Night clubs were hurting all over, according to an article by Paul Denis of The Billboard in its edition of 15 August 1942. The States had only recently joined the war effort, while we in Sin City North had been shoulder-to-the-wheel (or pretending to be flat-footed) for about three years.
This item goes on to blame government restrictions on operating methods, food and liquor problems, labour shortages, talent shortages and unsteadiness of business. It concluded, "The day of the easy-going, vulgar, sloppy, poor-business man type of night club owner is over." (That's why you guys don't run a club like your dad did -- Chimples) One local victim of the times was the previously bustling Chez Maurice on St. Catherine, which went down in in a cesspool of debt, only to be sold to New York promoters.
That being said, a news brief in the same edition of The Billboard also announced that Rockhead's Paradise was reopening, with its "all-sepia revue" (read: black). So things couldn'ta been that bad.
What's more, things weren't so tight that the more confident talent couldn't afford to be selective. At the Gaiety burlesque theatre, the franco-American chanteuse Irene Hilda had been booked to play but she refused to step on stage when she learned that the other acts included strippers.
Lawsuits were threatened. While hardly a legend, but in perhaps her mind, Irene Hilda went on to a long, but hardly stellar, film career. She also did stage work, as her cover credit on this original cast recording of Cole Porter's Can Can, goes to show.
The Gaiety was NOT the System. The System was the System, going back into the 20s. (My mother used to see films there for 11 cents.)
ReplyDeleteThe Gaiety became the Comedy canadienne, at the corner of Ste Catherine and St Urbain, now known as the Theatre du Nouveau Monde. that's where Lily St-Cyr became famous.
Incorrect references obliterated. Chimples is laughing and flinging stuff I don't want to mention. I hope you are happy! Now where are the Scott towels?
ReplyDelete