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The Blue Angel (New York nightclub)

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The Blue Angel, also known as the Blue Angel Supper Club,[1] was a New York City nightclub founded in April 1943[2][3] and closed in 1964.[2] It was located at 152 East 55th Street between Lexington and Park Avenues. Many artists would go to perform in the club and artists like Vaughn Meader had their careers launched at the Angel.

History

[edit]

The Blue Angel was founded by Max Gordon, founder of Greenwich Village's venue, the Village Vanguard, which opened in 1934.[4] The Blue Angel was co-owned by Herbert Jacoby.[5][6] The duo, as Her‐Max, Inc.,[3] invested $5,000 each to open the club. A touch of interior design included a blue cherub—a blue angel—on the stage proscenium.[6] Curt Weinberg acted as publicist. At capacity, the club held 150 people.[7] The kitchen served gourmet food.[8]

The Blue Angel was a desegregated club, then a rarity.[9] It was one of the venues at which Edith Piaf made one of her first performance appearances in the United States.[4] Singers Irene Bordoni, Mildred Bailey, Mabel Mercer, and pianist Bobby Short performed at the venue in 1945.[10][11][12][13] In 1946, actress, singer, dancer, and impressionist Florence Desmond debuted at the club.[14] Eddie Mayehoff also performed on the bill.[15] Also in 1946, the Navy Flight Demonstration Squadron saw an advertisement for the club in the magazine The New Yorker, prompting them to rename themselves the Blue Angels.[16]

Other acts of the time to perform there included Eartha Kitt, Anita Ellis, and Alice Ghostley;[5] Kitt undertook a number of residencies at the club, including an eight-week stint in 1952[17][18] and an unprecedented 20-week run.[19] Other stars appearing at the club included Pearl Bailey, Alice Pearce, Paula Laurence, and the Bernard Brothers.[20]

In 1951, comedian Dorothy "Dot" Greener played the club, with the King Odom Quartet and The Mademoiselles on the same bill.[7] Throughout the 1950s, pianist Jimmy Lyon led a jazz trio at the club as well as provided piano accompaniment for all performers who brought their acts there,[21] while Bart Howard, composer of "Fly Me to the Moon," played piano there as well, also acting as the club's "master of ceremonies," or director of shows, throughout the decade;[22][23] "Fly Me to the Moon" is said to have debuted at the Angel in 1954, as sung by Felicia Sanders.[24] Indeed, Sanders recorded a live album at the club, Felicia Sanders at the Blue Angel.[25] Likewise, Dorothy Loudon recorded an album there, Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel,[26] and performed comedy at the club as well.[27] Other stars to play the club included Harry Belafonte, the Weavers, Mort Sahl, Blossom Dearie, Martha Davis, and Johnny Mathis.[9][28][29][30] In 1957, club impresario Spivy Le Voe was coaxed to play the club.[31]

Notable performers

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In 1960, Woody Allen made his debut at the Angel, introduced by comedian, actor, and writer, and teacher Shelley Berman,[32][6] with French-American entertainer Jean-Paul Vignon on the same bill.[33] In 1961, Dick Gregory made his New York debut at the club, also recording a live comedy set there, "Dick Gregory at the Blue Angel," for his album East & West.[34][35] In 1962, comedian Vaughn Meader played the club.[36][37] In the early 1960s, individuals such as Barbra Streisand, Phyllis Diller, Carol Burnett, and comedian Bob Lewis appeared at the club,[38][39][40][41] as did Elaine May, Mike Nichols, and the comedy act Tyson & Fricker, composed of Ian Tyson and Sylvia Fricker.[42][43][6] It was while performing at the Angel that Carol Burnett was discovered by talent scouts from The Jack Paar Show and The Ed Sullivan Show.[44] Gale Garnett made her New York debut at the Angel in 1963.[45] Comedian and actor Godfrey Cambridge and The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson alumna Kathy Woodruff appeared at the Angel.[3] In the same time period, Peter, Paul, & Mary played the club.[46]

Closure

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The club filed for bankruptcy in April 1964.[3] In an attempt to help save it, comedian Vaughn Meader, whose career started at the Angel, held a show there and only accepted union wages so the show revenue could go directly to keeping the club afloat; he even considered buying the club but came to the realization that he could not afford it.[3] The club closed in 1964, partly because television was "making serious inroads on the talent pool available to nightclubs," hence affecting business at the Angel.[8] The establishment was sold to hotel entrepreneur Ed Wynne, who at first planned on making it a restaurant but ultimately converted the space into a go-go club called The Phone Booth.

References

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  1. ^ "New-York Historical Society | Blue Angel Supper Club". www.nyhistory.org.
  2. ^ a b "Blue Angel Closes Door After 21 Years". The New York Times. May 25, 1964.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Vaughn Meader Helps the Blue Angel; Comedian Performs at Insolvent Nightclub; He Will Get $100 for 5-Day Engagement". The New York Times. April 29, 1964.
  4. ^ a b "Max Gordon; Village Vanguard Founder". Los Angeles Times. May 12, 1989.
  5. ^ a b Sandberg, Bob (1952). "Blue Angel night club". Look Magazine Photograph Collection (Library of Congress).
  6. ^ a b c d "Herbert Jacoby, 73, Ran the Blue Angel". The New York Times. November 20, 1972.
  7. ^ a b Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (March 31, 1951). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 5–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ a b Goodman, George (September 3, 1982). "Max Gordon Now a Jazz 'Institution'". The New York Times.
  9. ^ a b "Downtown, You're Legendary – Steinway & Sons". www.steinway.com.
  10. ^ Wilson, John S. (June 11, 1971). "Recital by Short Honors Cole Porter". The New York Times.
  11. ^ Balliett, Whitney. "The Human Sound: Popular Singer". The New Yorker.
  12. ^ Bourlin, Olga (November 23, 2014). "Robert "Bobby" Waltrip Short (1924–2005)".
  13. ^ Wilson, John S. (May 14, 1976). "Where Sam Plays It Again". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Obituary: Florence Desmond". The Independent. January 19, 1993.
  15. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (July 6, 1946). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 40–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  16. ^ "Blue Angels fly over St. George, thunder over Dixie". March 21, 2012.
  17. ^ "Eartha Kitt appearing at Blue Angel (1952)". The Pittsburgh Courier. October 18, 1952. p. 17 – via newspapers.com.
  18. ^ ROURA, PHIL. "Digging Eartha Kitt – Fur From Her Usual Haunts, Outspoken Singer to Prowl the Taj Mahal". nydailynews.com.
  19. ^ "Eartha Kitt – South Carolina African American History Calendar".
  20. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (April 24, 1948). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 5–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  21. ^ Wilson, John S. (November 30, 1984). "Jimmy Lyon, Pianist, Dead; a Specialist in Songs of Stage". The New York Times.
  22. ^ Jones, Kenneth (February 24, 2004). "Bart Howard, 'Fly Me to the Moon' Songwriter Who Played for Mabel Mercer, Dead at 88". Playbill.
  23. ^ "Stories of Standards: "Fly Me to the Moon"". July 13, 2019.
  24. ^ "AM 880 KIXI Live Stream | Seattle". AM 880 KIXI Live Stream | Seattle.
  25. ^ FELICIA SANDERS at the blue angel Side One. YouTube. Archived from the original on December 9, 2021.
  26. ^ "Dorothy Loudon at the Blue Angel & Other Rarities". Amazon.
  27. ^ "Dorothy Loudon, 70; Stage Actress Was 'Miss Hannigan'". Los Angeles Times. November 17, 2003.
  28. ^ "Golden Years: New York Nightlife In The '50s". May 27, 2020.
  29. ^ "Blossom Dearie". April 18, 2015.
  30. ^ "The Blue Angel, a supper club on E. 55th St. in Manhattan, where..." Getty Images. March 2, 2010.
  31. ^ Yachinich, Katherine Anne (April 16, 2014). The Culture and Music of American Cabaret (Thesis). Trinity University.
  32. ^ Nachman, Gerland (2003). Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s. New York City: Pantheon. p. 545]. ISBN 978-0-375-41030-7.
  33. ^ "Acclaimed Balladeer Jean-Paul Vignon Recalls Classic Nightclub Era in New Show".
  34. ^ "Comic Withers Prejudice Cliches; Dick Gregory Aims Shafts at Negroes as Well as Whites Show at Blue Angel Is Offered Without Trace of Rancor". The New York Times.
  35. ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: At the Blue Angel. YouTube.
  36. ^ "Exactly 40 Years Ago, For A Brief Shining Moment, Vaughn". EW.com.
  37. ^ ""The First Family" (1962)" (PDF). Library of Congress. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  38. ^ Hellman, Geoffrey T. "Barbra Streisand, Rising Star". The New Yorker.
  39. ^ "Phyllis Diller | American comedienne and actress". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  40. ^ "Museum of Broadcasting Seminar Series, The: The Many Worlds of Carol Burnett, Seminar No. 1 {Long Version}". www.paleycenter.org.
  41. ^ Hoffman, Barbara (September 16, 2016). "Carol Burnett on Osama bin Laden and the TV guest star from hell".
  42. ^ "Elaine May and Mike Nichols appearing at the Blue Angel". Getty Images.
  43. ^ Izzy Young (2013). The Conscience of the Folk Revival: The Writings of Israel "Izzy" Young. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 63–. ISBN 978-0-8108-8308-6.
  44. ^ "Comedy Legend Coming to Broken Arrow | Value News Articles". Value News. June 1, 2016.
  45. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc. (October 19, 1963). Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. pp. 1–. ISSN 0006-2510. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
  46. ^ "Peter Yarrow".
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