In 1931, Laura Henderson opened the tiny, one-tier Windmill Theatre as a playhouse, but it was not profitable, and she soon resorted to showing films.
The key element was Van Damm's exploitation of a legal loophole (or zone of tolerance) that nude statues could not be banned on moral grounds.
The Hollywood film Tonight and Every Night, starring Rita Hayworth, told some of the story of the Windmill, though it contained no nudity.
Newspapers in World War II carried pictures of plucky Windmill girls in tin hats on fire-watching duty, and stories of showgirls giving V-signs to German bombers.
He left it to his daughter, Sheila van Damm, a rally driver, whom he taught to drive somewhat before the strictly legal age.