Columnist Susan Snyder: Secretary left dancing days behind

Saturday, Aug. 26, 2000 | 3:21 a.m.

Susan Snyder's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Fridays. Reach her at snyder@lasvegassun.com or 259-4082.

In pearls and a business suit, Jackie Bradner doesn't look like the typical Las Vegas showgirl.

And she hasn't been one since she strolled across the stage of the old MGM hotel in 1979. Now Bradner, 47, is secretary to Metro Police Deputy Chief Ray Flynn. She says most of her coworkers don't know what she used to do for a living.

"It's not something that you say, 'Oh guess what I used to be,' " Bradner said. "There is a perception of a showgirl that you're supposed to be big-busted and dumb."

Not true, of course. But if you said "tall" instead, that certainly would fit. Bradner doesn't stand an inch under 6 feet. The trait that made her stand out in high school helped her blend right in as a showgirl.

"Everybody looked the same. You wouldn't have been able to distinguish me from two girls beyond me," Bradner said. "It was a lot of makeup, and everything was wigs."

Pretty much. Costumes also included elaborate hats and plenty of feathers but little else. Performers couldn't have a tan line anywhere. Bradner said showgirls were far different from dancers. Most dancers had years of formal training. Showgirls had easier, strolling-type routines.

"Mostly, we were to stand there," Bradner said, stretching her arms with a flourish.

But it was tougher than it sounds. They paraded down to the stage on a staircase with steps about four inches wide. Women who are 6 feet tall usually don't have feet that easily fit such teeny steps. And they weren't allowed to look down.

Their headdresses weighed as much as 40 pounds, yet they had to move across the stage with seemingly effortless grace and poise.

"You had to hold your head naturally. That's why they needed really tall, strong-necked women," Bradner said. "As you became more tenured, you got the costumes that weighed less."

Bradner called it quits after about three years. She was 26 and weary of the uncertainty. Showgirls auditioned every six months in order to to keep their parts.

Those auditions also were advertised in Los Angeles-area newspapers and entertainment publications. The pool of hopefuls typically numbered 200 or more.

"You're up there with all these 18- and 19-year-olds and anyone else who wants your job," Bradner said. "It was frightening -- especially if you didn't know how to do anything other than that."

That's why Bradner didn't hang her future on feathered French frippery. She learned typing and shorthand and went to work for Metro 21 years ago.

"About half the girls were going to school to do something else," she said. "One is a nurse. One lives in Los Angeles. She's a chef. Another one drove a forklift and helped construct Mandalay Bay."

The stage manager was a strict disciplinarian.

"If you called in sick, she came to your house to make sure you were sick," Bradner said. "She instilled a work ethic in me I still have today."

She retained more than that. She still has the poise and self-confidence. She even remembers the moves.

"Just give me the music," Bradner said, "and I can get up and dance."