The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1945-11-30
BY SOPHIE TUCKER
(Today's Guest WRITER

7
Right on, Id like to say that writ
ing isn't my racket. even II my ad-
photography. Some OF These Days"
(plugl. is in its second printing.
But II Dorothy Kilgallen, who.
bangs out six swell columns a
week. can also double as a radio
personality. guess it's permits
sible tor this safe singer to be a
newspaper writer. II only for a day.
Next week celebrate my for
tieth J ear in show business. An
event like that is usually the signal
for an old trouper to start reminisc-
ing. But now. instead OF having 10
drag out the old scrapbooks and
leaf through tattered clippings and
faded Autographs, getting very
nostalgia and fearful all by my
lones ONE, here I've got the chance
OF being misty.eyed in print. So
there W. warned you. At the risk
OF sounding like one OF those an
cient Lambs Club drones who love
TO grab you in the bar and talk
about the good old days (while you
pay for the drinks), I'm going TO
reminisce.
Dorothy is always telling her
readers what q high, wide and
handsome night club town this is,
how everything jumps when the
entertainers get together for those
weekly celebrity parties at spots
like "a Martinique, Leon and Ed
dies and the Club London. Well,
Broadway hasn't changed too much
in the past three decades, not II
the guest nights are any criterion.
Back In 1915. when | opened at
ReiseEweber's on Columbus Circle.
with my Five Kings OF Syncopa-
ton, which featured Al Siegel at
piano and Dick Himber at the vio-
lin, the dancing craze was running
strong; ballroom teams like Mau-
rice ard walton. and the Castles,
were 6ll the rage at Bustanobys
Maximes, Jacks, Cafe de Paree,
the Moulin Rouge and the other
new cabarets which were mush-
rooming up all over New York. We
needed something new and differ
ent to draw the customers to Refs
enwet er's. That's when / thought
OF the Bohemian Nights, the fore.
runner OF your modern celebrity
| parties
Joe Frisco. Eddie Cantor. Al Jol.
son, Ray Bolger, Ted Lewis. Nora
BayeS. Bea Palmer-they all came
over to do a turn at one OF So
| phie fuckers bohemian Nights" .
Then, OF course. just like today. in
those days there were the lesser
fry The young acts just starting
out WHOM / would try TO sandwich
In between name entertainers so
they could be seen by the agents
and managers. II they clicked with
the customers at Reisenweber's the
theater managers signed them up
right away. remember one youth
ful singer, 1.-THE, agile bodied
blonde from Chicago. who got out
| on the floor one night in 1919 and
sang The st. Louis Blues" as she
did tie shimmy. Her name was
May Ora and Broadway went wild
over her that night. Following my
advice she changed her name to
Gilda and 1t was as Guilda Gray
that she became one OF the biggest
moneymakers in silent pictures. A
generation later. at La Martinique,
history repeated itself when an
obscure comedian. fresh from the
summer resort circuit, mesmerized
the ripgsiders at Sunday celebri.
ty party and suddenly everyone
was clamoring for his services.
His name was Danny Kaye.
Alonk with the Bohemian Nights,
we helped at Reisenweber's to ush.
er in the Jazz Age. The for story
building on Eighth Ave. had the
best entertainment in town. Not
just good food and drink and a
dance team but a line Of pretty
girls. d Dixieland jazz band and a
name entertainer. The other
clubs had to follow suit, especially
In the music department. which is
how a lot OF great bands were
born. Over at the Palais Royale,
I hn 49,