"The elegant Cafe Continental is crowded with patrons anxiously waiting to see what Life Magazine described as "The World's Greatest Floor Show." In half an hour the conductor will raise his baton, the house lights will dim, the curtain will rise and the room will suddenly explode with an brilliant burst of color and excitement. And girls. The room will come alive with girls - the most beautiful show girls in the world.

From father to son passes the theatrical art which has made the Lido great. Fred Canestrelli of the famous acrobatic family teaches his 5 year old son, Marco, an acrobatic prodigy, advance gymnastics.

Out front there's an air of bustle and anticipation as show time draws near. But what's it like backstage? Let's just sneak back there and take a peak as curtain time draws near.

Just follow me right through here. There we are.

That's it. That's the stage. It's gigantic. It looks as big as a football field. But it's bare. Not a piece of scenery in sight. Are they really going to put on a show in a half hour?

But wait. There come some stage hands now. They start pushing tremendous pieces of scenery around. They work with a quiet precision. And all at once you see that those big pieces have come together into one magnificent setting.

Now look over there. The floor is starting to shift. The stagehand tells us the stage is on a series of elevators which can produce a swimming pool or an ice rink in an instant at the push of a button.

A voice over the backstage speaker says, 'Places, please,' and girls in glittering Paris creations begin pouring out onto the dimly lit stage.

And look at those girls over there. They're being hoisted way up above the stage and then out of sight. The stagehand (he knows everything) says they go up into 'fly spaces' out over the audience and when the curtain goes up they will descend from those spaces and dangle in all their beauty, right over the heads of the spectators.

You can hear the band out front strike up the intro. Up come the lights and the stage is brilliantly lit. Spotlights seem to be coming from everywhere.

The curtain goes up and the Bluebell Girls from Paris descend to the stage on parachutes. The stage shifts and a towering Grand Prix sign with thousands of flashing lights appears. It's almost too spectacular to comprehend. But this is only the beginning.

The performers display calm professional confidence as they wait to appear on stage. The giant Buddha had to be constructed on the sage, and is too large to be removed from the theater.

Let's go back and watch the rest from out front. There are some people out there who have seen this Lido show a half dozen times and they still come back. After you've seen it once you'll know why.'

Lido showgirl Sharon Johnson stands next to the 6-1/2 foot high LIDO letters