Slapstick, Sequins and Support Hose

In the 10 years since retired television producer Riff Markowitz created The Fabulous Palm Springs Follies, this lavish re-creation of a Ziegfeld Follies-type show has attracted more than a million and a half people--more than 180,000 a year--to the landmark Plaza Theatre.

The format is simple: a new production every year, 10 shows a week throughout the desert season (November through May, at ticket prices ranging from $35 to $65), seasoned vaudeville performers, a new headliner every month or two to keep the show fresh, and a line of “long-legged lovelies” still strutting their stuff in their 50s, 60s, 70s and even 80s, all emceed by Markowitz. The ladies have become a symbol of rejuvenated Palm Springs, though Markowitz recalls a local journalist asking, at the beginning, why anyone would pay to look at old ladies’ legs.

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So why on earth did you think people would pay money to see old ladies’ legs?

I don’t know that I ever really thought about the mercantile aspects of the show. I had retired to Palm Springs, and after about a year of looking for the meaning of life, I decided that the meaning of life was simply something to do on Tuesdays.

And this is what you thought of?

Some friends on the council said, “Take over the theater!” And I thought, “Well, this is just the ultimate sandbox for a retired gentleman of the theater.”

Is it true that Sonny Bono thought the idea wasn’t classy enough for Palm Springs?

Sonny wanted the classics, or something. And it is a terrible idea! Nobody in their right mind would do it. But nobody else came forward.

You had a lot of chutzpah, emceeing a show after a career behind the TV camera.

There was no one to stop me. There’s only me and my God.

And God never says no?

Sometimes he says, “Think about it.”

A lot of the humor is ageist or sexist or relies on ethnic stereotypes. Ever worry about going too far?

If you’re going to re-create the Follies, you’ve got to be authentic and have the sort of jokes they had then. The people that come here are old enough to understand that.

You’re putting people through their paces for 10 shows a week, and they’re in their 60s and 70s and more. Aren’t you afraid they’ll keel over?

They’re in terrific physical condition. This is what the 60s and 70s and 80s are, or should be. They give hope to the people who aren’t in good shape.

So what does the understudy do?

She sits around backstage at every performance waiting for someone to die.

But there must be limits, given the ages.

One of our dancers is 83; she gets thrown in the air, spun around. Indestructibility! The show must go on, not only the Follies show but the show of life.