Fuss over The Act ironic

The court feud over the entertainment offered in a nightclub called The Act reminds me of a favorite “Beavis and Butt-head” quote: “That was beyond the limits of good taste.”

Beavis, sophisticated young gent that he was, believed the only way a particular rock video could get any cooler was if someone puked. His wish was soon granted, “but I didn’t ask for blood in it.”

And so performances simulating sex acts and drug use have Las Vegas Sands Corp. trying to evict or at least tone down the nightclub in the retail area adjacent to The Venetian.

It’s kind of a first really, an irony Beavis himself would appreciate: Something managed to cross the line in Las Vegas, a city built on bad taste? The city where I personally witnessed Celine Dion covering Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish”?

While every other nightclub and many a ticketed show makes its advertising more salacious than the product itself, The Act embarrassed its landlords even while it soft-pedaled its wares.

Notorious publicity is usually good for the bottom line too, and a Las Vegas tradition in its own right. Some quick highlights of our shocking past:

■ Nowadays, upper torso nudity falls within the bounds of a casino’s gaming and liquor license (below the waist, not so much). But in 1951, burlesque queen Lili St. Cyr was charged with lewdness, a misdemeanor, after District Attorney Roger Foley watched her drop her towel during a dinner show.

“There were several parties with young children in there at the time,” Foley explained. Was Lili responsible for bad parents? She paid a $50 fine but continued to headline the El Rancho Vegas for years.

■ When “Hair” played the International Hotel in 1970, six law enforcement officers attended on opening night to check out the musical’s infamous nude scene, which seems strangely reminiscent of today’s taste police screening undercover footage from The Act.

No arrests resulted from the 1970 episode. Identification of naughty bits was “difficult from any point in the audience,” an undersheriff explained, adding “What would it look like if we busted in there and hauled off a bunch of screaming nudists?... We would be playing right into their hands.”

■ Porn queen Marilyn Chambers was at risk of outraging patrons of the classy Jolly Trolley casino in 1979, when law enforcement had to figure out if her “Sex Surrogate” show was naked enough to cross that topless/bottomless gaming license line.

■ When The Act first came under scrutiny, a security officer’s report stated the simulated sex was “nothing out of the ordinary more than you would see in ... a Cirque du Soleil show, like ‘Zumanity.’ ”

Ah, “Zumanity.” That one had to invite county inspectors to a dress rehearsal before it opened in 2003. Then and now, the show has an “orgy” scene. Or, as a Cirque official explained then, “a very artistic interpretation of lovemaking.”

What’s The Act case really about? The age-old attempt to define “lewd activity,” as they call it in county liquor provisions?

This time, maybe. You might have heard that The Venetian’s chairman has aligned himself with conservative political candidates. But long term? I wonder if it’s more about location.

Back in an October column, I rightly predicted The Act might generate this kind of fuss. But then and now my attempt to follow the money seems to have hit a distracting dead end with all this Beavis-ness.

That column noted that unlike The Act’s New York parent club, none of its sideshow displays could involve actual nudity. That’s because the club is in a retail space operated by General Growth Properties, not in a casino showroom that allows upper nudity in production shows.

To get genuinely naked, a club would need an adult cabaret license. You know, like a strip club.

Last Tuesday, the Review-Journal had a story about The Act on the front page, and on the same day’s business page, a story about Atlantic City allowing a genuine strip club to open at the Trump Taj Mahal. Connect the dots and you see the possible new frontier for Las Vegas casinos to tap into the lucrative industry that still lies beyond their borders.

These retail areas in nearly all the major casinos could be a future “buffer zone” for strip clubs.

But not this time. Seems the gals at The Act lacked modesty even if they weren’t topless. And they didn’t ask Beavis about where they cross the line.

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