Undoubtedly, for many Copacabana patrons, the world-famous Copa Girls were one of the biggest attractions, and today, they are one of its greatest legacies. Manager Jules Podell first introduced the Copa Girls in 1941, just after the Copa opened, and they were staples of the club for 28 years until he got rid of them in 1969. A 1942 profile of them in Life magazine called them “the most beautiful showgirls currently in New York,” and was extremely laudatory of their beauty, dancing skills, and poise.
Most of the Copa Girls were relatively young, with the average age being just 20 years old, and were thus barely out of high school when they started dancing. In 1942, the girls made around $70 a week, which was actually pretty good considering the federal minimum wage at the same time was just 30-40 cents an hour. They performed three shows a night, seven days a week, though they largely had the daytime off, with their performances mostly coming after dark.
According to Harriet Wright in “I’d Do It Again,” the first of the three shows started at 8 o’clock, with others happening at midnight and 2 a.m., and the girls sometimes had time to go on dates in between performances. At first, there were six Copa Girls, but they added a seventh in 1942, when the producer could not decide between two twins. By the time they stopped in 1969, there were 28 chorus girls.
