PENTHOUSE
Show World, where lives shows reign supreme. A neon-lit luster-laced staircase ushered the patron to the second floor mezzanine, where a sweeping balcony overlooked the ground floor entrance. Affectionately known as The Penthouse, the mezzanine was primarily the abode of the Live Nude Review and the Live Sex Acts, for which Show World is renown. The world-famous Live Nude Review was comprised of (14) Fantasy Booths occupied by live girls that performed a ‘show’ for customers with the drop of a silver dollar. The construction of the booths, equipped with telephone, allowed the customer to enter the enclosure and initiate a private session with the selected showgirl, separated by a large glass partition. Management coined them ‘one-on-one’ booths; once the removal of the screen is activated by silver dollar insertion, the actual ‘show’ begins. Designed to enhance the peep experience (and charge for it), revised versions of the booths were in all respects yet another of Richie’s innovations; where upon a trip to the red light district of Amsterdam, he viewed the captivating ‘girls in windows’. He noticed that the piece of glass that separated the girl from the spectators became like a mini-theater; thus the creation of the ‘one-on-one’ booths, which were a modification of that Amsterdam-derived concept that he brought back to New York. Subsequently, he realized that with the existence of a glass partition with no physical contact, the spectacle of the booth was now classified as a form of ‘entertainment’, and therefore legally not construed as prostitution, which would obviously invite unwanted repercussions later on. Regardless, the experimental ‘one-on-one’ Private Booths worked, the ‘encounter’ of which entailed activities such as Fantasy Booth babies exposing themselves through strip-tease, erotic acts, and engaging in other bouts of exhibitionism, or just a simple conversation, depending on the situation. Aside from the featured porno stars up above in the Triple Treat Theater, the ‘booth babies’ were Show World’s most exciting attraction, in that they possessed the ability to adapt themselves to whatever life form temporarily inhabited their booths, and even brought a level of intimacy to an otherwise shameless occupation. For their willingness to put on a ‘show’, uplift the spirits, and induce ejaculation, they were different than ordinary women; thus Show World inadvertently became a sanctuary for wanton girls, some of whom had fled untenable circumstances and sought refuge until they were back on their feet (literally).