," she said. "They have small breasts. And they have no surgery, never ever. They are all natural.
"And they have to have a beautiful derriere. That is our trademark."
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