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Closing of the Cotton Club in 1940 — and the Cotton Club Boys splitting duties between the Cotton Club and the 1930-1940 New York World's Fair.
Closing of the Uptown Cotton Club[edit]
The Uptown Cotton Club closed February 15, 1936.[1]
Temporary closings[edit]
- Cab Calloway ended performances at the Cotton Club in March 1939 to prepare for the World's Fair production. The Cotton Club temporarily closed in March 1939 to allow for rehearsals for the next production.[2] Cab Calloway took the opportunity to perform at the Apollo, beginning March 10, 1939.[3]
Final closing of the Broadway Cotton Club (1940)[edit]
The last show in the Cotton Club ran Saturday night, May 15, 1940.
- Great Depression
- In July 1939, on behalf of the IRS, the Feds, through Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessey Morse, filed indictments, four-counts, for failure to pay taxes and embezzlement; named in the inditment:
- Cotton Club Management Corp. (or Cotton Club Administration Corp.), The corporation that operates the Cotton Club at 200 West 48th Street
- Herman Stark, its president
- George Goodrich, its accountant
- Noah Leonard Braunstein (1904–1980), its secretary-treasurer,[4][5][6] who was a notable criminal lawyer.
- Amazingly, Frenchy DeMange (George Fox DeMange or George Jean DeMange; 1896–1939) escaped the indictment. At trial, the Cotton Club Management Corp. was found guilty, but the three officers escaped conviction. Still, Stark had to fork over a hefty fine to the government, in addition to $3,400 owed in back taxes
- The timing occurred just before Madden left New York. Earlier, on September 18, 1939, Frenchy DeMange, Madden's associate, after 2 years of heart trouble, dropped-dead in his suite at the Hotel Warwick.
- It was reported in 1940 that the Cotton Club had suffered from competition from World's Fair.[7]
- Another impetus for the closing was likely the result of demands by Local 802 (New York chapter of the American Federation of Musicians) for back pay, specifically salaries owed to Andy Kirk's band.[8] The location subsequently became the Latin Quarter.[9]
- 1942–44 musicians' strike
- World War II
- The last show in the Cotton Club ran Saturday night, May 15, 1940.
Manager of the Broadway Cotton Club[edit]
- Herman Stark (né Hyman Stark; 1895–1981)[10] was the manager of the Cotton Club, as early as 1931
- Louie Stark, Herman's brother, was assistant manager of the Cotton Club
- Lillian Powell, in 1933, was a secretary at the Cotton Club
Owners[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ "The Lyons Den – The Twenty and One," by Leonard Lyons, New York Post (2nd ed.), February 20, 1936, col. 7
- ^ "Cab Calloway at Apollo," New York Post, March 11, 1939, pg. 10
- ^ "Cab Calloway and Cotton Club Orchestra at Apollo," New York Age, March 11, 1938
- ^ "Tax Indictments in Night Club Case – Operators Are Accused of Failing to Pay Levy," New York Sun, July 14, 1939
- ^ "Six Night Clubs Indicted on Tax Charges In Federal Drive to Enforce Collections," New York Times, July 15, 1939 (link – requires subscription)
- ^ "Mobsters - The Cotton Club," by Joseph John Bruno, Jr. (born 1947), EzineArticles, January 25, 2012 (website is blacklisted by wikipedia; article ID 6840613); from the book:Mobsters, Gangs, Crooks, and Other Creeps (Vol. 3), "Cotton Club," Knickerbocker Literary Services (2011)(retrieved March 30, 2017)
- ^ "Kirk Little Affected by Fair Competition," Pittsburgh Courier, June 1, 1940, pg. 21
- ^ "Broadway's Cotton Club Closes – May Reopen With New Kirk Show in July," Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1940, pg. 21
- ^ To Be, Or Not ... To Bop, by Dizzy Gillespie, University of Minnesota Press (1st pub. 1979; 2009), pg. 108; OCLC 442778381
- ^ "Herman Stark Dies; Owned Cotton Club from 1929 to 1940," by Walter H. Waggoner (1918–2002), New York Times, July 9, 1989